Protesting Memorials

From the MT:
"Russia Protests Demolition of Soviet War Memorials in Poland"

 

Russia has protested plans to demolish a Soviet war memorial in Poland and accused the Warsaw government of escalating its "war on monuments." The Russian Foreign Ministry said at least 10 war memorials have been desecrated or demolished in Poland during the past year. Friday's protest concerns a memorial in the town of Pieniezno dedicated to Soviet General Ivan Chernyakhovsky, who was fatally wounded at the site in February 1945. Soviet war memorials have fallen into disrepair and been regularly vandalized in Poland, where the Soviet role in World War II is viewed with ambiguity or outright hostility. In Russia, the official narrative is that the Red Army liberated Poland from Nazi occupation. Russia says the demolition of war monuments in Poland violates a 1994 agreement between the two countries. The Polish Foreign Ministry said under treaty terms, war cemeteries and burial grounds are under the care of the state but control of monuments lies with local authorities. "It's up to local authorities to decide what monuments they want," the ministry said.

^ This issue has many sides to it. The Soviet Union did liberate Poland from German occupation in 1945. Before that The USSR allied with Nazi Germany and occupied western Poland from September 1939 until June 1941. They shipped thousands of Poles to Siberia. Eventually the Soviets allowed the "good" Poles (ie Communists) to help the Red Army fight it's way into Poland. The Soviets were only interested in letting the Communist Poles to survive and that can be seen in the Warsaw Uprising -  where the Red Army waited near Warsaw while the citizens of Warsaw fought the Germans for control of the capital. The Germans won that battle and evacuated the whole city to German concentration and labor camps and then razed the city to the ground. The Soviets stood-by and watched with delight because they saw the Germans as getting rid of the Polish Resistance that wasn't allied to the Soviet Union. The Soviets didn't even allow the Americans or British to deliver weapons, food or supplies to the resistance. Then once the war was finally over the Soviet Union took full control of all of Poland and stayed until 1991 - - implementing the same Communist policies they did throughout eastern Europe. With the full history of the Soviet Union's role and impact in Poland  throughout the decades and even just taking into account the USSR's role in Poland during World War 2 alone you can understand how the Poles feel towards the Russians today. Seeing Russia invade, occupy and annex the Crimea and fight alongside the ethnic Russian terrorists in eastern Ukraine has the same similarities as what the Soviets did in Poland during World War 2. I'm sure Poland feels as threatened today as they did back in the 1940s and that threat is real. That makes people look back at their past histories and I believe that is what the Poles are doing now. They are remembering what the Soviets did in their own country and want to remove all aspects of that still present  -- ie the war memorials. It is a difficult issue because millions of Soviet soldiers did fight and die to liberate eastern Europe from the Germans. There shouldn't be memorials to Stalin, the Communist Party or the commissars anywhere (Poland, Russia, the former USSR or eastern Europe) but as for the regular Soviet soldiers they should be mentioned for their contribution to Polish history of 1945 (the things the USSR did there from 1939-1941 and then from May 1945-1991 is another story altogether.) I don't think Russia should mention that Poland is going against the 1994 treaty since Russia completely disregarded all the countless treaties signed with the Ukraine in the 1990s-2000s (regarding respecting Ukrainian control over all its territory, the Crimea, the Black Sea, etc.) ^

 

 

http://www.themoscowtimes.com/news/article/russia-protests-demolition-of-soviet-war-memorials-in-poland/525463.html