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Poland’s Duda hopes ‘all doubts resolved’ with Russia on World War II history

The president urged to stop trying to rewrite history

AUSCHWITZ /Poland/, January 27. /TASS/. President of Poland Andrzej Duda expressed his hope that "all doubts are resolved" in the dialogue with Russia on World War II history. The President made his remark during the joint press conference with his Israeli counterpart Reuven Rivlin.

"There was a serious exchange of opinions between Polish authorities and Russian representatives. We hope that all doubts are resolved and there will be no more attempts to rewrite history. We call for that. This is important for us," he said.

Speaking about the ongoing commemorative events dedicated to the 75th anniversary of Auschwitz-Birkenau death camp liberation by the Red Army, Duda opined that it was "an important day in the world’s history."

"Then, on January 27, 1945, a handful, several thousand survivors were finally liberated by the Red Army soldiers, and the most terrible period in their lives finally came to an end," he noted.

The Auschwitz events happen as Russia and Poland have a heated debate on World War II history. Warsaw criticized Russian President Vladimir Putin’s December speech, in which Putin reminded that the Soviet Union was the last European state to sign the non-aggression treaty with Germany, and the subsequent publication of archived papers that depict actions of Polish citizens at the time in a bad light.

President Duda accused Putin of "complete distortion of historical truth," and spreading "post-Stalinist revisionism." Warsaw claimed that Moscow "attacks" it to drive a wedge between Poland and its western allies and Israel and to shift responsibility for the beginning of World War II.

In a Politico article published in January, Polish Prime Minsiter Mateusz Morawiecki reiterated the idea that the Soviet Union and the Nazi Germany were equal, and that they allegedly acted in "alliance" in 1939. He also claimed that Auschwitz-Birkenau could have been liberated much earlier. Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova underscored that this article is another attempt to rewrite World War II history, based on false statements.

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