NKVD Order № 00485 issued on August 11 , 1937 laid the foundation for the systematic elimination of the Polish minority in the Soviet Union between 1937 and 1938 . The order was called " On the liquidation of Polish sabotage and espionage groups and units of the POW " ( POW stands for Polish Military Organization , Polska Organizacja Wojskowa ) ( ) . It is dated August 9 , 1937 , was issued by the Central Committee Politburo ( VKP b ) , and signed by Nikolai Yezhov , the People 's Commissar for Internal Affairs . The operation was at the center of the national operations of the NKVD , and the largest ethnically-motivated shooting action of the Great Terror
Great Terror
Great Purge
NKVD Order No. 00485