of bemusing not only others but ourselves: of falling, as
Mr. Winant said recently at Birmingham, under St. Paul's curse
on those who can see cruelty "and burn not ". If so,
and since no remedy can be found in an early alteration of our
public attitude towards the Katyn affair, we ought, maybe, to
ask ourselves how consistently with the necessities of our relations
with the Soviet Government, the voice of our political conscience
is to be kept up to concert pitch. It may be that the answer
lies, for the moment, only in something to be done inside our
own hearts and minds where we are masters. Here at any rate we
can make a compensatory contribution--a reaffirmation of our
allegiance to truth and justice and compassion. If we do this
we shall at least be predisposing ourselves to the exercise of
a right judgment on all those half political, half moral, questions
(such as the fate of Polish deportees now in Russia) which will
confront us both elsewhere and more particularly in respect to
Polish-Russian relations as the war pursues its course and draws
to its end; and so, if the facts about the Katyn massacre turn
out to be as most of us incline to think, shall we vindicate
the spirit of these brave unlucky men and justify the living
to the dead.
I have, &c.
OWEN O'MALLEY.
Annex 1.
List of Personnel composing the Commission of Criminologists
and Pathologists.
Dr. Spoleers, Professor of Ophthalmology at the University
of Ghent.
Dr. Markow, Instructor in Forensic Medicine and Criminology
at the University of Sofia.
Dr.Tramsen, Assistant Professor of Anatomy at the Institute
for Forensic Medicine in Copenhagen.
Dr. Saxen, Professor of Pathological Anatomy at the University
in Copenhagen.
Dr.Palmieri, Professor of Forensic Medicine and Criminology
at the University of Naples.
Dr.Miloslawich, Professor of Forensic Medicine and Criminology
at the University of Agram.
Dr. de Burlet, Professor of Anatomy at the University of Troningen.
Dr. Hajek, Professor of Forensic Medicine and Criminology
in Prague.
Dr..Birkle, Coroner of the Roumanian Ministry of Justice and
First Assistant at the Institute of Forensic Medicine and Criminology
in Bucharest.
Dr.Naville, Professor of Forensic Medicine at the University
of Geneva.
Dr.Subik, Professor of Pathological Anatomy at the University
of Bratislava and head of the Public Health Service of Slovakia.
Dr. Orsos, Professor of Forensic Medicine and Criminology
at the University of Budapest.
Dr.Buhtz. Professor of Forensic Medicine and Criminology at
the University of Breslau.
Dr.Costedoat Medical Inspector.
Annex 2.
Katyn Wood: Text of Protocol, Berlin.
The report of the international commission of scientists on
the examination of the mass graves at Katyn Wood in the main
section reads as follows: From the 28th April to the 30th April,
1943, a commission composed of leading representatives of forensic
medicine at European Universities and other prominent University
professors of medicine have conducted a thorough scientific examination
of the mass graves of Polish officers in Katyn Wood. The discovery
of those mass graves, which was recently brought to the attention
of the German authorities, prompted Reich's Chief Health Officer,
Dr. Conti, to invite experts from various European countries
to inspect the Katyn site in order thus to contribute to the
clarification of this unique case. Members of the commission
personally heard the testimonies of several Russian native witnesses
who, among others, confirmed that during the months of March
and April. 1940, almost daily big railway transports with Polish
officers arrived at the station of Gniesdovo, near