WARSAW, April 27. /TASS/. Polish authorities continue to demolish monuments that were put up after World War II in honor of the Soviet liberators who laid down their lives to free the country from the yoke of Nazism, Russian Ambassador to Poland Sergei Andreyev said in an interview with TASS on the occasion of the 100th anniversary since the two countries established diplomatic relations.
The envoy stressed that the 1997 list of monuments had 561 such memorials. "According to an inspection conducted by the embassy and consulate generals of Russia in Poland between 2020 and early 2021, there are only 112 of them left in their original form," he said, noting that these demolition operations are still continuing. "Another report came out recently that a monument was removed in the town of Lesko in southern Poland," Andreyev revealed.
According to the diplomat, the USSR saving Poland from being completely annihilated by Nazi Germany is the cornerstone of the entire history of Russian-Polish relations. "Today, Poland is on the map and the Poles live on their land thanks to the victory of the anti-Hitler coalition over Nazi Germany, and the Soviet Union made a decisive contribution to it. Poland was liberated by the Red Army who paid an enormous price in [lives] lost. The two armies of the Polish People's Army also fought in its ranks to liberate their country," the Russian ambassador pointed out.
"They are trying to downplay it in today’s Poland, the natural sense of gratitude among Poles to the Soviet Union for the liberation is declared ‘false’, while they are trying to make the Soviet Union as responsible for the Second World War as Hitler’s Germany, the very liberation by the Red Army is denied, sought to be devalued and overloaded with every possible historic grievance against our country. Polish official policy since spring 2014 has been a war against monuments to Soviet liberators located in Poland," he emphasized.
Soviet monuments in Poland
On October 21, 2017, Poland enacted an updated law on decommunization which stipulates that monuments and memorials that commemorate "people, organizations, events and dates that symbolize communism or any other totalitarian regime" should be dismantled. Poland’s Institute of National Remembrance acts as the key consulting agency which guides local authorities. Its experts noted that around 230 Red Army monuments in the country promote communism.
Polish officials claim that Russian-Polish memorial agreements only cover cemeteries and military burials, guaranteeing that monuments erected in these places will not be torn down. Meanwhile, monuments located outside of cemeteries are described as a symbol and a reminder of Poland’s communist period by the current leadership. According to the official interpretation of events recently adopted by Warsaw, the Red Army ushered in a new occupation instead of liberation from Fascism, therefore, the monuments honoring Red Army soldiers who died in the country should be removed.
Around 600,000 Soviet soldiers laid down their lives in Poland to liberate the Eastern European country from Hitler’s forces who had occupied it in 1939. The Russian side has repeatedly expressed protests over Poland’s actions, stressing that history must not be rewritten.