NKVD special department in Bykivnia Forest as an object of anti-Soviet propaganda during the German-Soviet war

Abstract

The study is devoted to the propaganda campaign of the Nazi government of Germany in Europe with the exposure of the repressive and punitive policy of the Soviet totalitarian regime in Kyiv. Based on the publication in European and Ukrainian periodicals, an attempt is made to determine the role of the NKVD special area in the Bykivnia Forest as an object of anti-Soviet propaganda during the German-Soviet War. The array of mass media and other historical sources is characterized, in particular the propaganda leaflet of 1943 which shows the place of the largest burial of victims of Stalinist repressions in the system of political repressions and defines the main tendencies of propagandists during the exposure of Soviet crimes, primarily through the example of the NKVD special area in the Bykivnia Forest. The archival and criminal case of a participant in search and exhumation works, a resident of the village of Bykivnia, regarding the discovery of the burial place of the victims of Stalinist political repressions and the place of the residents of the village in anti-Soviet Nazi propaganda are analyzed.