April 1940: Katyn massacre

Poland lost around six million citizens (including approximately three million Polish Jews) in the war. Both occupiers wanted primarily to annihilate the Polish intelligentsia once and for all. In the act of genocide at Katyn, the Russians murdered over 21,000 people, mainly military and police officers, scientists, doctors and other members of the intelligentsia. Under German occupation, people with a higher education were sought out and put to death. Poland lost nearly 40 percent of its citizens with a university education.