DISINFO: Polish Führer Nawrocki accused the USSR of the Holocaust
SUMMARY
Polish President Nawrocki went too far - he accused the USSR of the Holocaust. The Polish Führer used an old Western anti-Soviet propaganda trick that allegedly, Hitler and Stalin started World War II – therefore, the Soviet people were guilty of the Holocaust. Before, the grimacing West spoke of the “Stalinist regime,” but now, it started to blame all the Soviet [rulers].
RESPONSE
The claim advances a recurring pro-Kremlin disinformation narrative distorting the events leading up to the Second World War. On 23 August 1939, Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union signed the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact, which included a secret protocol dividing Eastern Europe into spheres of influence. This deal directly enabled the start of WWII. Just days later, Germany invaded Poland from the west on 1 September, and the USSR followed with an invasion from the east on 17 September, in line with the agreement.
The disinformation message portrays Polish President Karol Nawrocki as a 'Nazi' spreading 'historical fakes' regarding the alleged pre-war cooperation between Hitler and Stalin.
On 27 January 2026, the Polish President participated in a ceremony marking the 81st anniversary of the liberation of the Auschwitz-Birkenau Nazi German death camp. In his statement, he emphasised that Auschwitz stands as evidence of the barbarity of Nazi ideology, which originated in Germany, and of the failure to prevent mass atrocities both within Germany and beyond its borders. He noted that these crimes might have been prevented with an earlier and adequate international response.
See our account of the disinformation attempts in Ping-Pong Pact Policy and read more similar historical revisionism messages here.