Alfred-Maurice De
Zayas wrote in detail about the Militaruntersuchungsstelle für Verletzungen des Kriegsrecht, which was formed by the Germans during World War I and which
functioned under the aegis of the Ministry of War. The responsibility of the Untersuchungsstelle was the compilation of data on war crimes
committed by the Allies, and it was prepared to present this accumulated
information in an international court.
Of course, once that war had
ended in total defeat for the Germans, any thought of conducting a case against
the victors evaporated. It truly must be
noted that this was the first governmental agency to undertake the issue of war
crimes, and it can be said that it served as a model for similar agencies
formed by the Allies (with the exception, it must be said, of the USSR) during
the succeeding world war.
In September 1939, the Germans determined to
recreate this organization, naming it the Wehrmacht-Untersuchungsstelle für Verletzungen des Völkerrechts (German War Crimes Investigative Office) and placed it
within the Wehrmacht structures; the head of the office was
Johannes Goldche, who had served as deputy director of the agency during World
War I. It is the Wehrmacht-Untersuchungsstelle für Verletzungen des Völkerrechts
which oversaw the analysis of the crime scene in Katyn, and it is this agency
that Wehrmacht Medical Commission reported into.
In order to understand the
process of the German exhumations, it is necessary to distinguish between the
three groups of experts who arrived in Katyn, and who conducted the scientific analysis
of the crime. These three groups are
frequently confused and/or conjoined, although in reality each of the groups
worked separately.
·
The German Medical Commission represented the Wehrmacht-Untersuchungstelle in Katyn, and it was headed by Dr. Buhtz (who remained
on site practically during the entirety of the exhumations), and it served, one
might say, as the host of the premises, as concerned the scientific aspects.
·
The second group to arrive after the discovery of the
graves was the Technical Commission of the Polish Red Cross, which remained in
Katyn until June, 1943.
·
The last was the International Medical Commission
(IMC), which arrived in Katyn at the end of April.
As mentioned earlier, the
German Medical Commission had been on site well prior to the official
announcement, while the Technical would arrive mid-April, finally, the IMC
arrived at the very end of April.
Nonetheless, the German Commission under Dr. Buhtz oversaw the entirety
of the process and the physical laborers who removed the corpses from the
graves reported to the GMC.
Finally, the German wire
service, Trans Ocean, did, on the 13th sent out cablegrams
announcing the discovery of the graves, two days after Radio Berlin had
broadcast it. This date has become
erroneously fixed as the date of the announcement of the Katyn Massacre.
