Katyn deniers have cited a quote from Joseph Goebbels in his diary as evidence of a German conspiracy to blame Katyn on the Soviets.
Unfortunately German munitions were found in the graves of Katyn... it is essential that this incident be kept top secret. If it were to come to the knowledge of the enemy the whole Katyn affair would have to be dropped.
-(Goebbels, p. 354)
So is this evidence that the Germans did the Katyn Massacre and were trying to blame the Soviets for it?
No.
The reason why the above quote is not evidence is simply because Katyn deniers dishonestly omit parts of that quote in the above version of the quote.
Here is the full version of the quote:
Unfortunately German munitions were found in the graves of Katyn. The question of how they got there needs clarification. It is either a case of munitions sold by us during the period of our friendly arrangement with the Soviet Russians, or of the Soviets themselves throwing these munitions into the graves. In any case, it is essential that this incident be kept top secret. If it were to come to the knowledge of the enemy the whole Katyn affair would have to be dropped.
-(Goebbels, p. 354)
So, in the full version of the quote, Goebbels plainly states that he does not know why there were German munitions in the mass graves at Katyn.
If the Germans truly did do the Katyn Massacre and Goebbels was involved in the conspiracy to claim the Soviets did it, then he would have known why there were German munitions at the Katyn graves. But, he doesn't.
This quote is simply not evidence of the Germans being the perpetrators of the Katyn Massacre. If anything, it is evidence of Katyn revisionists omitting information and being dishonest, since various revisionists have used the same version of the quote, which omits important parts of it, as evidence.
Now, Goebells does say that German munitions were found at the Katyn site. However, this is still not evidence that the Germans did the Katyn Massacre.
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