Disinfo: Polish authorities use decommunisation as a pretext for the planned destruction of Soviet monuments

Summary

Under the pretext of decommunisation, Poland tries to erase from its history the feat of the Soviet Army in the liberation of the Polish nation from the Fascist invaders. The Polish authorities continue the campaign of the planned destruction of the Soviet memorials within the decommunisation policy, erasing the memory of the glorious liberation mission of the Red Army, which allowed the Poles to survive and free themselves from the brown plague [Nazism].

Disproof

A recurring pro-Kremlin disinformation narrative accusing Poland of historical revisionism.

In 2017, Poland introduced new laws to ban totalitarian propaganda. According to this Law, up to 230 Soviet monuments may be replaced, a decision to be made by Polish local authorities. The Polish Ministry of Foreign Affairs underlines that Red Army burial places and cemeteries situated in Poland will be carefully protected. It is possible to dismantle and remove only symbolic monuments to the Red Army.

In 2015, Paweł Ukielski, Deputy Head of the Polish Institute of Historical Remembrance, published an open letter, where he explained the need to remove the symbolic monuments to the Soviet Red Army from Polish public places (text in Polish and Russian). According to him, these monuments are perceived as symbols of captivity by the totalitarian USSR. In some cases, the Soviet monuments glorify the Red Army generals, who were involved in war crimes against the Poles.

The Polish Government does not implement a centralised policy of replacement of the Red Army monuments, such decisions are taken by the local authorities.

Read similar cases connected to the issue of the Red Army monuments - Monuments to Soviet soldiers are massively demolished and damaged in Ukraine, Poland and Baltic countries; Removal of the monument to Marshall Konev is a violation of the Czech-Russian Agreement of 1993; A monument to the Soviet soldier-liberator demolished in Lithuania.

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pl.sputniknews.com (Archived)
  • Reported in: Issue 242
  • DATE OF PUBLICATION: 22/04/2021
  • Article language(s) Polish
  • Countries and/or Regions discussed in the disinformation: Poland, Russia, Germany
  • Keywords: Maria Zakharova, Monuments, Red Army, Nazi/Fascist, Anti-Russian, WWII
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Apr 21, 2021
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Apr 21, 2021
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Disproof

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