Eric Zadravec

Topic

"But I Did Not Ask These Questions”: The Soviet Katyn Lie and the Anglo-American Press during the Second World War

Department of History

Date & location

• Monday, April 15, 2024
• 10:00 A.M.
• Clearihue Building, Room B021

Examining Committee

Supervisory Committee

• Dr. Kristin Semmens, Department of History, University of Victoria (Supervisor)
• Dr. Serhy Yekelchyk, Department of History, UVic (Member)

External Examiner

• Dr. David Marples, Department of History and Classics, University of Alberta

Chair of Oral Examination

• Dr. Darlene Clover, Department of Educational Psychology and Leadership Studies, UVic

Abstract

This thesis explores English-language newspaper reporting on the Katyn massacre during the Second World War. While previous scholars have taken up the subject of Anglo-American complicity in suppressing the Katyn Massacre, there has not been a full examination of the Soviet propaganda put forwards to the Western press during WWII. Firstly, this thesis reexamines the origins of the Katyn massacre in 1940 by highlighting the influence of Soviet foreign policy towards Poland on the Soviet leadership’s decision to undertake the massacre. Secondly, this thesis provides a comprehensive analysis of what historians have termed the “Katyn Lie” as it appeared in the Anglo-American press, and the manner in which the Soviets actively utilized the Western press to spread the Katyn Lie abroad. This thesis demonstrates that Soviet-Polish relations formed the overarching link between the origins of the Katyn massacre and the Soviet falsification of the massacre after 1943. This thesis casts further light on the Anglo-American complicity in silencing the truth about the Katyn massacre, along with further demonstrating the importance the Soviets attached to the international perception of it.