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Massacre of Poles in Soviet era still overshadows relations with Russia
Published: 07 April, 2010, 07:31
Edited: 12 April, 2010, 06:23
Russian Federation, Katyn : A picture taken on April 1, 1943 shows men digging out bodies of Polish officers from a mass grave in Katyn. More than 22,000 Polish officers were killed by Soviet security forces in the Katyn forest and other sites in 1940. (AFP Photo)
(13.2Mb) embed videoTAGS: Russia, Hate crimes, Europe, History
With top Russian and Polish officials attending a ceremony commemorating the WWII massacre of Polish war prisoners in Katyn, the issue still divides peoples of the two countries.
Katyn, a forest near the city of Smolensk in the West of Russia, is the location where over 20,000 Polish officers were executed in 1940 under Stalin’s regime.
At the time, the Soviet Union denied any responsibility and tried to blame Nazi forces for the killings. In the 1930s Soviet security officials planted a forest to hide the mass graves of thousands of political prisoners, who had been murdered and buried.
But a document released by Russian president Boris Yeltsin in the 1990s clearly showed the signature of Joseph Stalin on the execution order.
Despite the official apologies and monuments erected to commemorate the victims, today not everyone is prepared to let bygones be bygones.
“There are some Polish politicians who actually do not want any apologies from Russia. They need apologies from Russia to continue bashing Russia. And there are some people who made their political careers on anti-Russian propaganda in Poland,” says Dmitry Babich from “Russia Profile" magazine.
This approach affects not only official relations between the two countries, but also the attitude of people.
“My son's wife often went abroad with groups of tourists. She did not want to go to Russia, the Soviet Union, for a long time because she thought that this country had committed a crime. But when she finally went there and saw everything with her own eyes, she said that people were great but she did not like the political regime”, says a Polish veteran.
Many in Poland cannot forgive Russia for the Katyn massacre, not just because of the killings themselves, but also because of the lie that has been carried on for years.
Poland demands that all archives be opened in order that the "complete truth" be revealed and any surviving perpetrators be brought to justice.
But politicians may be too unwilling to see that Katyn was a tragedy that has been acknowledged and mourned – as the bell that tolls there every morning testifies.
06.04.2010, 19:29
4 comments
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To Portland The saturday April 10th ceremony in Katyn forest was organized by Poles for the 20th time since it was only allowed by USSR. So was the monument built there to commemorate the 1940 massacre of our elite. There was not a rubel spent by your government for coffee , cake or whatever else. Putin -Tusk meeting over the graves was a different story. Hope for real warming of relations between Russians and Poles. Regards.
Another little detail that you’ve got upside-down, Kihnu – you say that “Poland has taken the right decision to reconcile with Russia.” Actually it was Russia that took the decision to stop lying about Soviet crimes against Poland, and moved to reconcile with Poland. The crimes and lies came from Russia, and so must the reconciliation. In regard to the Baltics, Russia shows not the slightest inclination for similar reconciliation, and as you well know, it still loudly and proudly proclaims Stalin’s lies in regard to those “fraternal republics.” Reconciliation cannot come until Russia ceases to embrace Stalin's Baltic lies, and actually seeks reconciliation. You may not care whether, in your ever-sensitive and diplomatic wording, “the whining and moaning Estonians reconcile with Russia or not (actually, the other way around).” Unlike you, Estonians do care very much that Russia should reconcile both with their country and with its own history, because Estonians have no interest at all to see similar ghastly oppression roll over them again from their unregenerate, strange eastern neighbour.
i keep saying to people, whatever Stalin did is horrible, people from Baltic states and Poland and other forever 'Russia hating nations' are so intoxicated by their hate that is based on the history, they dont ever understand that Stalin killed as many Russians as other nations, and please please just stick it into your tradition driven 'hate limited' minds that Stalin was not even Russian.
I wish there was a way to see the alternate reality, and i would soooo much love to see what the world would be like if Russia didnt play the major part in defeating Nazis, and if Gitler won the war, i would so much like to look at that horrifying world, because after Jews, there would be poles, baltic states, all of a eastern europe and all that didnt fit 'blonde hair' criteria.
so as we all reasonable people forgave Germany for what it did, it is time to forgive Russia just because it saved the world from Hitler....just for this tiny thing it already deserves that.
And anyways, it gets sooooooooooooooooo boring to hear same stuff how bad Russia is over and over again....seriously, change the topic..
Shall we just think of a beautiful things, like Medeleev table, Space, helicopter, space rockets, electric trams, radio reciever, polar icebraker, fire fighting foam, setellite, kvass, banya, nutcracker ballet, swan lake, Dostoevsky, Tolstoy, Pushkin and so much more... relax and enjoy or i will start to remeber all the calonies, slaves, hiroshima and nagasaki, baltic state nazi support and way worse things than Russian ever did. Get over It! Its past!Forgive but dont fotget is more than fair.