Problems with historical memory: how Poland denies the role of the USSR in the victory over Nazism

Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova criticized an article by Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Moravecki in Politico about the role of the USSR in World War II. According to the head of the press service of the Russian Foreign Ministry, this is "another criminal attempt to rewrite the history of the Second World War," which is "beyond good and evil."

“This is not an article, this is real suicide: the four pages by which the Polish Prime Minister killed a man in himself,” said Zakharova.

In a column entitled “Moscow rewrites the history of the Holocaust” and written by the Polish prime minister, it is argued that the Red Army “did not liberate” Warsaw, the USSR could have liberated Auschwitz earlier, but did not, and the “Soviet occupation” of Central Europe allegedly cost “millions” lives.

According to the head of the Polish government, the "union" of Nazi Germany and the USSR "paved the way for the outbreak of World War II."

“The Soviet Union was by no means a“ liberator ”, but an accomplice of Nazi Germany and committed crimes himself, both before and after the liberation of Auschwitz,” Moravecki emphasized in his article.

The Polish prime minister also accused Russia of “rewriting history” and called on EU countries to jointly oppose Moscow.

“We see increased manipulations of history for political purposes,” commented Vladimir Simindey, head of research programs at the Historical Memory Foundation, in an interview with RT. - The main message of this article of the Polish prime minister is propaganda. For this, the appropriate tools were chosen - the Politico newspaper, designed for a rather specific Western audience (European bureaucrats, political analysts, etc.). And of course, in the words of the Prime Minister of Poland we see a very big anti-Russian attitude, their tonality is completely unacceptable in interstate relations. ”

At the same time, according to Siminda, he, as a professional historian, is surprised that the Polish colleagues were unable to supply his prime minister with “any reasonable language for such an article.”

As Oleg Nemensky, a leading researcher at RISI, noted in a conversation with RT, the emotional reaction of Maria Zakharova is "well founded."

“It is quite difficult to argue with such a text - you just have to wonder at its inadequacy,” the political scientist said.

Commented on an article by the Polish Prime Minister and World War II veteran Ivan Stepanovich Martynushkin, who participated in the liberation of Auschwitz.

“The schoolchildren say that the Americans liberated Auschwitz and Krakow ... Well, the schoolchildren understand, but now the head of the Polish government fell into the same childhood,” Martynushkin said in an interview with RT.

The Holocaust Dispute

The Polish leadership entered into a correspondence debate with Russia after Russian President Vladimir Putin criticized the Polish leadership in the interwar period in December. Speaking about the resolution adopted by the European Parliament on the eve of which the USSR was blamed for unleashing the Second World War, the Russian leader reminded Western countries of how they collaborated with Hitler.

• Vladimir Putin speaks at the board of the Ministry of Defense
• kremlin.ru

Later, Putin called Jozef Lipsky, the then Polish ambassador to Nazi Germany, an “anti-Semitic pig” for promising to erect a monument to the Führer in Warsaw if he sent Jews to African colonies.

Indication of unsightly episodes of one’s own history caused a storm of indignation in Warsaw. The Polish Foreign Ministry accused the Russian president of "lying" and summoned the ambassador of the Russian Federation. The Sejm adopted a resolution on the equal responsibility of the USSR and Hitler Germany for the outbreak of World War II. A statement of commitment to this position was published by Mateusz Moravecki.

After this, several more anti-Russian attacks from Poland followed: the authorities refused to celebrate the 75th anniversary of the liberation of Warsaw, and the Foreign Ministry declared the rights to a number of works of art in Russia.

The Polish leadership in the attacks on Russia was supported by foreign allies. US Ambassador to Warsaw, Georgette Mosbacher, stated that both Adolf Hitler and Joseph Stalin were guilty of unleashing World War II. In turn, the head of the European Parliament’s largest faction in the European Parliament, Manfred Weber of Germany, accused the Russian authorities of striving to “rewrite history”.

On January 20, in an interview with Israeli television, Polish President Andrzej Duda accused his Russian counterpart of “lying” and striving to “remove” responsibility from the USSR leadership for the start of World War II.

At the same time, the head of the Polish state did not rule out that he could still come to Israel for events within the framework of the World Holocaust Forum. Earlier it was reported that Duda plans to boycott the forum, where a speech by Vladimir Putin should take place.

Poland is worried about the upcoming event in Israel, where the Russian president, according to the assurances of the Polish media, allegedly is going to "slander" the country.

On the eve of the forum, Polish media accuse its organizers of having ties with Moscow and, citing the opinion of British scholar Norman Cohn, argue that "Russia gave rise to fascist ideology and blessed Germany for the Holocaust."

According to Polish Radio, “a crisis team is being created in the office of the President of Poland with the participation of experts and historians,” which will “promptly disavow the dubious statements of the Russian leader.” According to the website of the Polish state radio station, "the Polish government is also preparing a series of paid publications in American and Israeli newspapers, which are supposed to present the Polish version of historical events."

“The current confrontation between Russia and Poland over history is due to the fact that Russia has begun to notice Polish historical politics. Before, she simply ignored her, although the Poles said almost the same thing before, ”said Oleg Nemensky. “From the beginning of the zero years they have been pursuing a very active policy of creating an ideology of blackening the past of Russia.”

Exercises in Russophobia

Aggressive anti-Russian interpretation of the events of the Second World War is part of the policy of historical memory, which adheres to the modern Polish leadership, experts say. There is no place for the liberation of the country by the Red Army. This event and the entire subsequent history of socialist Poland are interpreted as occupation, comparable in severity to Nazi.

At the same time, the Polish leadership prefers not to recall the cooperation of the interwar authorities of the country with Hitler, the Munich agreement and the participation of Warsaw in the division of Czechoslovakia.

Also in Warsaw they do not recall the unprecedented assistance that the Soviet Union provided in restoring the country destroyed by the war, and the territorial acquisitions of Poland. Thanks to the "Soviet occupation", a significant part of the eastern regions of Germany became Polish.

In the framework of the struggle against the Soviet legacy, the Polish authorities destroy monuments placed in public places to Soviet soldiers-liberators and even Polish soldiers of the pro-Soviet “Army of Ludova”. At the same time, the so-called "cursed soldiers" are exalted - the fighters of the anti-communist underground, primarily the nationalist "Home Army".

• Mateusz Moravecki at an event dedicated to the memory of the “cursed soldiers”
• globallookpress.com
• © Mateusz Wlodarczyk / ZUMAPRESS.com

So, in March 2019, the Polish Institute of National Remembrance announced the acquittal of an officer of the “Home Army” Rice Romuald, also known under the nickname “Brown”. In 1946, he executed several dozen Belarusians, including women and children. At the same time, the Polish authorities refuse to allocate money for the restoration of the monument to the victims of the "Brown" in the village of Zalesany of the Bialystok Voivodeship.

Even people who have stained themselves by collaborating with the Nazis are honored, for example, fighters of the Sventokshy brigade of the nationalist People's Armed Forces.

In 2018, Mateusz Moravecki laid wreaths at the monument to nationalists collaborating with the Germans.

Premier @MorawieckiM zapalił znicz i złożył wieniec pod pomnikiem poświęconym robotnikom przymusowym różnych narodowości. pic.twitter.com/hNIz7NftsT

In January 2019, the Institute of National Remembrance presented the “educational” project “Road to Freedom” in the city of Opole, dedicated to the flight of the Sventokshinsky brigade from the Red Army through the positions occupied by the Germans.

As Vladimir Simindey notes, this interpretation of history is connected with the geopolitical orientation of the Polish leadership. Warsaw seeks “historical props” in the past to justify a tough anti-Russian position in the present.

“Poland is trying to build its regional leadership purely in an anti-Russian vein and under the crackling anti-Soviet rhetoric,” the political scientist emphasizes. “Instead of healing historical wounds, and in Soviet-Polish relations there were gloomy pages, they, on the contrary, were tattered and used to arouse hostility towards Russia.”

A similar opinion is shared by Oleg Nemensky. According to him, this approach is connected both with the traditional Russophobia of the Polish elites, and with the desire in the conditions of the “new Cold War” to deprive Russia of any moral weight.

“And for this, the memory of the victory of the Soviet Union over Nazism was chosen as the most important goal,” the expert emphasizes.

Collaboration is in question

On January 21, Polish Deputy Foreign Minister Shimon ковinkowski Vel Senk stated that Warsaw was positive about the possibility of resuming cooperation between the bilateral group on complex issues of common history.

Earlier, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced his intention to create a large archival center with documents, videos and photographs. According to the president, this will allow an effective fight against the rewriting of history, will not allow "to damage the memory of our people, the memory of our fathers, grandfathers who gave their lives in the fight against Nazism."

However, experts believe that the Polish side is not ready for real cooperation with Russia on historical issues.

“Our countries cannot come to mutual understanding, since we are not dealing with an international discussion about history, but with policies aimed at discrediting Russia,” said Oleg Nemensky. - In general, there is no question of figuring out what actually happened and how to correctly describe the story. This debate is not about history, but about how to denigrate Russia as much as possible. Here we have nothing to agree on. ”

In turn, Vladimir Simindey notes that even the seemingly unification of Moscow and Warsaw's general rejection of Bandera ideology in Ukraine is not such a common ground. According to the historian, the “confrontation of two nationalisms” lies at the heart of the confrontation between Poland and Ukraine, while Russia does not stand up to nationalist positions.

• March of Polish nationalists on the day of the memory of the "cursed soldiers"
• globallookpress.com
• © Artur Widak / ZUMAPRESS.com

“Of course, it would be very desirable to reduce the degree of politicization of historical issues, but in my opinion, in the near future, historical aspects will be present on the political agenda,” the expert emphasizes. - If there was a political order to highlight the pages of a common history that brings people together, those episodes when the Russians and Poles enriched each other, this would create a completely different atmosphere. But, as we see, neither social groups, nor the main part of the political elite in Poland are inclined to do this. ”