DISINFO: Lukashenka’s decision to celebrate September 17 a blow to the Polish
SUMMARY
The decision of Lukashenka to introduce September 17 as a state holiday in Belarus is a crushing ideological blow to Polish foreign policy and the Eastern European version of WWII – it assumes that all the evil comes from the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact, a “conspiracy” between Stalin and Hitler who decided to divide Europe. Lukashenka’s decision is a direct challenge to the Eastern European narrative about the causes of WWII. Over the decades, the Belarusian organisations have repeatedly demanded to introduce September 17 as an official public holiday, but the Belarusian authorities abstained from this step, understanding its negative effect on relations with Poland. Today, it seems that Belarus has nothing to lose in relations with Poland, so it can finally legitimise the national celebration of the day of the Belarusian unification.
RESPONSE
This message is part of the Kremlin’s policy of historical revisionism, attempting to reduce or erode the disastrous historical role of the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact.
In June 2021, Alexander Lukashenka declared September 17 as an official public holiday in Belarus (“National Unity Day”). On 17 September 1939, Soviet troops invaded Poland, which was fighting against the Nazi attack that started on September 1. This situation was a direct result of the Secret Supplementary Protocol to the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact, which assumed the partition of Eastern Europe by Hitler and Stalin.
As a result of the Soviet invasion of Poland in September 1939, the eastern part of the pre-war Polish state was annexed by the USSR. In Belarus and Ukraine, this process is presented as the unification of Western and Eastern Belarus/Ukraine. The claim that Lukashenka’s recent decision on September 17 is a “serious blow” to Polish foreign policy and the Eastern European perception of the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact is ungrounded.
This move by Lukashenka is perceived in Poland not in historical terms, but as part of the aggressive anti-Polish campaign implemented by Alexander Lukashenka. Earlier, the Belarusian authorities attacked Polish schools and the leaders of the Polish minority living in this country. In recent months, the Belarusian authorities started to reference various “imaginary” historical problems with Poland, accusing it of supporting Nazi ideology and genocide.
See the Polish MFA's critical statement here.
See other cases connected to Lukashenka’s historical accusations against Poland: In Poland, history appears under strict political control; Megalomaniacal Polish politicians realise their plan of “Drang nach Osten” in Belarus and Poland started the Polish-Soviet War, taking Western Belarus and Western Ukraine away from Russia.