In 1945, Soviet troops entered Poland and, according to their propaganda which is being repeated up until this day, “liberated” the country from the German occupation. Such an interpretation has unfortunately been accepted in Western Europe in the second half of the 20th century.

Not only was the Soviet Union Hilter’s main in the destruction of Poland from 1939 to 1941, tortures and rapes were part of everyday life on Polish soil once Stalin prevailed, especially until the mid-1950s. Soviet soldiers brutally replaced the German occupation with their own. The and the latter lasted for half a century.

Today, the free world, which has been lulled for too long with regard to Russia’s intentions, witnesses with horror the war crimes perpetrated on Ukrainian civilians by Stalin’s successor, Vladimir Putin.

“Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has been “accompanied by the glorification of Russian imperialist traditions and the relativisation of the crimes of Soviet communism […] This makes us even more aware of the importance of removing names and symbols promoting communism from the Polish public space,” Karol Nawrocki, head of IPN recently told the media.

In his view, there is no reason why the Soviet red star symbol should be treated differently than the Nazi swastika. “In this [red star] symbol we see the criminals of Katyn and the enslavement and colonisation of Poland” – Nawrocki explains.

Three Soviet monuments have been dismantled this Wednesday in the villages of Siedlec, Międzybłocie, and Garncarsko.

Image: Shutterstock
Author: Sébastien Meuwissen