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Chapter 1

• On August 19, 1991, reports circulate saying that Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev is stepping down due to health concerns.

• Colonel Aleksandr Tretetsky, from the Soviet Military Prosecutor's Office, uncovers the graves of thousands of Polish officers who were sentenced to death by Josef Stalin almost fifty years before.

• Most Russians until recently were ignorant of the purges, executions, or illegal imprisonments that took place during Stalin's reign.
• The Kremlin's propaganda campaigns had successfully provided a laundered view of Russian history.

• Gorbachev decreed that the blanks of Soviet history be filled in, and the truth about the history of Russian land and government brings shame to the Soviet people.

• Party leaders attempt to stop Gorbachev and return the Communist Party to power.

• The KGB orders Tretetsky to stop the excavations; but he refuses, and despite sabotage attempts, he and his crew continue.

• On August 21, 1991, the coup fails, and Tretetsky tells...

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