Historical documents released this week by the National Archives provided further evidence of what historians have long known: The U.S. government turned a blind eye toward the massacre of more than 20,000 Polish soldiers in the Katyn Forest during World War II because it was allied with the perpetrator: Stalin’s Soviet Union.

The newly revealed documents show, among other revelations, that the two American POWs whom the Germans brought to the site — to prove that the Soviets and not the Nazis were the culprits — were able to send coded messages back to the U.S. government confirming that the Soviets were to blame.

We’ve put together a slideshow of Katyn then and now.



Ed. Note: Some of the images are disturbing.