Published: 18 February 2020
Last updated: 4 March 2024
THE HARSH EXCHANGE between Vladimir Putin and Polish President Andrzej Duda marking the 75th anniversary of the Red Army’s liberation of Auschwitz reflects the wide rifts that World War II left behind in the politics and history of Europe – even more than seven decades later.
There is no doubt about the Soviet Union’s decisive role in eradicating the Nazi regime, but it’s also clear that the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact, which was signed on August 23, 1939, enabled Germany to invade Poland nine days later. Russia is now trying to remove this stain, which is what brought Putin to make every effort to accuse Poland of sharing in the responsibility for the outbreak of the war.
But as far as Poland is concerned, it fell victim to a double aggression: the German invasion on September 1, 1939, and the Soviet invasion on September 17. Both led to the elimination of the Polish state, which reminded the Poles of the partitions of their country in the second half of the 18th century.
The Poles have also brought up the murder of around 20,000 Polish prisoners of war at Stalin’s command in the Katyn massacre of 1940, and the Red Army’s failure to intervene during the Warsaw Uprising against the German occupiers in 1944.
FULL STORY Germany Is guilty – but Russia and Poland both bear responsibility, too (Haaretz)
Photo: Photo: German generals Mauritz von Wiktorin and Heinz Guderian stand next to Soviet commander Semyon Krivoshein during the German–Soviet military parade on September 22, 1939
