Gestapo–NKVD Conferences

The Palace villa in Zakopane today, Gestapo headquarters with torture chamber (basement)

The Gestapo–NKVD conferences were a series of meetings organized in late 1939 and early 1940 whose purpose was to enable the German and Soviet security forces (the Gestapo and NKVD respectively) to share information regarding their operations in Poland. In spite of their differences on other issues, both Heinrich Himmler and Lavrentiy Beria had common purposes as far as the fate of Poland was concerned, and the conferences discussed coordinating plans for occupation of the Polish nation and in fighting the Polish resistance movement, which was an irritant to both Nazi and Soviet occupiers of Poland.

Out of four conferences, the third took place in the famous Tatra Mountains spa of Zakopane in south Poland, and is the most remembered (the Zakopane Conference). From the Soviet side, several officers of the NKVD participated in these meetings, the Germans bringing a group of experts from the Gestapo.

Prelude

Eastern Europe in 1939-1940.

After the signing of the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact on 23 August 1939, Germany invaded Poland on 1 September and the Soviet Union invaded Poland on 17 September resulting in the occupation of Poland by the Soviet Union and Nazi Germany.

First Conference

Little is known about this meeting. It reportedly took place on 27 September 1939 in Brześć nad Bugiem, while some units of the Polish Army were still fighting (see: Invasion of Poland). Both sides expected that Polish resistance would start soon, and they discussed ways of dealing with the possible activities of such resistance.

Second Conference

This meeting took place some time at the end of November 1939, probably in Przemyśl — a city which—between September 1939 and June 1941—was divided into German and Soviet parts. Apart from talks of fighting Polish resistance, the Soviets and the Germans discussed ways of exchanging Polish POWs. Also, first discussions about the occupation of Poland were started. Some historians claim this meeting took place in Lwów. It is also claimed a meeting was held in December.

Secret protocol of German–Soviet Boundary and Friendship Treaty "Both parties will tolerate in their territories no Polish agitation which affects the territories of the other party. They will suppress in their territories all beginnings of such agitation and inform each other concerning suitable measures for this purpose."

Third Conference

This one is the best known, and took place in Zakopane, starting on 20 February 1940 in the villa "Pan Tadeusz", located at the Droga do Białego street close to the entry to the Białego Valley. The German side was represented by Adolf Eichmann and an official by the name of Zimmermann, who later became chief of the Radom District of the General Government. The Soviet delegation was headed by Grigoriy Litvinov and — among others — Rita Zimmerman (director of a gold mine in Kolyma) and a man named Eichmans, creator of an efficient way of killing in the back of the head.

According to several sources, one of the results of this conference was the German Ausserordentliche Befriedungsaktion (see: German AB Action operation in Poland), elimination of Krakow intelligentsia Sonderaktion Krakau and the Soviet Katyn massacre In his 1991 book Stalin: Breaker of Nations, British historian Robert Conquest stated: "Terminal horror suffered by so many millions of innocent Jewish, Slavic, and other European peoples as a result of this meeting of evil minds is an indelible stain on the history and integrity of Western civilization, with all of its humanitarian pretensions". Also, Professor George Watson from Cambridge University concluded in his "Rehearsal for the Holocaust?" commentary (June 1981) that the fate of the interned Polish officers may have been decided at this conference. This is however disputed by other historians, who point out that there is no documentary evidence confirming any cooperation on that issue, that the existing Soviet documentation actually makes such a cooperation improbable and that it is reasonable to say that Germany did not know about the Katyn massacre until the corpses were found.

Fourth Conference

The fourth and last meeting took place in March 1940 in Krakow (according to some historians, it was part of the Zakopane Conference). This event was described by General Tadeusz Bór-Komorowski, commander of Armia Krajowa in his book “Armia Podziemna” (“The Secret Army”). In it, he describes how a special delegation of NKVD came to Krakow, which was going to discuss with Gestapo how to act against the Polish resistance. The talks lasted for several weeks.

Bor-Komorowski′s description is disputed by Russian historian Oleg Vishlyov, who, based on the original Soviet documents, claims that the conference was not between NKVD and Gestapo, but between Soviet and German commissions dealing with refugees in both occupied territories and the topic of discussion was 'refugee exchange'. According to that author the conference had nothing to do with repressions against Poles or with the Katyn massacre. In fact, some historians point out that, in spite of other coordinated actions, there is no evidence of direct German-Soviet cooperation in the Katyn massacre itself.

References

Further reading

• Bor-Komorowski, Tadeusz (1951). "The Secret Army". New York, N.Y.: Macmillan. OCLC: 1524738