Piotr Soprunenko
Piotr Karpovich Soprunenko (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] He was of Ukrainian ancestry.
Biography
[edit | 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.[2]
War Crimes
[edit | 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.[3] This is considered by many to be a genocide.[4]
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.[5]
In 1991, the Soviet Union declined to prosecute Soprunenko due to infirmity and old age and he never faced justice.[3]
References
[edit | edit source]- ^ a b Understanding the Ukrainians in WWII. Part 2. Stories of Ukrainians in the Red Army URL https://euromaidanpress.com/2015/06/11/understanding-the-ukrainians-in-wwii-part-2-stories-of-ukrainians-in-the-red-army/ Website title: Euromaidan Press, Date accessed: August 27, 2023, Date published: May 08, 2021.
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- ^ The Katyn Massacre – Mechanisms of Genocide, The Warsaw Institute Review, May 18, 2020
- ^ Katyn Massacre: General Soprunenko's Role, HL Deb 17 July 1990 vol 521 cc753-4
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