Memos show U.S. hushed up Soviet crime

FILE - In this Feb. 6, 1952 file photo, a masked former Polish soldier testifies on the 1940 Katyn Forest massacre to a house committee in Washington. Documents released Monday, Sept. 10, 2012 lend weight to the belief that suppression within the highest levels of the U.S. government helped cover up Soviet guilt in the killing of some 22,000 Polish officers and other prisoners in the Katyn forest and other locations in 1940. In a final report released in 1952, the committee declared there was no doubt of Soviet guilt, and called the massacre "one of the most barbarous international crimes in world history." It found that Roosevelt's administration suppressed public knowledge of the crime, but said it was out of military necessity. It also recommended the government bring charges against the Soviets at an international tribunal - something never acted upon. Translator Roman Pucinski is at center right. On the rostrum are committee members, from left, Reps. Timothy Sheehan, R-Ill., Alvin E. O’Konski, R-Wis., George A. Dondero, R-Mich., Ray J. Madden, D-Ind., Daniel J. Flood, D-Pa., Foster Furcolo, D-Mass., and Thaddeus M. Machrowicz, D-Mich. (AP Photo/Bill Allen)