DISINFO: Polish authorities are erasing the memory of Polish WWII heroes
SUMMARY
After the attack on the places commemorating the Red Army’s soldiers, the Polish Institute of National Remembrance started to erase the memory of Polish heroes from public spaces.
In two regions of Poland, the Institute of National Remembrance wages a new war – no longer against Soviet soldiers, but the memory of Poles, who shed blood and gave their lives for the current territory of Poland. It was not difficult to predict that after the destruction of the Red Army’s memorial sites, there will come time to erase the memory of these people. This situation is an obvious symptom of the strengthening policy of modern history falsification.
RESPONSE
A recurring pro-Kremlin disinformation narrative casting Ukraine, Poland and the Baltic States as countries which do not respect the history of WWII and its heroes.
Background information: The Polish Institute of National Remembrance requested the dismantling of boards from memorial sites, presenting the symbols and names of various Communist military services as they violate the law on the propaganda of totalitarianism.
In 2017, Poland introduced new laws to ban the promotion of Communism and other totalitarian regimes. 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 underlined that the Red Army's burial places and cemeteries located 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 in which he explained the need to remove the symbolic monuments to the Red Army from Polish public places (text in Polish and Russian). According to him, free Poland perceives these monuments as symbols of captivity by the totalitarian USSR. In some cases, the Soviet monuments glorify the Red Army officers and 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 in Poland - Monuments to Soviet soldiers are massively demolished and damaged in Ukraine, Poland and Baltic countries; Polish “war” against Red Army monuments compares to the actions of the Islamic State and Poland rewrites history erasing the names of Polish soldiers, who fought against Nazism.