Posted on 07/19/2018 7:20:56 PM PDT by CondoleezzaProtege
In April 2007, the former Soviet republic of Estonia decided to relocate a monument of gratitude out of the centre of its capital city, Tallinn. The bronze statue depicts a pensive soldier with his head bowed, one hand holding a helmet and the other curled into a fist.
For Estonia’s Russian minority, it was a symbol of the country’s liberation from fascism by the Red Army. For Estonians, it was a reminder of the country’s occupation by the Soviet Union.
On 26 April, as authorities cordoned off the monument in preparation for its removal, hundreds of ethnic Russians descended on the area...Over the next three days, riots swept across Estonia in the worst case of unrest the tiny Baltic state had seen since the second world war. One man died from stab wounds and 100 others were injured. A massive wave of cyber-attacks coincided with the riots, crippling government institutions.
There is unlikely to be a repeat of such violence in Poland. The country’s small Russian community can still pay homage to its own heroes undisturbed. On 9 May, its members gathered at the Soviet military cemetery in Warsaw, where an estimated 22,000 Red Army soldiers lie buried...Sergei Andreev, Russia’s ambassador to Poland, looked on.
Andreev was defiant. “Poland and the Polish nation exist today on this land thanks to the Red Army’s victory in that war, at the cost of the lives of those 600,000 soldiers and officers who died here,” ...“Those monuments are to them.” On the wall of his office hung photos of a grandfather who died in the war and two grandparents who survived it. “This is a foreign country, and we cannot lay down the law here. But one thing is clear,” he said. “We will not forget this, and we will not forgive.”
(Excerpt) Read more at theguardian.com ...
“We will not forget this, and we will not forgive.”
Was he in the Katyn Forest when he said this?
L
And hoping upon hope we would support them.
*Sigh* Anyone who looks at my posts will see I’ve been real nice to the Russians, and I truly want good relations. Then I read this.
Exactly.
“and I truly want good relations. Then I read this.”
Me too. The Russians I’ve met have all been solid folk, right to the core. But Russia as a country.... I doubt they really understand what real freedom is.
I think all they want is a just master. And that trick never works.
L
I do have some hope that the World Cup will make an impact.
For the first time in Russian history they opened themselves up to the world, even beyond Moscow and St. Petersburg. Perhaps encountering foreigners for the first time was an eye-opening experience for many Russians.
Lithuanians, Latvians and Estonians were willing participants in The Holocaust. Thousands of them served in the Waffen SS.
The Dutch had more Waffen SS volunteers than any other country.
Yup. As well as Finns, Danes and Norwegians.
Same with the Ukrainians. Hated the Soviets and for good reason. It must have been a hard time to pick sides then.
The Nazis could have had a solid base to fight the Soviet Union if they treated the Ukrainians better. Like they did the Slovaks and the Croats. They could have easily set up a puppet “Independent” Ukrainian State, which probably would have had massive support.
One of the biggest bits of bs during the Cold War was the notion of the Red Army storming out of the old Soviet Union through Poland and into East Germany with their Warsaw Pact allies for whatever reason to smash the evil Western capitalists and all that when the reality was the Russians were scared to death of that ever being the case. They knew, certainly Russian officers knew the moment their troops had the chance they would have murdered them and went running for the border. Heck, the average Russian soldier was never taught to read a map. And as far their ‘’allies’’? If their own troops didn’t kill them the Poles weren’t going to fight for Ivan. They’ve have killed Russians in a heartbeat. East Germans would have too. And then the Poles and Germans would have gone at it. I don’t think most Americans understand the level of animosity the peoples of Eastern Europe have toward each other. I’m sure it has lessened over time since the collapse of The Soviet Union but memory is a persistent thing and revenge often bides it’s time. War slumbers , but always keeps one eye open.
The Russians knew that the Poles would never fight for them if the Warsaw Pact attacked the West.
Yup. That’s why all the bluster from the Russkies in those days. They were scared sh!tless of what would have happened to them. Not just from the Poles but from Germans, Checzs, Hungarians. You can’t keep a boot on someones neck, shoot their children, rape their women and their economies all in the name of the ‘’dictatorship of the proletariat’’, give these same peoples weapons and then expect them to die for you. How stupid were the Russians anyway?
I do know my friend trust me, I know. I’m over 60 and I have known of this story since I was 16.
If there is any hope for Europe’s future, a positive one, a Christian one, it lies with the Poles. These people fought in our revolution over two hundred years ago.
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