Katyn crime, also known as the Katyn massacre, committed on the orders of the authority of the Soviet country, then treated as classified information, finally totally denied, was one of those historical facts that were kept secret for a very long time. From 1943 when it was revealed to 1990 the soviet Union denied their responsibility for the massacre. It changed on 13 April 1990 when the government agency TASS released the official statement confirming the soviet commission of the crime. Therefore I found it very sensible to analyze the problem of Katyn crime in various history course books in Poland and Russia, formerly The Soviet Union.

In the communist times in Poland the authors of history course books generally omitted the problem although surprisingly it appeared in so called Stalin times and in the eighties when Poland was governed by general Wojciech Jaruzelski.

It looked similar in the Soviet Union. The situation changed at the end of Michail Gorbaczow pierestojka and glasnost period when the students of the 11th grade were informed in their history course books about the death of Polish officers in Katyn in 1940.