Posted on 01/28/2018 12:32:58 PM PST by GoldenState_Rose
The Red Army's defeat of Nazi German forces on Polish soil in 1944-1945 remains a thorny issue in Russian-Polish relations.
Many Poles viewed the Red Army as an occupation force, not as liberators, as the 1939 Nazi-Soviet pact had carved up Poland between two dictatorships.
Poland updated its "de-communisation" legislation, banning "totalitarian" symbols, which would include Soviet propaganda monuments.
The Russian foreign ministry condemned the new Polish "de-communisation" law as "an outrageous provocation", and warned of unspecified "consequences".
"The USSR paid the highest price to liberate Poland - on that country's soil, in battles with the enemy, more than 600,000 Soviet soldiers and officers died and were buried. Hundreds of thousands of Soviet prisoners of war, who died in Nazi concentration camps, also lie in Polish soil," the ministry said.
The Russian government has warned Poland that it will face sanctions if it removes monuments glorifying the Soviet victory in World War Two.
In 2007, Estonia's removal of a Red Army statue in its capital Tallinn sparked a violent protest by Russian speakers and a massive cyber attack on Estonian official websites. Russian hackers were blamed for that attack.
(Excerpt) Read more at bbc.com ...
Russians can go blank themselves on this one.
*cough* Katyn *cough*
*ping*
They tried to subjugate them as slaves of ethnic russians and not for their liberation.
I’m so sick of Russians and their thug boss. They’re obnoxious in whatever country they exist.
Put them on flatbeds and send them back to Russia.
Outrageous.
“Liberate”?
Not even close.
Just replaced Nazis with Communists.
Even if USSR didn’t occupy Poland for 50+ years,they “Liberated” Poland for self interest reasons not altruistic ones.
Screw ‘em.
They did a great job liberating Poland from the Polish in 1939.
(Then they'll have to compete against Seattle, Chicago, NYC, ... for them.
I would leave the soldier’s graves undisturbed but the monuments should go. The Soviets didn’t liberate anyone.
On this I agree.
Graves of soldiers not included in this endeavor.
When I visited Normandy a few years ago, I visited the American cemetery.
I did not know until I saw it, but there is a very impressive cemetery nearby for the German soldiers who fell, still very well maintained, though I suspect it doesn’t get many visitors.
To be fair, the Russians lost a lot of people fighting the Nazis including in Poland. But then they became almost as bad if not worse than the Nazis in Poland. Basically, the Polish got killed, raped, and otherwise abused by both the Russians and the Nazis.
To sum up: Hey Poland, do what you want to do. Screw the Russian objections.
Stalin had little care for the Russians he sent into battle.
They certainly didn't lose any while they waited on the other side of the Wisla, while the Nazis were eliminating the remains of the AK during the '44 Warsaw Uprising.
And this after the Soviets gave the signal to the AK to rise up and that they would soon be there to liberate them.
The Soviets knew what they were doing.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.