The Turkey/Armenia relationship still grapples with the scale and definition of the huge numbers of killings of Armenians in 1915. A new and bold initiative in Turkey aims at collecting signatures of apology, albeit not using the word ‘genocide’.

Meanwhile the Polish media have picked up on work done by a determined Russian NGO to dig into the Katyn massacre and find out more about the people who actually did the killings.

According to these new findings as reported in Gazeta Wyborcza, the arch-villain was one Vasily Blochin, an arch-killer especially trusted by Stalin who from 1924 onwards took part in or presided over an astounding 50,000 executions. He worked out which revolver best dealt with overheating when killing people at a high rate, and where exactly to shoot people to cause immediate death with as little blood as possible.

The Katyn Massacre was in fact a series of official killings in various locations. Some 21,000 Polish captives were murdered in this sustained and unique war crime. If each of them had (say) 100 relatives and friends/acquaintances, it is hardly an exaggeration to say that most Polish families today either had a relative killed in these massacres or know someone who did.

Which is why the issue is still very much alive even if the ranks of victims are not, 68 years later.