035. Tomsk echo of Katyn / V. A. Khanevich // Tomsk Herald. - 1994. - April 28.

The story of Polish officers shot by the NKVD in 1940 in Katyn by decision of the Politburo of the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party. The version of a former NKVD employee about the presence of an unknown burial site of Polish officers in Tomsk.

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The article is a study based on testimonies, archival materials and journalistic investigation, dedicated to the alleged mass burial of Polish prisoners of war near Tomsk in 1940. The central figure of the story is Alexander Ilyich Ryzhy, a former employee of the Tomsk NKVD, who in the 1990s came forward with sensational testimony. He claimed that in the spring of 1940, a train with Polish officers passed through Tomsk, after which the bodies of the dead were allegedly buried near the Tomsk-2 station.

Ryzhy also spoke about meetings in the NKVD administration, where the destruction of traces of mass murder was discussed. His testimony is confirmed or supplemented by eyewitness accounts - local residents, as well as his relatives, who saw the unloading of wagons with corpses. The text conveys in detail the atmosphere of fear that reigned among NKVD workers, and shares memories of the repressions that affected both the Poles and the employees of the department themselves.

Much attention is paid to the reaction to this information, both inside and outside Tomsk. After the publication of Ryzhy's story in the media, the information reached the Polish side, which led to diplomatic contacts, visits to Tomsk and the beginning of an official prosecutor's investigation. During the investigation, no mass Polish burial site was found, but other sites of mass burials from the time of the repressions were discovered. The version about the "Tomsk Katyn" remained unproven, but the story of A.I. Ryzhy shed light on the dark pages of the NKVD's activities in Siberia.

The text combines elements of documentary, oral history and investigative journalism. It is of considerable value as an attempt to restore historical truth, and also as an example of how personal memories can trigger a process of public understanding of the past.

List of names:

1. Beria, Lavrenty Pavlovich - People's Commissar of Internal Affairs of the USSR, author of a letter about the transportation of the "special contingent" in 1940.
2. Bogdanov (name and patronymic not indicated) was a shepherd, an acquaintance of A.I. Ryzhiy, who lived near the supposed burial site.
3. Bragina, Anna Mikhailovna - a resident of Tomsk, a witness to the unloading of corpses on a railway line in 1940, mother of A.I. Ryzhiy's son-in-law.
4. Bragin (name and patronymic not given) is the son-in-law of A.I. Ryzhiy, whose parents lived near the site of the supposed burial.
5. Zhuravsky, Michal - Consul General of the Republic of Poland in Moscow, took part in the investigation of the Tomsk episode.
6. Kaganovich, Lazar Moiseevich - People's Commissar of Railways of the USSR, addressee of the letter from L.P. Beria.
7. Kornilov, Leonid - a special correspondent for the Izvestia newspaper in Warsaw, published a brief summary of the article about the "Tomsk grave of the Poles".
8. Kostyukovsky, Viktor - correspondent for the Izvestia newspaper in Siberia, participated in a journalistic investigation.
9. Krivenko, Anna Mikhailovna - a veteran of the Soviet Army, who spoke out sharply against publications about the "Tomsk Katyn".
10. Petrovsky, General - Head of the NKVD Directorate for the Novosibirsk Region, who gave the order to hide an important special burial site in 1943.
11. Romanov, Pyotr Sergeevich - historian, expert on the "Katyn issue", member of the Moscow "Polish House", facilitated the transfer of information to the Polish side.
12. Rulev, Mikhail - a resident of Tomsk who lived near the cemetery, a witness to the unloading of bodies from train cars in 1943.
13. Ruzhdzinski, Jan - correspondent for the Polish newspaper "Życie Warszawy", author of an article about the Polish burial site in Tomsk.
14. Ryzhiy, Aleksandr Ilyich - a former NKVD officer who testified about the alleged burial of Polish soldiers in Tomsk.
15. Savitsky, Krzysztof - a diplomat from the Polish embassy who visited Tomsk in 1994 to verify information about the burials.
16. Khanevich, V. - author of the text, representative of the Tomsk "Memorial", organizer of the investigation.
17. Yablokov, Anatoly Yuryevich - senior prosecutor of the Main Military Directorate of the Prosecutor General's Office, headed the official investigation in Tomsk.