The Katyn massacre was a dreadful atrocity which, to this day, provokes strong emotions.

During the Cold War, the Soviets refused to discuss Katyn. Thoughcircumstantial evidence of Soviet guilt was considerable, definitive proofremained elusive. It was only in the early 1990s, with President Gorbachev'sadmission of Moscow's culpability and the subsequent release by PresidentYeltsin of documents identifying Stalin and Beria as the principalperpetrators, that the truth was finally exposed. This served the process ofreconciliation between Poland and Russia.

Successive British governments had no illusions about the likelihood of Sovietresponsibility for the massacre. But in the absence of conclusive evidence,they like other Western governments, remained reluctant to accuse the Sovietauthorities of the crime. Though they condemned the massacres in the strongestterms, the refusal publicly to charge the USSR with responsibility for Katynangered many, in this country and beyond, who wished to see justice done. It isin recognition of those feelings that this report is published today.

The report, whose publication coincides with the 60th anniversary of thediscovery by the Germans of the mass graves in Katyn, traces the development ofthe British response to the massacre.

The centrepiece is a previously unpublished memorandum by the late Dr. RohanD'Olier Butler, Historical Adviser to Secretaries of State from 1963-1982. Hewas set the task in 1972 of bringing together, for internal use, all theavailable evidence from British official records. The 'Butler memorandum'documents in detail the views of the British Government on Katyn from 1943 on.It therefore gives an accurate account of what the British Government knewabout Katyn, and why they maintained the public line about the massacrethroughout the Cold War.

To bring the Katyn story up to the present day, the FCO Historians havesupplemented the Butler memorandum with an introduction, which covers the wholeperiod 1943-2003, along with a small selection of further documents.

This is more than a historical compilation. It raises the issue of howministers and officials handle public discussion about crimes and allegationsof crimes against humanity. As the former Foreign Secretary Douglas Hurd said'we have learned that we should be braver about separating our need to dealwith tyrannies from our need to avoid offence to them.' We should remember hiswords as we deal with the evil still done to our fellow human beings in theworld.

The terrible suffering inflicted on the people of Poland under the Nazioccupation is well known. Far less is known about the sufferings inflictedduring the 1939-41 Soviet occupation of eastern Poland, of which the KatynMassacre was a part.

Large numbers of Poles were forced to leave their country for good during andafter the War. Many settled in this country where we have been honoured towelcome them as fellow citizens. The publication of this History is anopportunity to reflect on the sacrifices and bravery of the Polish nation whichcontributed so much to the final Allied victory.

The publication also serves as a reminder of the Europe we have left behind.We now live in a more secure, prosperous and democratic Europe, in whichhistoric enmities are replaced by co-operation. As the Polish Prime Ministernoted at the time of the 60th anniversary of the massacre, Russians were alsoseverely hurt by the totalitarian system. We welcome the fact that in changedtimes the UK, Poland and Russia can work together in building the new Europe.

Denis MacShane
Minister for Europe
April 2003