“We Can Tear This Paper Up at Any Moment”: The Honorable Surrender of Lviv and the Shadow of Piatykhatky in the Center of Wrocław

Blogs | 26 September, 2026 at 19:55 | 1,089 | Author: Olena Zelenina

How Soviet "security guarantees" during the 1939 surrender of Lviv turned into NKVD mass executions in Piatykhatky, Kharkiv. A historical essay. Collage by Olena Zelenina at the Gromada Group Media

Collage by Olena Zelenina.

Set against the backdrop of the Katyn Memorial in Wrocław, Poland, this reflective historical essay traces the direct lineage of Kremlin propaganda and deceit from the 1939 invasion of Poland to the present day.

How Soviet "security guarantees" during the 1939 surrender of Lviv turned into NKVD mass executions in Piatykhatky, Kharkiv. A historical essay tracing the lineage of Kremlin deceit from 1939 to the present day.

Drawing upon personal memories, newly uncovered archival documents, and eyewitness accounts, the article examines the September 1939 "honorable surrender" of Lviv at Vynnyky, where Soviet commanders offered false security guarantees to Polish officers only to execute thousands of them months later in the basements of the Kharkiv NKVD and the pits of Piatykhatky.

The piece contrasts the cynical betrayal of Soviet officials with stories of resistance, including Countess Karolina Lanckorońska's underground efforts to rescue wounded officers and the tragic fate of filmmaker Andrzej Wajda's father. Ultimately, the article exposes the persistent rhetorical patterns of imperial aggression and serves as a stark reminder that imperial promises remain as worthless today as the broken agreements of 1939.