Piotr Soprunenko
Piotr Soprunenko | |
|---|---|
| Born | 17 March 1908 Kyiv, Russian Empire |
| Died | 23 June 1992 (aged 84) Moscow, Russia |
Branch | Red Army |
Rank | Major-General |
| Known for | Perpetrator of Katyn Massacre |
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Piotr Karpovich Soprunenko (Петро Карпович Сопруненко)(17 March 1908 – 23 June 1992) was a Soviet Major-General in the Red Army who carried out the Katyn Massacre in World War II. Soprunenko had 22,000 prisoners of war under his jurisdiction as head of a branch of the Soviet NKVD called the "Department for POW Affairs" that was created by Lavrenty Beria.[1][2]: 58 He was of Ukrainian ancestry.
Biography
[edit source]Sporunenko was born near Kyiv in Ukraine, under the Russian Empire.[1]
Soprunenko achieved the rank of captain of State Security in March 1940, major in 1942, colonel and then commissar in 1943, and Major General in 1945.[3]
War crimes
[edit source]Soprunenko was reportedly responsible for the executions of nearly 22,000 Polish intelligentsia, military officers, and other prisoners of war during the Katyn Massacre in April and May 1940.[4] This is considered by many to be a genocide.[5]
In 1990, Nicholas Bethell, 4th Baron Bethell raised a question with the UK Government regarding Soprunenko's role in Katyn with a view to his possible prosecution as a war criminal.[6]
In 1991, the Soviet Union declined to prosecute Soprunenko due to infirmity and old age, and he never faced justice.[2]: 325
References
[edit source]- 1 2 Oliver, James (2015-06-11). "Understanding the Ukrainians in WWII. Part 2. Stories of Ukrainians in the Red Army". Euromaidan Press. Retrieved 2026-07-04.
- 1 2 Parrish, Michael (1996-05-16). The Lesser Terror: Soviet State Security, 1939-1953. Bloomsbury Publishing USA. ISBN 978-0-313-02220-3 – via Internet Archive.
- ↑ Петров, Никита Васильевич; Скоркин, Константин Владиславович (1999). Кто руководил НКВД, 1934-1941: справочник (in Russian). Звенья. ISBN 978-5-7870-0032-0. Archived from the original on 10 September 2002 – via Memo.ru.
- ↑ "WORLD IN BRIEF : POLAND : Katyn Executioner Believed to Be Alive". Los Angeles Times. 1990-08-01. Retrieved 2026-07-04.
- ↑ "The Katyn Massacre – Mechanisms of Genocide". The Warsaw Institute Review. 2020-05-18. Archived from the original on 11 August 2020. Retrieved 2026-07-04.
- ↑ "Katyn Massacre: General Soprunenko's Role". Parliamentary Debates (Hansard). Vol. 521. House of Lords. 17 July 1990. col. 753–754.