Events in Russia

After Putin's address to the parliament, in which he called for constitutional changes to limit the power of the president (most likely with a view to the future), the Russian government has resigned. It also looks like Putin wants to avoid people with dual citizenship to play any role in the governing of Russia. Putin no doubt has seen the damage that dual citizenship individuals have done in the US over the last several decades and will avoid that happening in Russia.

Quite interesting move indeed. I reckon quite a number of high ranking officials won't be happy with the supposed changes at all, to say the least. :-P Indeed, there is one primary country that won't be happy with those changes at all, aka. Israel. I also think that Putin is planning ahead, basically reducing the risk of russia being co-opted again and go down the drains after he will be gone in the future.

I've listened to Putin's speech in several translations and this proposed ban of dual citizenship in the constitution won't be limited to parliament and all decision makers like ministers, it will also cover all judges in the country, if I understood it correctly. A smart move I think, since judges can have a very significant influence on what is going on in the political arena of a country, especially if they are not working, abide by and are accountable to, the laws of their own country.

His proposed changes in regard to laws that are passed internationally and that they must accord to the russian constitution is also very smart I think. Thereby he basically reduces the risk of adopting foolish plans and laws from outside of the country to russian laws, if they don't accord with russian law/constitution.

Reducing the powers of the President as well as the prime minister (aka. Medvedev until now) in the sense that the prime minister can't just elect the government cabinet without any democratic say as before, by deciding who is in there, is also a very important move I think. If I understood correctly, Putin proposes that the ministers that the prime minister appoints must be approved by Parliament and the President has then to abide by their decision, no matter how it turns out.

And in regard to Medvedev and the government resigning now after this address, I was just thinking about one possible scenario of why that might be happening:

Since in Medvedev's government (that he basically appointed without any democratic say in who gets the job) might be a number of people who have a dual citizenship right now, Medvedev and the others see themselves forced to resign now, so that it won't become public knowledge who exactly has a dual citizenship. If the constitutional changes will be adopted for example and all those people are still in power, they have to resign by law, and thus it would become rather easy for the public to figure out who exactly is an agent for another country. To avoid that public exposure, a number of people right now in the government probably want to flee and hide now, to avoid exactly that.

As I was listening to the radio today, I found it somewhat amusing that they basically claimed that Medvedev and the government stepped down because of the dispute over pensions. I give that a rather low probability, something like the above is far more likely IMO.

It should also be made clear here that Putin started the part of the speech about the constitution by summarizing the world situation and the conflicts especially in the Middle East. He also made it pretty clear, that by him proposing those changes now, he basically want's to start a public discourse now, in which the citizens can think about changes and their constitution and propose ideas for improvement in the future. He also summarized on what the people should think about when they propose a change, especially about what happened with russia in the 1990 and that sovereignty should be paramount in the thinking. Basically hinting at the probability that further changes will follow until he steps down in 2024. He also made it clear that none of that will happen or be adopted without a public vote. So the citizens will be the last ones to decide if they want those changes or not.

A very good day for russia and a very bad one for many decision makers whose loyalty lies elsewhere.
 
Here is the official transcript of what Putin said. What Putin said before that point I'm not including here, since it covers mainly demographics and such:

Putin said:
[...]This year, we will celebrate the 75th anniversary of Victory in the Great Patriotic War. For Russia, May 9 is the greatest and sacred holiday. We are proud of the generation of victors and honour their feat, and our memory is not only a tribute to our heroic past, but it also serves our future, inspires us and strengthens our unity.

It is our duty to defend the truth about the Victory; otherwise what shall we say to our children if a lie, like a disease, spreads all over the world? We must set facts against outrageous lies and attempts to distort history. Russia will create the largest and most complete set of archival documents, film and photo materials on the Second World War, accessible both for our citizens and for the whole world. This work is our duty as a winning country and our responsibility to the future generations.

Colleagues,

We can see how unpredictably, uncontrollably events are developing in the world, what is happening in the Middle East and North Africa literally in recent weeks and recent days, how regional conflicts can rapidly grow into threats to the entire international community.

I am convinced that it is high time for a serious and direct discussion about the basic principles of a stable world order and the most acute problems that humanity is facing. It is necessary to show political will, wisdom and courage. The time demands an awareness of our shared responsibility and real actions.

The founding countries of the United Nations should set an example. It is the five nuclear powers that bear a special responsibility for the conservation and sustainable development of humankind. These five nations should first of all start with measures to remove the prerequisites for a global war and develop updated approaches to ensuring stability on the planet that would fully take into account the political, economic and military aspects of modern international relations.

Russia is ready to enhance cooperation with all interested parties. We are not threatening anyone or seeking to impose our will on anyone. At the same time, I can assure everyone that our efforts to strengthen national security were made in a timely manner and in sufficient volume. For the first time ever – I want to emphasise this – for the first time in the history of nuclear missile weapons, including the Soviet period and modern times, we are not catching up with anyone, but, on the contrary, other leading states have yet to create the weapons that Russia already possesses.

The country's defence capability is ensured for decades to come, but we cannot rest on our laurels and do nothing. We must keep moving forward, carefully observing and analysing the developments in this area across the world, and create next-generation combat systems and complexes. This is what we are doing today.

Reliable security creates the basis for Russia’s progressive and peaceful development and allows us to do much more to overcome the most pressing internal challenges, to focus on the economic and social growth of all our regions in the interest of the people, because Russia’s greatness is inseparable from dignified life of its every citizen. I see this harmony of a strong power and well-being of the people as a foundation of our future.

Colleagues,

We can move towards this goal only with the active participation of society, our citizens and, of course, intense and productive work of all branches and levels of government, the potential of which should be expanded.

In this regard, I would like to spend a moment discussing state structure and domestic policy, which are defined by the Fundamental Law of our country – the Constitution of the Russian Federation. I keep getting these questions all the time, including at the most recent annual news conference.

Clearly, we cannot but agree with those who say that the Constitution was adopted over 25 years ago amidst a severe internal political crisis and the state of affairs has completely overturned since then. Thank goodness, there is no more armed confrontation in the capital or a hotbed of international terrorism in the North Caucasus.

Despite a number of acute unsolved problems that we talked about today, the socioeconomic situation has stabilised, after all. Today some political public associations are raising the issue of adopting a new Constitution.

I want to answer straight off: I believe there is no need for this. Potential of the 1993 Constitution is far from being exhausted and I hope that pillars of our constitutional system, rights and freedoms will remain the foundation of strong values for the Russian society for decades to come.

In the meantime, statements regarding changes to the Constitution have already been made. And I find it possible to express my view and propose a number of constitutional amendments for discussion, amendments that, in my opinion, are reasonable and important for the further development of Russia as a rule-of-law welfare state where citizens’ freedoms and rights, human dignity and wellbeing constitute the highest value.

Firstly, Russia can be and can remain Russia only as a sovereign state. Our nation’s sovereignty must be unconditional. We have done a great deal to achieve this. We restored our state’s unity. We have overcome the situation when certain powers in the government were essentially usurped by oligarch clans. Russia has returned to international politics as a country whose opinion cannot be ignored.

We created powerful reserves, which multiplies our country’s stability and capability to protect its citizens’ social rights and the national economy from any attempts of foreign pressure.

I truly believe that it is time to introduce certain changes to our country’s main law, changes that will directly guarantee the priority of the Russian Constitution in our legal framework.

What does it mean? It means literally the following: requirements of international law and treaties as well as decisions of international bodies can be valid on the Russian territory only to the point that they do not restrict the rights and freedoms of our people and citizens and do not contradict our Constitution.

Second, I suggest formalising at the constitutional level the obligatory requirements for those who hold positions of critical significance for national security and sovereignty. More precisely, the heads of the constituent entities, members of the Federation Council, State Duma deputies, the prime minister and his/her deputies, federal ministers, heads of federal agencies and judges should have no foreign citizenship or residence permit or any other document that allows them to live permanently in a foreign state.

The goal and mission of state service is to serve the people, and those who enter this path must know that by doing this they inseparably connect their lives with Russia and the Russian people without any assumptions and allowances.

Requirements must be even stricter for presidential candidates. I suggest formalising a requirement under which presidential candidates must have had permanent residence in Russia for at least 25 years and no foreign citizenship or residence permit and not only during the election campaign but at any time before it too.

I know that people are discussing the constitutional provision under which one person cannot hold the post of the President of the Russian Federation for two successive terms. I do not regard this as a matter of principle, but I nevertheless support and share this view.

I have already said before that our goal is to ensure high living standards and equal opportunities for all throughout the country. It is towards this goal that our national projects and development plans are aimed.

At the same time, you know about the problems to do with education, healthcare and other fields created by a divide between the federal and municipal authorities – I have pointed this out more than once. This divide and, at the same time, the complex system of powers are having a negative effect above all on the people.

The rights, opportunities and guarantees, that are legally equal for all citizens, are not provided equally in different regions and municipalities. This is unfair to people and is directly threatening our society and national integrity.

I believe that the Constitution must seal the principles of a unified system of public authority and effective interaction between the federal and municipal authorities. At the same time, the powers and practical opportunities of the local governments, a body of authority that is closest to the people, can and should be expanded and strengthened.

And lastly, the state must honour its social responsibility under any conditions throughout the country. Therefore, I believe that the Constitution should include a provision that the minimum wage in Russia must not be below the subsistence minimum of the economically active people. We have a law on this, but we should formalise this requirement in the Constitution along with the principles of decent pensions, which implies a regular adjustment of pensions according to inflation.

Fourth, Russia is a huge country, and every region has its specifics, problems and experience. Of course, this must be taken into account. I believe it is necessary to cardinally increase the role of governors in decision-making at the federal level. As you know, back in 2000 the State Council was restored at my initiative, where the heads of all regions participate. Over the past period the State Council has proven its high effectiveness; its working groups provide for the professional, comprehensive and qualified examination of issues that are most important for people and Russia. I believe it would be appropriate to fix the status and role of the State Council in the Russian Constitution.

Fifth, Russian society is becoming more mature, responsible and demanding. Despite the differences in the ways to address their tasks, the main political forces speak from the position of patriotism and reflect the interests of their followers and voters.

At the same time, almost all the parties represented in the State Duma – and you know that I have regular meetings with their leaders – believe that the Federal Assembly is ready to take more responsibility for forming the Government. (Applause.) I expected this round of applause, but I think you will have another opportunity for applause now; please listen until the end.

More responsibility for forming the Government means more responsibility for the Government’s policy. I completely agree with this position.

What is the situation like now? In accordance with articles 111 and 112 of the Russian Constitution, the President only receives the consent of the State Duma to appoint the Prime Minister, and then appoints the head of the Cabinet, his deputies and all the ministers. I suggest changing the procedure and allowing the State Duma to appoint the Prime Minister of the Russian Federation, and then all deputy prime ministers and federal ministers at the Prime Minister’s recommendation. At the same time the President will have to appoint them, so he will have no right to turn down the candidates approved by the Parliament. (Applause.)

All of this means drastic changes to the political system. However, let me repeat, considering the maturity of our main political organisations and parties as well as the reputation of civil society, I believe these proposals are justified. This will increase the role and importance of the State Duma and parliamentary parties as well as the independence and responsibility of the Prime Minister and other Cabinet members and make cooperation between the representative and executive branches of government more effective and substantive.

Colleagues,

I would like to emphasise that our country, with its vast territory, complex federal and administrative division and diverse cultural and historical traditions, cannot properly advance and even exist sustainably as a parliamentary republic.

Russia must remain a strong presidential republic. The president must undoubtedly retain the right to determine the Government's tasks and priorities, as well as the right to dismiss the prime minister, his deputies and federal ministers in case of improper execution of duties or due to loss of trust. The president also exercises direct command over the Armed Forces and the entire law enforcement system. In this regard, I believe another step is necessary to provide a greater balance between the branches of power.

In this connection, point six: I propose that the president should appoint heads of all security agencies following consultations with the Federation Council. I believe this approach will make the work of security and law enforcement agencies more transparent and accountable to citizens.

The principle of appointment following consultations can be applied to regional prosecutors as well. Currently they are appointed in coordination with regional legislative assemblies. Colleagues, this may lead to certain, including informal, obligations towards local authorities and ultimately to the risk of losing objectivity and impartiality.

As to the territories' position regarding a prosecutor candidacy in the constituent entities of the Federation, it can be considered during consultations in the Federation Council, which is in fact the chamber of the regions. We cannot have different local legislative systems in different regions; the prosecutor is a supreme authority who exercises control over the execution of laws irrespectively of any regional circumstances.

I am confident that a greater independence of prosecution agencies from local authorities would be beneficial for citizens regardless of the region. Colleagues, let us always be governed by the interests of our people.

And my seventh and final point: the judicial system – the Constitutional and Supreme courts – plays a key role in ensuring legality and citizens’ rights. I would like to emphasise, along with judges’ professionalism, their credibility should be unconditional as well. Being fair and having a moral right to make decisions that affect people’s lives have always been considered of paramount importance in Russia. The country’s fundamental law should enshrine and protect the independence of judges, and their subordination only to the Constitution and federal law.

At the same time, I consider it necessary to stipulate in the Constitution the Federation Council’s authority to dismiss, on the proposal from the President, Constitutional and Supreme Court judges in the event of misconduct that defames a judge’s honour and dignity, as well as in other cases provided for by federal constitutional law, that make it impossible for a person to maintain the status of a judge. This proposal is derived from the established practice. This is something Russia definitely needs today.

Furthermore, to improve the quality of domestic legislation, to reliably protect citizens' interests, I propose strengthening the role of the Constitutional Court, namely: to verify, at the President’s request, the constitutionality of draft laws adopted by the Federal Assembly before they are signed by the head of state. We might also think about extending the powers of the Constitutional Court to evaluate not only laws, but also other regulatory legal acts adopted by various authorities at the federal and regional levels for compliance with the Constitution.

Colleagues,

Again, the proposals made today, by no means limit the discussion around possible amendments to the Constitution. I am sure that public associations, parties, regions, the legal community, and Russian citizens will express their ideas. The broadest public discussion is needed. But, opening this discussion, I would like to give it a start in a certain direction, or at least to show what challenges we are facing.

Please, do not forget what happened to our country after 1991. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, we still had the same ambitions and of course have preserved the colossal potential – the human, intellectual, resource, territorial, cultural and historical potential, and so on. But there were also threats, dangers of a magnitude no one could have imagined ever before. And that was a pity, as they should have thought about it in due time.

Therefore in our further state building efforts, we are facing seemingly contradictory tasks that serve as a guideline for values and may appear incompatible at first sight. What am I referring to? We must create a solid, reliable and invulnerable system that will be absolutely stable in terms of the external contour and will securely guarantee Russia’s independence and sovereignty. At the same time, this system must be organic, flexible and capable of changing quickly in line with what is happening around us, and most importantly, in response to the development of Russian society. This system must ensure the rotation of those who are in power or occupy high positions in other areas. This renewal is indispensable for the progressive evolution of society and stable development that may not be infallible but ensures that the most important thing – Russia’s interests – remains immutable.

What else do I consider important and would like to emphasise? The amendments that we will discuss do not concern the foundations of the Constitution and, hence, can be approved by Parliament in line with the existing procedure and law through the adoption of relevant constitutional laws.

At the same time, considering that the proposed amendments concern substantial changes in the political system and the work of the executive, legislative and judicial branches, I believe it necessary to hold a vote of Russian citizens on the entire package of the proposed amendments to the Constitution of the Russian Federation. The final decision must be made only on the basis of its results.

The opinion of people, our citizens as the bearers of sovereignty and the main source of power must be decisive. In the final analysis everything is decided by the people, both today and in the future. I am referring to both the choice of national development strategy and daily issues in each region, city or village. We will be able to build a strong, prosperous and modern Russia only on the basis of unconditional respect for the opinions of the people, the opinions of the nation.

The current year of 2020 is a landmark in many respects. It is a transition to the third decade of the 21st century. Russia is faced with breakthrough historical tasks and everyone’s contribution is important for resolving them. Working together we are bound to change our lives for the better. I often mention the word “together” because Russia means all of us. I am referring not to the people present in this hall or rather not only to the people present in this hall but all citizens of this country because I believe that success is determined by our will for creation and development, for the implementation of the most ambitious plans, our labour for the sake of our families and loved ones, our children and their future, and hence, for the sake of Russia’s greatness and the dignity of its citizens.

Thank you for your attention. (Applause.)
 
It should also be made clear here that Putin started the part of the speech about the constitution by summarizing the world situation and the conflicts especially in the Middle East. He also made it pretty clear, that by him proposing those changes now, he basically want's to start a public discourse now, in which the citizens can think about changes and their constitution and propose ideas for improvement in the future.

I wonder, if an extension to these changes in Russian Constitutional reforms ... might eventually lead to some new proposals at the United Nations, that Putin and China's Xi once spoke about?

Russia Begins Operations in Syria: End Game for the US Empire?
There is a significant development that went largely unnoticed in the press during Putins recent visited to China. Putin and Xi Jinping released a joint signed statement in which both countries promised and set themself the goal of reforming the UN and thereby essentially stopping the actions of certain countries without an UN-Mandate. For way to long certain countries bluntly ignored the rules of the UN-Charta by interfering in other countries against all rules of the UN and started war after war also in defiance of those rules.

Putin shake-up could keep him in power past 2024 as cabinet steps aside
Russian President Vladimir Putin proposed constitutional changes on Wednesday that would give him scope to extend his grip on power after leaving the presidency, and picked a new prime minister after Dmitry Medvedev and his cabinet stepped down.

Putin puts forward little-known tax chief as new Russian PM: Kremlin
Russian President Vladimir Putin attends a meeting with head of the Federal Taxation Service Mikhail Mishustin in Moscow, Russia January 15, 2020. Sputnik/Alexey Nikolskiy/Kremlin via REUTERS
Russian President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday formally put forward Mikhail Mishustin, the little-known head of Russia's Federal Tax Service, to be Russia's new Prime Minister, the Kremlin said.

Russia's parliament to consider new PM's candidacy on Thursday: RIA
Russia's lower house of parliament said on Wednesday it would decide on whether to approve Mikhail Mishustin, the head of the Federal Tax Service, as Russia's new Prime Minister on Thursday, the RIA news agency reported.
 
Putin puts forward little-known tax chief as new Russian PM: Kremlin
Russian President Vladimir Putin attends a meeting with head of the Federal Taxation Service Mikhail Mishustin in Moscow, Russia January 15, 2020. Sputnik/Alexey Nikolskiy/Kremlin via REUTERS
Russian President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday formally put forward Mikhail Mishustin, the little-known head of Russia's Federal Tax Service, to be Russia's new Prime Minister, the Kremlin said.

Yep. Putin just proposed Mikhail Mishustin as new Prime Minister replacing Medvedev. Sounds like a pretty interesting choice to me. It looks like he did a very outstanding good job in his years as Tax chief and knows a lot about law because of it. I’m kinda getting a pretty good impression/feeling about that guy:

 
Думаю, что нужно обратить ваше внимание на то, что многое в послании президента было посвящено демографическим, социальным проблемам, в частности проблемам образования, медицинского обслуживания. Экономические проблемы тоже затронуты с точки зрения не только макроэкономики, но и таких вещей как снижение социального неравенства, борьбы с бедностью.
Я не буду цитировать первоисточник, просто хочу выразить собственное ощущение. Уже долгие годы правления Путина создавалось впечатление, что государственная власть в России разделена на две части, внешнюю и внутреннюю, причем не по профессиональной специализации, а по квалификации. Та часть, что отвечает за внешнюю политику включает сплошь "отличников" и мастеров, а та часть, что отвечает за внутренние дела, состоит сплошь из "двоечников" и бездельников. Это, конечно же шутка, но как говорит русская пословица: в каждой шутке есть доля правды. Так вот это послание президента позволяет надеяться на то, что к вопросам внутренней политики, наконец то привлекут внимание тех "отличников", которые сумели поднять страну с колен в начале 2000х.
Мне, как гражданину России, признаться всегда приятно видеть внимание членов форума к событиям в нашей стране.

Translation
I think we need to draw your attention to the fact that much of the President's address was devoted to demographic and social issues, in particular education and medical care. Economic problems are also affected not only in terms of macroeconomics, but also in terms of reducing social inequality and fighting poverty.
I will not quote the original source, I just want to Express my own feeling. For many years of Putin's rule, it seemed that state power in Russia was divided into two parts, external and internal, and not by professional specialization, but by qualification. The part that is responsible for foreign policy includes entirely "excellent students" and masters, and the part that is responsible for internal Affairs consists entirely of" losers " and idlers. This is a joke, of course, but as the Russian proverb says: every joke has some truth in it. So this message of the President allows us to hope that the issues of domestic policy will finally attract the attention of those "excellent students" who managed to raise the country from its knees in the early 2000s.
I, as a citizen of Russia, admit that I always like to see the attention of forum members to events in our country.
 
Putin shake-up could keep him in power past 2024 as cabinet steps aside
Russian President Vladimir Putin proposed constitutional changes on Wednesday that would give him scope to extend his grip on power after leaving the presidency, and picked a new prime minister after Dmitry Medvedev and his cabinet stepped down.
That is how Reuters can look at it, and while that is possible and even might be beneficial, I thought it could make Russia less vulnerable in case a Russian president left unexpectedly, considering what happened to an Iranian and an Iraqi General a few days ago.
I think we need to draw your attention to the fact that much of the President's address was devoted to demographic and social issues, in particular education and medical care.
Russia exists because there are Russians. One can read about the problem of demographics in the first part of the transcript of the speech included in this post. The way the rest of Europe, except for a few exceptions, is trying to solve the same problem with demographics is by promoting immigrations who then on average add more children per woman, although this for some immigrants and descendants also lead to social problems, as can be seen in several western countries like Denmark (Copenhagen Aarhus), France (Paris), Germany (Berlin), Sweden (Stockholm, Goteborg, Malmo) and many more. On the surface this is done, for humanitarian reason, or because one needs to attract qualified people or because politicians wish to make sure there is someone to take care of the ageing ethnic population. However if one reads a "fiction" or at least something written in 1995 posted here, then that is not necessarily the whole story, as has also been discussed in this thread: Mass Migration - a plan, or just a consequence of some other plan Following the articles of Pierre what we witness is the destruction of traditional values including Christian moral.
Yes, they have a very similar flavour, but that in itself is not so surprising as from what Thorbiorn quoted about Serge Monast:


Pierre did an excellent job in a number of articles he wrote on Sott, where he showed how these values of Western culture and were destroyed. Those articles were based on observations and from documented source material. The value of those articles is that they can neither be dismissed as just somebody's literary imagination about Free Masons or the like nor be slandered as conspiracy theories as the line of thought is clear and well documented. One may nitpick a comma here or there, but that is all. The main articles from Pierre are:


For those who haven't read them, I can highly recommend it. They are very educational.
 
Regarding demographics there is a page Divorce Rate by Country: The World’s 10 Most and Least Divorced Nations // Unified Lawyers with statistics on divorces:
Divorce Rate by Country: The World’s 10 Most and Least Divorced Nations // Unified Lawyers
says:
Russia: 51%
It is said that in the modern society of Russia, a marriage fails in more than every second. But why do Russian couples drift apart? Some say infidelity, poverty, alcoholism, and drug addiction should be blamed for the high divorce rate. A smaller percent of correspondents say couples divorce due to lack of compromise, selfishness, misunderstanding, conflict, and impact of social media.

How long do marriages last in Russia? Research states that one-third of marriages fail in the first 5 years. In the next 5 years, a quarter of marriages come to a conclusion. The divorce rate gradually falls by half in the forthcoming 5 years and further decreases as couples stay together longer.
51 % may be a lot but Luxembourg has a divorce rate of 87% and 2.1 child per woman on average.
 
Yep. Putin just proposed Mikhail Mishustin as new Prime Minister replacing Medvedev. Sounds like a pretty interesting choice to me. It looks like he did a very outstanding good job in his years as Tax chief and knows a lot about law because of it. I’m kinda getting a pretty good impression/feeling about that guy:


It is official now, Mikhail Mishustin is the new Prime Minister of Russia.
 
Here is a very good summary of the new proposed changes to the russian constitution and the crazy way the western media have spun it. Another important angle to the story that hasn't been mentioned in this thread before, that Joe also made clear toward Sputnik yesterday (see below the video):


Joe on Sputnik said:
Western media is viewing Putin's shock announcements at today's annual State of the Union address through the wrong end of the telescope - as usual!

Joe Quinn told Sputnik that Russia is now on track to embrace a system "more like that of European parliamentary democracies." Putin's move indicates that the president "is confident that Russia's position as an independent global leader has been secured and with it the future, independent, trajectory of the country."

"By transferring more power to the Duma, Putin is signalling his belief that the Russian political class can be trusted to continue the work that he himself has undertaken to make Russia's national interests the primary focus of all government policies, both domestic and foreign, for the foreseeable future."

Also, Putin thus made it clear that he will step down in 2024 by his address to the nation, since he explicitly approved/agreed with the two-term in a row limit already set forth in the constitution for the president. This means in 2025 we will see a new russian president and Putin will go into his wellearned retirement.:cry: :-/:-) :flowers: If he will ever run again is in the air, but my hunch is that he will not. Interesting times ahead!
 
In this post I begin with some links, excerpts and articles about the WWII and the memory of WWII. Later I shift to the Polish understanding, which has many article and more than can be fitted in one post. The beginning for looking into the topic was the 75 year anniversary of the Red Army moving into Warsaw and liberating it from the occupation of the National Socialist Government in Berlin led by Adolf Hitler.

On RT there was 75 years later: Newly-released wartime docs debunk myths about WWII’s liberation of Warsaw
Warsaw was liberated by Soviet forces 75 years ago today — and Polish officials have cloaked the pivotal event in myths ever since. Yet, newly-released historical documents help shed some light on the truth.
Official Warsaw had no plans to celebrate this date — but it is not the first time that Poland has ignored the liberation of its state capital. Since the collapse of the Soviet Bloc in the early 1990s, politicians across Eastern European have pushed the notion that the Soviet Union and Nazi Germany were equally responsible for instigating World War II — and the idea that Red Army soldiers led a brutal occupation, instead of liberating Poland, has firmly found its place in the nation’s history books.
That view continues to prevail in some other European states, too — but a trove of recently-declassified wartime documents, published by the Russian Defense Ministry, tells a different story.
Myth 1: ‘Only the Home Army were true heroes’
[...]
Myth 2: ‘The Red Army crushed the 1944 uprising’
[...]
Myth 3: ‘All Poles saw the Red Army as evil occupiers’
[...]
Myth 4: ‘The Soviets looted Poland after the war’
[...]

'Nobody in Poland cares about WWII anymore': Warsaw ignores 75th anniversary of its liberation from fascism
17 Jan, 2020 13:23
The Polish people aren't interested in the events of the past, being fully consumed by their daily hassles, and the country's authorities are using this to their advantage, freely rewriting WWII history, academics told RT.

Warsaw was taken from the Nazis on January 17, 1945, after a large-scale offensive by the Red Army and the Polish forces. The 75th anniversary of the historic victory is marked on Friday, but the capital of Poland isn't preparing for any celebrations.

The fact that the USSR liberated Warsaw from the Nazis is "diminished" in schoolbooks and ignored by Polish media "because we live in country where Russophobia is one of the pillars," military historian Michal Glock said.

The capital's Mayor Rafal Trzaskowski and his liberal Civic Platform party are "responsible for destroying monuments dedicated to Polish and Soviet soldiers and partly [responsible] for erasing the information that Warsaw was liberated by the Red Army and its allies, such as the Polish 1st and 2nd Armies, from the memory of the residents," Glock added.
Older people are aware [of] who liberated our capital city, but the younger generation lives in ignorance.

Those who are interested in history only study the Warsaw Uprising, which was a massive –though failed– attempt by the Polish resistance to reclaim the capital from its Nazi invaders, the historian pointed out.

In the version of history that is promoted by the current Polish authorities, "the liberation of Warsaw (but also the whole of Poland) was part of a second occupation. The Nazi troops were replaced by the Red Army."

Glock considers this angle "dangerous" and "very confusing," especially considering the fact that the Nazis were planning a genocide of the Polish population.

"After Jews and gypsies [were sent] to gas chambers, the Poles were supposed to go there. The Red Army saved us from genocide, not only planned by the Germans, but also by the Ukrainian nationalists."

He said that the "saddest thing" is that his fellow historians do nothing to stop the rewriting of history "in fear of being accused of favoring Russia and President Putin."

'A key battle for the outcome of WWII'
Glock's evaluation of his colleagues appears to be quite accurate, as many other Polish historians approached by RT refused to discuss the matter. And the few who did respond asked that their names be omitted, and simply relayed the stance of the country's authorities.

One of them said that the liberation of Warsaw isn't celebrated simply because nobody in Poland cares about World War II anymore. People are more interested in rising prices, the taxes they have to pay, and other daily concerns, he explained.

What the Polish authorities are trying to erase from history was actually an operation that was "enormously important"for the whole outcome of World War II, British historian Michael Jones told RT.

'Greatly shocked'
The liberation of Warsaw came shortly after the Battle of the Bulge, a successful counter-offensive that was launched by the Nazis in mid-December 1944. It saw four allied armies encircled and destroyed, leaving the anti-Hitler coalition (USSR, UK, US) "greatly shocked," he recalled.

The Soviet offensive on the Polish capital "was brought forward… at the request of the Western allies and destroyed much of the German Army's capabilities." It was highly praised by British PM Winston Churchill and US President Franklin D. Roosevelt at the iconic Yalta Conference in February 1945, the historian added.

Jones said he's confident that "it's always important that we keep debating the past," but it has nothing to do with "a tendency in recent times to simply blame the Soviet Union and now Russia for everything that goes wrong."

The fact is that during World War ll "we were all working together in common cause to defeat fascism," he said.
On the reaction of Churchill Battle of the Bulge - Wikipedia has:
In response to the early success of the offensive, on 6 January Churchill contacted Stalin to request that the Soviets put pressure on the Germans on the Eastern Front.[137] On 12 January, the Soviets began the massive Vistula–Oder Offensive, originally planned for 20 January.[138]:39 It had been brought forward from 20 January to 12 January because meteorological reports warned of a thaw later in the month, and the tanks needed hard ground for the offensive (and the advance of the Red Army was assisted by two Panzer Armies (5th and 6th) being redeployed for the Ardennes attack).[139]

Churchill was elated at Stalin's offer of help,[140] thanking Stalin for the thrilling news.[141]
Invite Trump but not Putin? WWII anniversary without Russia is just rewriting history which has:
Also video in this We’ll see ‘many fake stories’ blaming USSR ahead of WWII anniversary – top official
West considers D-Day ‘turning point’ of WW2… as if Eastern Front never existed has video.

Regarding Polish nation wide papers covering this event. Below are some, in fact many articles that present what Polish newspapers write. Articles were translated using Google. For some papers I found a Wiki that explains what kind of paper it is. There are articles from three papers and between them they give an idea of the public self understanding. It took time to find the article and translate them. For the record as it will probably take up some space in the coming months, I decided to post the translations. More comment could be needed, but that might come later. Perhaps as lot is propaganda, but if that is what makes up Polish self understanding, then that is what one has to work with.

From one liberal-conservative Rzeczpospolita (newspaper) - Wikipedia
Rzeczpospolita
is read by 274,000 adult Poles on a daily basis, of which 75% have higher education, and nearly 87% have a permanent job (9% are pensioners or disability allowance collectors, and almost 2% are students). More than three-quarters of key corporate personnel choose Rzeczpospolita; the majority of readers are specialists and professionals, CEOs, high-level state officials, managers, as well as technicians and specialised administrative staff. Over one half of Rzeczpospolita readers manage the work of others on an everyday basis.[3]
Updated: 17.01.2020, 11:33 Publication: 17.01.2020
Lavrov: Poland uses indecent methods
Warsaw is persuading Western countries to present the Polish point of view on Russia's approach to World War II during the World Holocaust Forum in Jerusalem, said Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov.

Lavrov said during a press conference on Russian diplomacy in 2019 that attempts to slander Russia on the international stage "will be continued".
The head of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs believes that these will be actions discrediting the role of the Soviet Union in the victory over fascism, lying to the causes and results of World War II, and all this in order to weaken the position of modern Russia on the international arena.

- The international event, which will take place in Jerusalem next week with the participation of Russian President Vladimir Putin, will be devoted to the memory of Holocaust victims - said Lavrov. - We know for sure that our Polish colleagues - although President Andrzej Duda announced that he will not come to the ceremony - are trying to convince Western participants to present their Polish point of view on Russia's approach to World War II during their speeches - said the head of the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Lavrov believes that such methods are "completely indecent", especially taking into account the event, which will be devoted to the Forum.

The World Holocaust Forum in Jerusalem is dedicated to the 75th anniversary of the liberation of the German concentration camp Auschwitz-Birkenau.

Andrzej Duda will not take part in it, because the organizers did not foresee the speech of the Polish president. Representatives of Russia, France, Great Britain, USA and Germany will take the floor.
In the same case
Updated: 17.01.2020, 06:40
Publication: 16.01.2020
"Haaretz": Yad Vashem silently supports Putin's attack on Poland
- By organizing a celebration on the occasion of the 75th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz, the Israeli Institute of Remembrance of Martyrs and Heroes of the Holocaust makes it easier for the Kremlin to blame Poland for the outbreak of World War II and whitewash the handshake of Stalin with Hitler - writer "Haaretz" writer columnist Offer Aderet.

In organized by Yad Vashem, the celebration of the 75th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz will not attend President Andrzej Duda. The presence of the Polish president depended on the possibility of speaking in public, which was not allowed.

A few days later, the celebrations of the 75th anniversary will also take place at the former camp.

"The organization of more than one celebration dedicated to the great anniversary is not so unusual, but something more is happening here. There are other, less honorable goals behind the desire to commemorate the victims," writes the journalist In Public. Lists among others internal policy of the Jewish community, diplomatic skirmishes, historical disputes and a game of power.

"Excluding Duda by Yad Vashem from the list of speakers would be easier to justify if the survivors of the Holocaust or historians of World War II speak. But US Vice President Mike Pence, Presidents of Russia, France, Germany and Israel, as well as British Prince Charles and Prime Minister Netanyahu invited to speak at this ceremony, "we read.

"The explanation of Yad Vashem that all the speakers are 'heads of states that led to the liberation of the world from Nazi occupation' leaves much to be desired," he adds. He believes that in such a situation representatives of Israel and Germany should not speak. He also has doubts about the President of France, whose country cooperated with the Nazis.

"The Polish government in London merged with the Allies, and the Polish army fought Nazi Germany in all conditions. Is this not a sufficient reason to put the highest official on the list of speakers during the commemoration of the liberation of Auschwitz?" asks Aderet.
And
Updated: 14.01.2020, 17:14
Publication: 14.01.2020
Russia wants to fight Poland with "historical manipulation" in the Council of Europe
In response to the resolution adopted by the Sejm on the manipulation of facts and hypocrisy of history by politicians of the Russian Federation, Moscow wants to raise the issue of historical truth during the next session of the Council of Europe.

Last week, the Seym condemned the provocative and untrue statements of representatives of the highest authorities of the Russian Federation trying to blame Poland for the outbreak of World War II.

Deputies by acclamation adopted a resolution on expressing objection to the manipulation of facts and hypocrisy of history by politicians of the Russian Federation in order to discredit Poland and deteriorate Russian-Polish relations.

During the next session of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, the Russian delegation plans to raise the topic of preserving the memory of the war on Nazism and falsifying history. This is to be a reaction to Warsaw's position.

The chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the Russian State Duma Leonid Słucki announced that a motion for a resolution on this matter could be submitted.

- We will discuss this situation as part of our contacts with all political groups. Our colleagues from the Sejm also work in the Council of Europe - he said.

For the motion for a resolution to be tabled, Russia must be sure it will be adopted. "Those in Warsaw who try to erase historical memory will fail," said Slutsky.

In his opinion, the motion for a resolution may appear in the near future, but first of all Russian politicians will try to convince their European colleagues that there is no possibility of falsifying history.

- Our task is to consistently convey the truth to those who are not aware of what is happening today in Warsaw - he said. - Russian politicians will work on all international levels to convey the truth about how the results of World War II are distorted - he added.
And:
The EC is against blaming Poland for the Second World War
Updated: 15.01.2020, 16:30
Publication: 15.01.2020
The European Commission fully rejects any false claims that try to distort World War II history, '' said Commissioner Vera Jourova, EC Vice-President today.

The Commissioner said today that the Commission is against any statements that are intended to distort the history of World War II.
She added that victims of World War II, such as Poland, could not be portrayed as her perpetrators.

- The Commission will not tolerate such attacks on Poland and is fully in solidarity with the Poles in this matter - said Jourova.

Commissioner Jourova's speech is related to the repeated statements of Russian politicians, including President Vladimir Putin, who blame Poland for the outbreak of World War II.

The Russians are pushing the narrative according to which Poland took part in the partition of Czechoslovakia in 1938 , and the anti-Semitic atmosphere in Poland on the eve of the outbreak of war, fueled by the then authorities, encouraged the creation of concentration camps in Poland.
Przewodniczący Dumy: Obozy zagłady nie powstały w Polsce przypadkiem
And:
Update: 17.01.2020, 13:57
Publication: 17/01/2020
Russia declassifies documents: Poland accused of murdering Jews
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The Russian Ministry of Defense has today published declassified documents regarding the Warsaw Uprising and the liberation of Warsaw. They are to prove that during the Warsaw Uprising the Home Army was to murder Jews and Ukrainians remaining in the city. This is a continuation of activities "aimed at protecting and protecting historical truth."

According to the announcement, the collection opens with documents from the Warsaw Uprising of September 1944.
"Testimonies of participants in these historical events clearly show that the uprising was not only badly prepared, but also carried out for political purposes, which did not take into account the expectations and hopes of the majority of the Polish population," reads the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs profile on Facebook.

" Its organizers, representatives of the Home Army, overseen by the Polish government-in-exile from London, also did not take into account the situation on the Soviet-German front and the limited capabilities of Red Army units that were approaching the city," we read.

The Russians emphasize that, despite the aforementioned restrictions, the Red Army made "all possible attempts" to support the uprising by providing insurgents with weapons, food, fuel, intelligence and assisted artillery shelling.

In the description of documents declassified by the Ministry of National Defense posted on Facebook, the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs notes that after the fall of the uprising, circumstances came to light that testify to "possible intentional mistakes" of its organizers, who, among others they deliberately did not conduct offensive operations, did not try to unite partisan troops and "sabotaged interaction with the command of the Red Army."

"In addition, documents indicate that Home Army units liquidated the Ukrainians and Jews remaining in the city, and Soviet officers escaping German captivity by force were held hostage," we read.

The Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs also writes about " terrorist activities of the Home Army units behind the Red Army in Poland, Belarus and Lithuania in 1944–1945 ", which is also to be declassified documents, which according to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs are of historical value.

According to published reports, which were developed by the political services participating in the "battles for Poland" - according to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Red Army formation, the Home Army command before the battle of Warsaw in the areas already occupied by the Red Army conducted sabotage activities aimed at disorganizing the emerging self-governments and taking power.
"And in May 1945, the Home Army units began carrying out terrorist actions against the Red Army and the local population," we read. As emphasized by the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs on its Facebook profile, the publication of declassified documents from the collections of the Central Archives of the Russian Ministry of National Defense is "a continuation of the military department's efforts to protect and protect historical truth, counteract history falsification and attempts to review the results of the Great Patriotic War and World War II."
Documents declassified by the Ministry of National Defense and their description can be found at warsaw75.mil.ru
Earlier in September there was:
Update: September 2, 2019, 6:02 am
Publication: 09/01/2019
Celebration of the 80th anniversary of the outbreak of World War II: Humility of Germany, hypocrisy of Russia

It was the attack of the Third Reich and the USSR on Poland. Today, Berlin asks us for forgiveness, and Moscow accuses us of lying.
- I stand barefoot before you. I am asking you for forgiveness for Germany's historical guilt, taking full responsibility for it - it is hard to find a better testimony to how far Polish-German reconciliation has taken place than words spoken on Sunday at Piłsudski Square in Warsaw by German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier.

After the PiS seized power almost four years ago, Warsaw's contacts with Berlin cooled down considerably. But this year Germany wanted to clearly show that relations with the neighbor from beyond the Odra River are of strategic importance and cannot be subject to political prosperity. In addition to Steinmeier, Chancellor Angela Merkel came to Poland, becoming, in the absence of Donald Trump, the most important foreign leader in Warsaw. At dawn, the president of Germany was with Andrzej Duda in Wieluń, the city where Luftwaffe committed the first crime of this war.

- I look at you, we talk and see a man who came humbly, with his head bowed to pay homage and worship, to share pain. You stand in the truth and in front of a very difficult truth for Germans and Germany. But because Germany has never denied this truth, this truth has liberating power, the power to forgive, the power to connect and build friendships - the President of the Republic of Poland said in Wieluń. Today, however, there is no doubt in the free world that not only Hitler but Stalin is responsible for the tragedy of Poland in 1939 and, more broadly, the outbreak of the bloodiest conflict in history. That is why delegations from more than 40 countries around the world have decided to take part in the celebrations to which Russia has not been invited.
- It was a double invasion - he said on pl. Piłsudski, US Vice President Mike Pence.

But Moscow, in the reflex of increasing desperation, does not intend to recognize this truth. "Any celebration of World War II without the participation of Russia cannot be full-fledged," said Russian Ambassador to Warsaw, Sergei Andreyev. - The actions of the Polish authorities insult the memory of over 600,000 thousands of soldiers and officers who died for the liberation of Poland - emphasized the head of the Russian State Duma, Vyacheslav Volodin.

Poland, however, fully appreciates the role of the USSR in defeating the Third Reich after Hitler declared war on Stalin in June 1941. Therefore, he wants to invite Kremlin representatives for the 75th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz.
The Kremlin pays the price of isolation for falsehood. - The lesson of those times is that you cannot allow borders to be changed, sanctions must be maintained - said Andrzej Duda, referring to the aggression against Ukraine. Merkel clapped her hands.
And:
Update: 17.01.2020, 13:55
Publication: 01/16/2020
World War II: The dispute over the "liberation" of Warsaw by the USSR
Paweł Łepkowski
WRITE TO THE AUTHOR
75 years ago, troops of the First Belorussian Front entered Warsaw. Along with the Red Army, soldiers of the 1st Polish Army entered the demolished capital. Although many Polish soldiers came from Warsaw, no one was happy to return. The city was one big graveyard.
Some soldiers were crying, others were devastated. But even in this sea of ruins life was still smoldering. Few civilians appeared among the ruins who were hiding in the basements of the destroyed houses for three months. Such was the nature of pre-war Varsovians, unique people - relentless, tenacious and invincible.

For 50 years after the war, January 17 was portrayed as Warsaw's liberation day. There is truth and falsehood in it. Every city is made up of its inhabitants, not buildings. There were neither people nor houses in Warsaw. There was no one or anything to release. Can we therefore say that January 17 is a historic day in the Polish calendar for freeing the capital from German captivity?

We should not forget that at the news of the outbreak of the Warsaw Uprising, Adolf Hitler ordered the Reichsführer SS Heinrich Himmler and the Chief of General Staff of the General Command of Land Forces (OKH) General Heinz Guderian to level Warsaw with all the inhabitants. The Obergruppenführer SS designated for this purpose Erich von dem Bach-Zelewski received the order of the Führer: "Every citizen must be killed, no prisoners may be taken. Warsaw is to be razed to the ground and thus an intimidating example for the whole of Europe is to be created. "The implementation of this apocalyptic scenario began already on August 5-7, 1944, when SS troops murdered about 65,000 residents of Wola. It was the largest one-off crime against civilians during World War II.

Drawn up on December 20, 1944, a top-secret final report (Schlussbericht) of the Warsaw District Governor, dr. Friedrich Gollert describes the deportation of over half a million inhabitants of the Polish capital, and estimates the number of victims among civilians at 200,000. people. From October 3, 1944 to January 16, 1945, special German brigades destroyed 45 percent. capital buildings, including 72 percent residential buildings. In the act of supreme barbarism, on November 27, 1944, German hordes blew up the Royal Castle in Warsaw. 25 churches, almost all schools, colleges and hospitals met a similar fate. 90 thousand Poles were sent to slave labor in Germany, and 60,000 imprisoned in concentration camps. Warsaw has practically ceased to exist.

The entry of the troops of the 1st Belorussian Front was paid for by the death of many Polish and Soviet soldiers. We cannot deny them heroism and sacrifice in the fight against our greatest oppressor. On January 12, 1945, the Red Army embarked on a major offensive that was codenamed the Wisła-Odra operation. The 61st Army of the First Belorussian Front launched its assault towards Warsaw from the Wareka-Magnuszewski bridgehead. From the side of Modlin, the 47th Army of the 1st Belorussian Front struck the capital, closing the 9th German Army in the Warsaw cauldron. The 1st Army of the Polish Army under the command of General Stanisław Popławski directed its strike directly at Warsaw.

On January 17, six infantry divisions entered the suburbs of the destroyed city from various directions. German shielding forces sporadically defended themselves in some parts of the capital. The largest fire exchange occurred in the Citadel and at the intersection of Aleje Jerozolimskie and Nowy Świat. At 15.00 Warsaw was "liberated" from the Germans.

Two days later, in Jerusalem Avenues cleared of rubble, in front of the Polonia Hotel, in a strange scenery of an extinct city, an honorable tribune was erected, on which people of Warsaw did not know: Soviet marshal Georgy Zhukov, Bolesław Bierut, Edward Osóbka-Morawski, Władysław Gomułka, Michał Rola-Żymierski and Stanisław Popławski. A parade of troops of the 1st Polish Army began a new chapter in the history of Poland. Everyone wondered what the meaning of "liberation" meant.
And:
75 years ago the Red Army "liberated" Warsaw. And propaganda started immediately
Jan 17, 2020

75 years ago, on January 17, 1945, units of the 1st Polish Army and Soviet Army entered the left-bank ruins of Warsaw. Although the struggle with the retreating small German forces lasted only a few hours, they became an important element of communist historical propaganda.

After defeats in the fighting on the outskirts of Warsaw at the end of July and beginning of August 1944, the Soviet army stopped its offensive for over a month. The scale of losses, however, was not large enough to actually stop the red armored roller rolling towards the Vistula. Moscow particularly widely advertised the extent of its defeat at Radzymin with the selection of German armored forces. The real purpose of the German command was to stop the Soviets long enough to prepare defense on the left bank. To his surprise, they did not launch an attack on the so-called Warsaw suburb. This gave time to deal with the Warsaw Uprising. By their failures, the Soviets could justify stopping the front and wait for bleeding The Home Army .
While the Red Army had moved quickly there was also opposition behind their lines in both Belorussia and the Ukraine, in which thousands of people died. Dealing with such issues was probably a realistic approach to the further advance.
The first phase of the Soviet "liberation" of the Polish capital began on September 10, 1944. After seizing the towns near Warsaw on September 13, troops of Zygmunt Berling and their Soviet comrades began the fight in the dense buildings of Prague. The clashes lasted over two days and turned out to be much more fierce than the January battle for ruins on the left bank. Their souvenir are traces of fire preserved to this day, including at the headquarters of PKPat ul. Fair. Attempts to land on the right bank in the following weeks did not receive sufficient Soviet support and ended in defeat. On the front for almost two and a half months there was peace. The exception was the German shelling of Prague. Her main thoroughfare was particularly dangerous. According to the residents, Targowa became the "avenue of death".

Although the German army was within a sniper's distance, the Soviet authorities almost immediately after the occupation of Prague began to build a terror apparatus that was to prepare the ground for the takeover of power by the Polish National Liberation Committee. Already in September 1944 in a tenement house at ul. Strzelecka began the work of the NKVD . A prison and torture chamber for underground soldiers were arranged in the basements. There were interrogation rooms and officers' quarters on the floors. In the first weeks after the Soviet "liberation" NKVD also took part of the great building of the Junior High School. Władysław IV and the building Prague turnpike.

At the same time, the city was destroyed on the other side. The demolition of buildings was preceded by organized robbery. By mid-January 1945, about 45,000 were transported from Warsaw to the west. wagons filled with the residents' property and all types of factory machinery and raw materials. The apocalypse was observed by few Poles forced to slave labor by the Germans. "There was a deafening detonation, in our eyes the whole edifice jumped up slightly and disappeared in the clouds of limestone dust. When the cloud of dust settled, a huge pyramid of broken bricks and entire lumps of the wall appeared on the site of the former Ministry of Foreign Affairs at Wierzbowa Street. a gruesome spectacle unfolded several dozen meters from our truck "- recalled one of the Polish witnesses of the destruction of the Brühl Palace on December 18, 1944. Eleven days later the same fate happened to the neighboring Saxon Palace. The last destroyed building was the Public Library of the Capital City Warsaw at ul. Basketball. January 16, 1945 The Germans set fire to the book and magazine magazines of around 0.5 million volumes. Losses for Polish culture would have been even greater were it not for the sacrificial work of dozens of museologists and librarians protecting collections with the consent of the Germans who want to plunder them. Hundreds of mined objects were not managed to blow up before the Soviet offensive began.

The so-called. the Warsaw operation lasted much shorter than the fighting for Prague. It was part of the great offensive launched by the Red Army on January 12, 1945, called the Vistula-Oder operation . The 1st Army of the Polish Armed Forces and 47th and 61st Army of the 1st Belorussian Front took part in the action aimed at displacing the Germans from January 14-17, 1945. Both Soviet armies, 61 operating from the Vorka-Magnuszewski bridgehead and 47 invading from the side of Modlin, struck towards Błonie, flanking the capital from the north and south-west, creating the so-called Warsaw cauldron, which included the 9th German Army. The ruins of the city were to be defended by the "Warsaw" Fortress Division established for this purpose.

To avoid the total destruction of subordinate troops, the commander of the 9th Army, General Smilo Freiherr von Lüttwitz, despite the orders of his superiors, ordered the withdrawal of all forces from the Vistula line to organize a resistance line over Bzura, Rawka and central Pilica. On the morning of January 17, 1st, 3rd and 4th Infantry Division developed an attack from the southeast towards the suburbs of Warsaw. On the same day, 2 DP, after crossing the area near Jabłonna to Kępa Kiełpińska, took offensive action on the northern edges of the capital. The 6th Infantry Division and the 1st Warsaw Independent Cavalry Brigade crossed the Vistula and hit the city from Prague, east and south, respectively.

The fights for the capture of the capital lasted only a few hours , because von Lüttwitz's order was carried out very efficiently. On January 17, 1945, there were only cover forces before the soldiers of the 1st Polish Army. Serious clashes with the enemy occurred sporadically, mainly in the area of Bielański Forest, the demolished Main Railway Station and at the intersection of Aleje Jerozolimskie and Nowy Świat. The place of intense, though short, battle was the Citadel. At around 15 ruins were cleared of the enemy. The danger, however, were hundreds of traps left by the Germans - about 110 LWP soldiers were killed in the fighting, most due to their explosions.

On the other side of the Vistula appeared a special edition of "Życie Warszawy" published for two months . The next day, almost the entire issue of the only newspaper appearing in the city was devoted to "liberating the capital . " It was reported, among others, that "Moscow, the capital of the Soviet Union honored the capture of Warsaw with 24 shots from 320 cannons", and "the commander-in-chief of the Red Army Marshal of the Soviet Union Józef Stalin expressed special thanks to the 1st Polish Army". Only in the text below did the editors publish the radio speech of the Prime Minister broadcast in Lublin, the so-called Provisional Government, Edward Osóbka-Morawski. In addition to calls for the reconstruction of Warsaw and other destroyed cities, the puppet office officer emphasized the merits of his "allies". "There are no words that can express the enormity of happiness that fills our hearts, there are no words that can express full thanks and tribute to our liberator, the heroic Red Army and its genius leader Marshal Stalin. We regain freedom thanks to the fight brotherly nations of us and their magnificent Red Army. The Polish nation will keep in eternal memory and repay them with friendship that only the Polish soul can achieve "- he declared.

On the same day, appeals of other communist authorities - the Warsaw Provincial National Council and the National National Council - appeared on the walls of Prague and the surrounding cities. Residents were called to return to the city, and workers from all over Poland to help the reconstruction with their work. In the propaganda of the new authorities, the slogan of rebuilding the capital by a whole nation was beginning to emerge, with the support of a new "ally." "The Slavic nations of the USSR are already helping us in the reconstruction of Warsaw. Let it be another stimulus for all of us. Let's exercise all our strength and all abilities, let us awake the passion of work" - noted the National Council.

The real picture of the city was outlined in the short report 'Życie Warszawy'. One of the journalists on the first day after the Germans withdrew, crossed the frozen Vistula. He described the destruction along a dozen or so major thoroughfares, buildings that survived, and even the last traces of German presence. "Relatively survived the German district and the execution buildings on Aleja Szucha. Panic found the Gestapo men at breakfast : there are still bitten biscuits, wine bottles are falling" - noted the reporter. In one of the last passages, he added: "Whoever has not been to Warsaw is not able to imagine how the monster was destroyed and left the capital".

On January 19, in Aleje Jerozolimskie, to the sounds of "Warszawianka" paraded designated units of the 1st Army of the Polish Army. Representatives of the communist authorities and the army welcomed the march on the grandstand opposite the Polonia Hotel, including Bolesław Bierut , Władysław Gomułka , Edward Osóbka-Morawski, General Michał Rola-Żymierski, General Stanisław Popławski (then commander of the 1st Army of the Polish Army), Colonel Marian Spychalski and Soviet Marshal Gieorgij Żukow.

The later co-creator of the Elderly Gentlemen's Cabaret Jeremi Przybora was one of the witnesses of that event: the ghostly "liberation" of the city corpse and the ghostly parade in his cemetery [...], this parade of victorious units marching between two silent lines of specters. They appeared, like a dumb audience, on the stands of fallen debris and ruins along the route of the march of the soldiers of the Warsaw operation. The specters of boys and girls from the Home Army, mixed in with crowds of residents who were together with Warsaw fighters, its face and soul, smile, despair and fear. [...] a parade of liberators who no longer liberated anyone .

The Polish press in exile spoke in a similar tone. "Rapid progress of the Soviet army in Poland. Warsaw in the hands of the Russians. German armies threatened by disaster" - reported the headline of the "Dziennik Polski and Dziennik Ż Soldier" published in London. The first page contains the statement of the Prime Minister Tomasz Arciszewski, distant in style from the speech of Osóbka-Morawski. "After almost five and a half years of Nazi occupation, German invaders were pushed out of the fall of our capital, captured by the Soviet army. No other capital of the United Nations suffered such martyrdom and such destruction as Warsaw, but its spirit was not broken, as the defense in 1939 and the unrivaled battle for Warsaw in 1944. At the end of the 63-day battle, the dying defenders, trying to shake the conscience of the world, cried in their despair: we are fighting for freedom, we are fighting for the right to freedom. Today, as then, these words express this what Poland is demanding from the world "- emphasized the Prime Minister of the Polish government.

As early as January 17, 1945, the Soviet terror apparatus began preparations to take control of the entire Polish capital. Together with soldiers of the Polish People's Army, Soviet troops entered Warsaw, including NKVD units. On January 19, General Ivan Serov wrote to the head of the NKVD Lavrenty Beria: "In order to bring order to Warsaw, we did the following: 1. We organized operational-Chekist groups to filter all residents intending to get to Prague; 2. operational groups are working , composed of employees of the Ministry of Public Security of Poland and our Chekists, aimed at disclosing and detaining the leadership of the Home Army Headquarters, NSZ and underground political parties. "

After the capture of the capital, it began to mine and build a pontoon bridge over the Vistula. Despite extremely difficult living conditions at the end of January 1945, Warsaw residents began to return to their city. It is estimated that on January 17, 1945, 140,000 people lived in the right-bank part - occupied by the forces of the 1st Belorussian Front and the First Army of the Polish Army on September 15, 1944. people, while over 20 thousand was in distant left-bank suburbs.

By the end of January 1945, despite the lack of housing, food, fuel, lighting and communication, the city's population increased by 12,000. The atmosphere of those days was remembered by soldiers of the Home Army, prisoner Pawiak, writer Maria Ginter who stood in solidarity to fight for his freedom and who raise them against all logic. The Germans decided that Warsaw would not be there. The residents of Warsaw denied this. "Their effort meant that the communist authorities," encouraged "also by Moscow, decided that Warsaw would be rebuilt and remain the capital.

The total losses of the capital's population suffered during World War II are estimated at 600-800 thousand, including about 350 thousand. Jews and approx. 170 thousand killed or murdered in the Warsaw Uprising. According to uncertain estimates of the Office for the Reconstruction of the Capital, urban losses amounted to about 84 percent. (industrial buildings - 90%, residential - 72% and historic - 90%).

Gazeta Wyborcza (Polish pronunciation: [ɡaˈzɛta vɨˈbɔrtʂa]; meaning Electoral Newspaper in English) is a newspaper published in Warsaw, Poland. It covers the gamut of political, international and general news from liberal and conservative perspectives.
Russia sniffs Poland's plot with the West and declassifies documents related to WWII
Jakub Łukaszewski
January 17, 2020 | 11:15
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov claims that Poland is persuading representatives of Western countries to present the Polish version of history in Jerusalem on January 23. Russia also declassifies documents regarding the entry of the Red Army into Warsaw.

President Andrzej Duda will not take part in the celebrations of the 75th anniversary of the liberation of the Auschwitz camp in Jerusalem, because the scenario of the celebration of the Fifth Holocaust Forum did not assume his speech.

The presidents of: Russia, France , Great Britain and the United States will speak for it . As Duda stated, there is an unacceptable situation of "the absence of the president of a country whose citizens were the majority of Holocaust victims . "

Lavrov: Duda's incomprehensible decision
On Friday, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov referred to the decision of the Polish president. In his opinion, Duda's decision is incomprehensible and the actions of the Polish authorities are aimed at ensuring that the Polish point of view is presented in Jerusalem. - We know that Polish colleagues are trying to convince Western participants to present in their speeches the Polish point of view regarding Russia's position on World War II - said Lavrov.

Poland at the World Holocaust Forum will be represented by the Polish ambassador to Israel Marek Magierowski, but he will not be able to speak either. The main actor in the ceremony in Israel, however, will be Russian President Vladimir Putin , who in recent weeks justified the Ribbentrop-Molotov pact several times, blaming the outbreak of war with, among others Józef Lipski called Poland and the Polish ambassador in Nazi Berlin Berlin a "villain and anti-Semitic pig" .

Russia declassifies documents
According to PAP , Lavrov also noted that the Russian Ministry of Defense published "archival data on how and who liberated Warsaw". - It would be important to find out what the Polish side will say after studying it - added the head of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Russia.

Earlier, the Ministry of Defense announced the publication of declassified documents regarding, among others the Red Army entered Warsaw on January 17, 1945. The Ministry emphasized that the publication of the documents was "a continuation of activities aimed at protecting historical truth".

On Friday , a message on the declassification of documents regarding "the liberation of Poland from the Nazi occupation" appeared on the website of the Ministry of Defense of Russia . There is a discussion there (prepared by the press office of the Ministry of Defense) and a link to a special page dedicated to the 75th anniversary of the events of January 17, 1945.

This is where the declassified documents are found . It regards, among others for notes made by Soviet soldiers about the Warsaw Uprising, battles in Warsaw, the fate of insurgents and the city's inhabitants. There is also an appeal by General Julian Skokowski to Stalin, a report on the activities of the Home Army or documents intended to provide economic assistance to Poles by the armed forces of the Belarusian Front.

Polish Ministry of Foreign Affairs: "This is not liberation, but new slavery"
The Polish Ministry of Foreign Affairs reacted to the publication of documents by the Russians. - "We respect the blood shed in the fight against Nazism, but in 1945 the Stalin regime brought terror, crimes and a robbery economy. The Red Army liberated Warsaw from German occupation, but did not bring Poles freedom!" - announced the Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Twitter.
[The above Tweet has a link, but in Polish, which appears as imbedded in the article, below is a picture of a different version found on Twitter]
1579271334282.png
Polish deputy minister of foreign affairs Paweł Jabłoński said that nowadays we are increasingly trying to lie to history. - On January 17, 1945, the Red Army entered Warsaw ruined after the Warsaw Uprising, and before that it stood and watched from the other bank of the Vistula River how Warsaw was being destroyed. It was not liberation, it was bringing new communist captivity, and we must remember that, of course, while respecting individual soldiers, '' Jabłoński said, quoted by PAP.
In the book Political Ponerology by the Polish psychologist Andrew ;. Lobaczewski he describes some of the changes that took place in society after WWII, perhaps that might go some way to explain the impression left in Polish history: Some elements of the theory are explained here: Political Ponerology Home The overall possible lesson might have been to learn what characterizes a pathocracy, but that does not seem to be evident in Polish society.
 
With the video above, RT also coined a new term called, Paranoid Putinophrenia, which pretty much sums up what the Media is continuously engaged in, as well as large parts of the uniformed public. One notes, that it is a form of paranoid schizophrenia..

An article posted on Reuter's ...

Russian parliament backs Putin's pick for PM after 'January Revolution'
Mikhail Mishustin, who was nominated by Russian President Vladimir Putin as the candidate for the post of Prime Minister, delivers a speech during a session of the State Duma, the lower house of parliament, in Moscow, Russia January 16, 2020. REUTERS/Evgenia Novozhenina
The Russian parliament overwhelmingly backed President Vladimir Putin's surprise choice for prime minister on Thursday after what one daily called a "January revolution", a major political overhaul that some say could set Putin up as leader for life.


Maybe President Putin should have dressed as Napoléon Bonaparte when he gave his address?

See the source image


But then again ...

See the source image


No "one President" has ever accomplished - so much towards World Peace - then Russian President Vladimir Putin!

See the source image
 
The conflict over history between Russia and Eastern European countries like Poland affects other countries as well, and many will be exposed to the varying views. Since 2014 the EU has been hostage to Eastern European and anglo-american interests in sanctioning Russia. At this time NATO has a clear interest in stoking this conflict over history, it helps to motivate soldiers to join the army and isolate Russia. It helps to fuel the willingness to sacrifice money to shop US made military hardware. The Russian Foreign Ministry can hardly be mistaken in thinking this trend will also play a role in anti-Russian policies in the coming time.

Over the years there have been many knots in Polish/Russian/Soviet history, some are mentioned in these threads and posts: Poland
The Gulag Archipelago about the research of Grover Furr who learned many languages in order to read many sources and get an understanding of the history of Eastern Europe including aspects of the history of Poland. See also Grover Furr: Stalin was demonized
One can also look in the Wikipedia:
or Occupation of Poland (1939–1945) - Wikipedia it is clear that there are many aspects even if there can be disagreements over the numbers, places and dates. Sometimes Wikipedia is reliable and sometimes one has to be more careful especially when the topic becomes highly politicized. One Israeli discussing possible extermination camps in Warsaw mentions Wikipedia:
How Poland's ruling party cynically fuels anti-Semitism and Holocaust denial | Opinion from Nov 24, 2019 4:42 PM
In 2001, the Polish parliament passed a motion announcing a monument to the victims of KL Warschau, complete with a foundation stone that had been blessed by Pope John Paul II. But the plan sparked a bitter dispute as to which KL Warschau was to be commemorated. In the absence of consensus, nationalist activists started putting up their own monuments promoting Trzcinska’s version of the story.

And as Haaretz reported recently, they also engaged in an intensive, decades-long campaign to manipulate and falsify Wikipedia entries about the camp.
And it is not just Poland, here is a long article from Times of Israel about Lithuania which also mentions Poland and mentions that the non-appearance of Andrzej Duda is related to his policies and disagreements on the issue of anti-semitism:
Following Poland’s lead, Lithuania proposes controversial Holocaust law
Government drafting legislation declaring neither Lithuania nor its leaders participated in genocide. Survivors, historians and remembrance institutions say this is blatantly false

By CNAAN LIPHSHIZ 15 January 2020, 5:16 am

Poland passed a controversial Holocaust law last year that drew sharp international criticism and damaged its relations with Israel, United States and Jewish groups around the world. Many feared the law, which prohibited rhetoric accusing Poland of complicity in Nazi crimes — since the Nazis occupied Poland, Polish leaders argue — would hamper education and historical research of the genocide.

Those concerns and issues have not disappeared in the year since Poland passed the legislation. Despite several attempts to bury the hatchet, Polish President Andrzej Duda last week pulled out of a major Holocaust commemoration event in Jerusalem.

Some historians and survivors say the Polish legislation has encouraged other European nations with far more sinister Holocaust records to attempt to whitewash their own participation in the genocide.

One such country is Lithuania, where Nazi complicity was both widespread and a major reason why about 95 percent of the country’s 250,000 Jews were wiped out, according to major international research institutions about the Holocaust.

Trying to counter that narrative, a Lithuanian lawmaker for the ruling party of Prime Minister Saulius Skvernelis announced last month that a committee he heads is drafting legislation declaring that neither Lithuania nor its leaders participated in the Holocaust.

“The Lithuanian state did not participate in the Holocaust because it was occupied, just as the Lithuanian nation could not participate in the Holocaust because it was enslaved,” said the lawmaker, Arunas Gumuliauskas.

To Rosa Bloch, a 91-year-old survivor of the Kaunas, or Kovno, ghetto, the assertions are “so clearly false and outrageous that it could only have been the result of the Polish legislation,” she told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency.

“The Lithuanians saw it worked for the Poles, so they also went ahead,” Bloch said.

In September, Gumuliauskas organized a meeting with Polish lawmakers about historical memory, referring to what he described as a common challenge.

“Today, when Lithuanian-Polish relations are good, third parties are trying to knock us over the head by using the prism of historical memory,” he said in an interview about the meeting. Gumuliauskas did not name the third parties.

The meeting, he added, was to promote “cooperation between historians of both countries in pursuit of common goals.”

Whatever the exact relationship between the Polish and Lithuanian pushes for exoneration — Gumuliauskas did not respond to JTA’s query on the matter — they are part of a broader effort on the part of Eastern European nations to emphasize their populations’ victimhood and contradict or diminish allegations of complicity in the Holocaust.

Whereas Western European societies have increasingly assumed responsibility for the persecution of their Jews, the opposite has happened in Eastern European nations, where education about the Holocaust was largely absent or lacking under communism.

Many in Eastern Europe today excuse their compatriots’ collaboration with Nazi Germany as “aimed at achieving independence from the Soviet Union” rather than to kill Jews, Michael Berenbaum, a former director of the US Holocaust Museum’s research institute, told JTA. He also said that the Polish law was “encouraging” politicians in other countries to seek similar legislation.

Amid rising nationalism across the continent, governments in multiple Eastern European countries now celebrate Nazi collaborators, including perpetrators of the Holocaust, as patriotic heroes.

In Ukraine, the parliament passed a law in 2015 that praised “anti-communist partisans,” including Nazi collaborators, and criminalized uttering “insults” about their memory. Streets there are named for collaborators Stepan Bandera and Roman Shukhevych, among others.

In 2014, Latvia introduced a law stipulating up to five years in jail for those who deny the role of “the foreign powers that have perpetrated crimes against Latvia and the Latvian nation” without mentioning the involvement of Latvian SS volunteers in murdering nearly all of the country’s 70,000 Jews. German SS veterans march annually through the streets of the capital Riga flanked by ultranationalist activists.

Back in Lithuania, a school is named for Jonas Noreika, a wartime leader who helped killed Jews.

Seen in this context, the proposed legislation in Lithuania is a trial balloon and “the next step in Holocaust distortion in Eastern Europe,” said Efraim Zuroff, the Eastern Europe director of the Simon Wiesenthal Center, who in recent years has focused on Holocaust history and revisionism in Lithuania.

If a nation with a Holocaust record such as Lithuania’s passes a law that exonerates it without significant diplomatic fallout, Zuroff suggested, “it could be a terrible sign for others.”

Ruta Vangaite, a bestselling author in Lithuania who has written about the Holocaust, said the law would be a “travesty.”

“On the first week of occupation, the Lithuanian government established the first concentration camp and created a battalion that killed Jews. This was the Lithuanian government. And everybody knows it,” she said.

The remarkable brutality of anti-Semitic pogroms in Lithuania is another challenge for the law’s architects. One of the most infamous happened in Kaunas, where dozens of Jews were butchered by club-wielding locals at a bus garage. Some perpetrators posed for pictures over the tortured bodies of their victims while displaying the murder weapons.

From a historical perspective, Poland has a far stronger case than Lithuania for opposing allegations of complicity in the Holocaust, according to Zuroff.

In both countries, he said, the Holocaust would not have happened if not for the Germans. And in both, locals killed thousands of Jews during the Nazi occupation.

But Poland “didn’t exist as a country” when the Nazis occupied it, and its government in exile “didn’t encourage actions against the Jews.” In Poland today, expressions of admiration for Nazi collaborators are quite rare.

By contrast, the collaborationist Provisional Government of Lithuania was responsible for countless murders in the six weeks of its brief existence.

Language used by leading Holocaust historians about the two countries reflects that difference.

On Poland, Sara Bloomfield, director of the US Holocaust Memorial Museum, wrote last year in a letter to the Polish president that “The Polish nation was the victim of German aggression and suffered an exceptionally brutal occupation. Characterizations – due to either ignorance or malice – of Polish responsibility for the establishment of Nazi concentration and death camps are unquestionably historically inaccurate.”

Bloomfield also mentioned the many Poles who saved Jews alongside many others who helped kill them.

Yad Vashem, Israel’s Holocaust memorial and museum, writes on Poland that “Facing a ruthless occupation and being engaged in a constant struggle for existence, the Polish public at large paid little attention to the immensely greater distress” of the Jews.

Both museums use different terminology about Lithuania.

“The Lithuanians carried out violent riots against the Jews both shortly before and immediately after the arrival of German forces,” a US Holocaust Memorial Museum summary reads, noting that most of the country’s Jews had been shot during the brief lifespan of its Quisling government.

Aftermath of the Kovno, Lithuania (or Kaunas) ‘garage’ massacre in June of 1941, perpetrated by pro-German Lithuanians (public domain)
Lithuania is the only Nazi-occupied country noted by Yad Vashem for its people’s “enthusiasm” for collaboration with Germany. Even when this enthusiasm “subsided … hostility towards Jews and denunciation persisted,” the Jerusalem museum says.

Zuroff said Lithuania’s government needs to face this record.

“While nongovernmental organizations carry out important commemoration work, the main thrust of Holocaust education is done in the school system and by prosecuting perpetrators,” he said. “These are things only a government can do.”
And still another article:
'IT IS ALWAYS WORRYING AND DISTURBING TO SEE THE USE OF LAW TO IMPOSE SOMETHING ON COMMON KNOWLEDGE'
Is new Polish law an attempt to whitewash its citizens’ roles in the Holocaust?
Some experts worry that legislation which criminalizes talk of ‘Polish death camps’ places emphasis on one aspect of World War II history while suppressing country’s dark past

By AMANDA BORSCHEL-DAN 18 August 2016,
[...]
When neighbor killed neighbor
Historian Jan Tomasz Gross’s 2001 book “Neighbors” caused shockwaves in Poland and beyond with its descriptions of the “ordinary” Poles who perpetrated the 1941 Jedwabne massacre. Gross, who was awarded the Knight’s Cross of the Order of Merit in 1996, has been an object of vilification under the PiS government. In February 2016, Polish President Andrzej Duda went so far as to request a re-evaluation of Gross’s worthiness for the medal due to the scholar’s attempts to “destroy Poland’s good name,” said Duda.
In response, the Princeton University professor said Duda’s request “appears to be a politically motivated attempt to intimidate and threaten all those who expose the history of anti-Semitism in Poland.”

But it’s a history that cannot be forgotten by those who have lived and breathed it, such as Polish-born Rabbi Mati Kos.

“I remember being part of the minyan [prayer quoram] saying tehilim [psalms] in Jedwabne during the excavation of remains from the barn. It was part of the official investigation. Being there on that very spot among those remains was just about one of the scariest moments in my life,” Kos said.

Kos, who now resides in Manchester, also questions the motives behind the new criminalized ban on “Polish death camps.”

“I think Poland is going after Jedwabne, Kielce and all the other war/post-war bestiality that is just starting to come to light… They really want to change the narrative,” he told The Times of Israel.

“I’m not a linguist, but I thought saying ‘Polish camps’ might also mean camps located in Poland. Although I can appreciate common folk sensitivity, I feel somehow that making it a law is being vengeful and overreacting. And it might be just me, but I feel it’s like getting back for discovering the terrible truths about Poles murdering Jews,” said Kos.
Jan Tomasz Gross was mentioned and here is more on the story:
Polish prosecutors drop defamation case against Holocaust scholar
Jan Tomasz Gross was accused of insulting the Polish nation for claiming Poles killed more Jews during World War II than they killed Nazis

By AGENCIES and TOI STAFF26 November 2019, 10:05 pm
[...]
The US-based Gross was questioned after multiple complaints were filed with prosecutors by Polish citizens over the 2015 article in which he asserted that Poles killed more Jews during the German occupation than they killed Germans — a claim that challenges a widespread conviction in Poland that the Polish response to the German terror was almost exclusively honorable.

Gross made the comparison in an article published by Project Syndicate in September 2015 critical of how Poland and other Eastern European countries have reacted to the migrant crisis. He decried the region’s opposition to accepting refugees as “heartless” and argued that the attitude is rooted in the region’s “murderous past.”

In the most controversial section, Gross wrote: “Consider the Poles, who, deservedly proud of their society’s anti-Nazi resistance, actually killed more Jews than Germans during the war.”

He was charged under what the Warsaw prosecutor’s office described as a provision of the criminal code that “provides that any person who publicly insults the Polish nation is punishable by up to three years in prison.”

There appeared to be significant political will behind Gross’ prosecution, given that a Polish prosecutor who twice wanted to end the investigation found himself demoted.

Since prosecutors launched their probe into Gross, Warsaw has taken further steps to criminalize what its leaders see as foreign efforts to blame it for the Holocaust.


In February 2018, the Polish parliament passed a law that criminalized blaming Poland for Nazi crimes, sparking a diplomatic crisis with Israel. The bill was later amended so that those found in violation would no longer be liable to serve a jail term if found guilty. The passage of the law and subsequent diplomatic furor were accompanied by an uptick in public expressions of anti-Semitism in Poland.

Gross has said that he believes the law’s real aim is to “gag” the way history is written far more broadly.

“I am going to write what I am writing. But young people will think twice before they specialize in that field, and teachers and others will feel very constrained about speaking about and addressing issues of complicity and how the Holocaust played out in Poland,”
he said in an interview with the Associated Press last year.

Those who have condemned resurgent anti-Semitism in Poland have found themselves under attack from nationalists and there have been several reports of Polish leaders like President Andrzej Duda and Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki making derogatory statements about Jews.
[...]
See also:
RACHEL DONADIOFEBRUARY 8, 2018
[...]
“We are not responsible for a past on which we had no influence,” the director of Warsaw’s polin Museum of the History of Polish Jews and the chairman of the board of the Association of the Jewish Historical Institute of Poland wrote in a statement. “However, we are responsible for what we do about that past today. Above all, we owe the truth to the victims of past crimes, and the truth is fueled by an open and factual discussion.”

On display in the World War II museum in Gdansk is a case displaying the keys to the homes of Jewish Poles who were murdered by their Polish neighbors in the town of Jedwabne, an infamous episode during the war. The government is trying to change the museum exhibit, although it’s unclear how that particular display might be affected. The former director and others are suing for copyright infringement, on the grounds that the museum exhibit they designed should not be violated. Whatever the outcome of the lawsuit—and the new law—the keys exist.
When reading Polish newspaper articles there is as if nothing to see. The following article gives a sketch of the possibly more realistic situation. It is machine translated from Russian.
The history of Polish anti-Semitism and its influence on the policy of the state
12.03.2019Dmitry Ofitserov-Belsky

[...]Recent candor Israeli acting foreign Minister Yisrael Katz caused a serious international scandal. He quoted the late Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir: "Poles suck anti-Semitism with their mothers milk".A breach of diplomatic etiquette out particularly resonant, because just a few days before Warsaw hosted an international conference on the peaceful settlement in the middle East. [...]

By the end of the 1930s, Polish politicians have seriously talked about the relocation of Jews to Madagascar or to Latin America. Undoubtedly an influence on "liberation" of anti-Semitism in Poland and had the example of Nazi Germany, which was perceived as a far-sighted position highly cultured European nation. In other words, on the eve of the Second world war anti-Semitism in Poland was already an integral part of the public discourse.
1579363635097.png
By the beginning of world war II live in Poland 3.3 million Jews. At the time of its completion remained only 380 thousand people; 70% of them – those who fled the country in the first days of the occupation. Photo: German soldiers lead Jews to forced labor, October 1939
Berliner Verlag/DPA Picture Alliance/Alamy Stock Photo/Vostock Photo

There is nothing surprising in the fact that with the advent of the German Nazis in Poland in 1939, part of the population positively perceived their logic in resolving the Jewish question. The so-called Shmaltsovniks (szmalcownik) issued to the invaders fellow citizens - saved and saved. For the extradition of Jews, they received a standard reward consisting of a small amount of money, sugar, tobacco and liquor. However, it was not Polish collaborators or even Germans who were not engaged in the search for Jews who posed the greatest danger to those hiding, but Ukrainian nationalists.

It would seem that after the war had to become a thing of the past and the persecution of the Jews in Poland. But the reality was much sadder – attacks and mass killings, hundreds of victims and calls "finish Hitler's work". In the first postwar years in Poland were up to a quarter of a million returned or the surviving Jews, but quite quickly they began to leave the country, moving mainly to Palestine.

Many poles drew analogies between the re-establishment of Israel and the revival of Polish statehood and even were proud of the success of the Israeli army. In the course was a joke: "Again, our Jews beat the Soviet Arabs". However, the line of the government was sent a completely different logic, and after the six day war in 1967 and student riots in Warsaw of 1968 was followed by anti-Zionist campaign in the press, depriving the Jews of party tickets PZPR (Polish United workers ' party) and the opportunity to teach in schools and universities. Soon this was followed by another mass Exodus of Jews from Poland. The voluntary departure from Poland has never been so difficult as of the USSR, so the outflow of the Jewish population in subsequent years was much lesser, but was never interrupted.
[...]
One question not asked and answered is why would some Polish people be inclined to thoughts and actions that made others judge them to be anit-semitic. What was the background in their experience?

War is seldom pretty. Regarding both helping and not helping, which is the subject of the above articles, one could ask how many Poles or people, that in the short time from 1918-1939 during post WW1 had lived in the intermediate Polish nation, that had been absent from the map since 1795, how many of these people were working for the German forces, the Western and the Red Army. The Wiki does not mention Poland, but one estimate from На стороне Третьего Рейха воевало около миллиона поляков concludes:
That is on the side of the Third Reich fought about a MILLION POLES.
On the side the USSR fought 330 thousand poles.
On the side of the allies fought 220 thousand poles.
That is, against the Third Reich war 550 thousand poles is almost TWICE LESS than in the army of the THIRD REICH!
As the poles themselves to assess this situation?
"So, the poles second time saved Stalin. For the first time - not allying with Germany, the second time giving him a precious year of the formation of the armed forces." (Paul Wieczorkiewicz, "Rzeczpospolita", 28 September 2005)

As the saying goes - no comment!

Materials used:
W znienawidzonym mundurze. Losy Polaków przymusowo wcielonych do wojska niemieckiego w okresie II wojny światowej
S. Karner. "Archipelago GUPVI". M., ROS. state humanitarian University, 2002,
"Russia and USSR in wars of XX century". A static study. M., OLMA-press, 2001
"Lubyanka in the days of the battle for Moscow". M., "Belfry", 2002.
"The duel", N 3, 2002, p.6.
VIZH, N9, 1990,
Переводика - Как воевала Польша. Часть 2. Удар в спину
W znienawidzonym mundurze. Losy Polaków przymusowo wcielonych do wojska niemieckiego w okresie II wojny światowej
W znienawidzonym mundurze. Losy Polaków przymusowo wcielonych do wojska niemieckiego w okresie II wojny światowej
W znienawidzonym mundurze. Losy Polaków przymusowo wcielonych do wojska niemieckiego w okresie II wojny światowej
W znienawidzonym mundurze. Losy Polaków przymusowo wcielonych do wojska niemieckiego w okresie II wojny światowej
The way he does his counting I am wondering if those who first were on the side of the Wehrmacht and later joined the allies were counted twice. Those who joined the allies joined late. It seems the total number of combined battle days in the service of the German forces was much greater even than the above numbers suggest.
To give a flavour of the sources used for the above numbers, the last source above W znienawidzonym mundurze. Losy Polaków przymusowo wcielonych do wojska niemieckiego w okresie II wojny światowej when translated includes this text:
Although the wartime fate of each of the hundreds of thousands of Poles incorporated into the German army differed, one can try to describe the typical course of the incarnation - from pre-consort registration to service in linear units.

The most numerous group of Wehrmacht conscripts were the pre-war residents of Silesia and Pomerania, followed by Wielkopolanie and Poles from other regions incorporated into the Reich - the Łódź Region, western Lesser Poland and northern Mazovia, as well as the Free City of Gdańsk. Conscription in Poland, incorporated into the Third Reich, began to take place from March 1940, when the first District Military Commission (Wehrbezirkskommando) was established in Katowice.
For a poster in Polish from 1942, "In the struggle against Bolshevism Savior of Europe only the German soldiers. It was found on Плакаты Второй Мировой (Страница 1) — Война в массовой культуре — Форум проекта "Военный альбом" and is attached.

Below are more articles translated from Polish media. In the first Sergei Lavrov invites the Polish side to discuss the problems based on archival material. That would be a great idea, but is it realistic. Probably anyone interested will have to do some independent research. Here it seems some countries not only have an agenda but also seem to wish to limit research, which is useful if one wish to repeat errors of the past.The article was published by a center-right paper about which the Wiki writes:
Dziennik Gazeta Prawna - Wikipedia Dziennik Gazeta Prawna (meaning Daily Legal Newspaper in English, abbreviation: DGP) is a Polish legal and business daily newspaper, headquartered in Warsaw and published from Monday to Friday.[2] The paper focuses on law, taxes and finances. The publisher of DGP is the Polish company Infor Biznes.
Russia declassified documents on January 17, 1945. And accuses Poland
17 Jan. 2020
The Ministry of defense of Russia announced the publication of declassified documents regarding, among others of the Red Army entering Warsaw on January 17, 1945. The Ministry emphasized that the publication of the documents was "a continuation of activities aimed at protecting historical truth."
According to AFP, the Russian Ministry of Defense on Friday accused the Polish Underground of murdering Jews and Ukrainians in 1945. "These documents testify that the Home Army troops destroyed the Ukrainians and Jews in the city (...)" - the ministry's statement was posted on Facebook.

The information about published documents was published by the ministry, including on your Facebook and Twitter profile on Thursday evening. The entry includes links to a collection of documents and to a website dedicated to the "75th anniversary of the city's liberation". The folder with downloads was named " Liberation of Warsaw ".

The website with the domain of the Russian Ministry of Defense includes, among others scans of documents and information about the Warsaw Uprising, the Home Army, extermination camps on Polish territory , "battles for Warsaw", economic aid for the Polish population.

"The publication of declassified documents about the liberation of Warsaw from the resources of the Central Archives of the Ministry of Defense of Russia is a continuation of the activities of the Ministry of Defense, aimed at protecting and defending historical truth, counteracting falsification of history, and attempts to review the results of the Great Patriotic War and World War II" - emphasized the ministry.

The Great Patriotic War in Russia refers to this part of World War II in 1941-1945, when the USSR fought on the side of the anti-Hitler coalition.

Lavrov: Russia is open to dialogue based on archival documents

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov assured on Friday that his country was open to dialogue on the basis of archival documents ("It would be important to find out what the Polish side will say after studying it.")
And he mentioned the contacts between Polish and Russian historians. He said that this kind of work should not be hostage to attempts to make propaganda history.

Lavrov noticed that Russia and Poland had once had "the entire structure of bilateral mechanisms," including a group of historians, "who dealt with very difficult issues of the past."

He added that this group prepared a textbook which presented joint articles, and separate topics were prepared for topics where sentences were divergent. I believe that this work should be resumed, it should not become a hostage of attempts to make propaganda history - he said.

A few years ago, the Polish-Russian Difficult Group operated, but it did not prepare a joint textbook. Aids for history teachers were later prepared by another group of historians from Poland and Russia. It is not clear which group Lavrov was talking about.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov also believes that attempts to slander his country in connection with World War II and "use this lie" to weaken Russia's current position will continue. He spoke about this in the context of the September resolution of the European Parliament.

Mentioning this resolution, Lavrov said that "The European Parliament is of course an international organization, but it is not universal." He assessed that in the EP "a lot of things are happening at the initiative of the minority" and added that it is a "quite aggressive minority", in which "the first violin is played by the Baltic countries and others."

He also mentioned the December speech of Russian President Vladimir Putin on the causes of World War II. As for the specific facts that were presented by President Putin in his speech in St. Petersburg (...), there was a reaction on the principle of "thief hat gore" - said Lavrov.
In the next article, the author wishfully thinks that the West would have come to help ,if the Soviet Union had stayed out, but provides no arguments. The choice of heading gives the researcher away if he claims to be one, or else an more likely the editors of the paper.
Expert: If it wasn't for the Soviet invasion, the battles with Germany would last longer. The West would have to react [VIDEO]
Sep 17, 2019 update 19 Nov 2019, 15:04
It must be made clear that the battles with the Red Army were unusually chaotic. Let us remember that it was the 17th day of operations and the German army practically defeated the Polish army; this campaign has already been lost - says PAP prof. Jacek Pietrzak, historian from the University of Lodz.

Polish Press Agency: To what extent did Polish military consider the possibility of a Soviet attack on Poland in cooperation with the Third Reich?

Professor Jacek Pietrzak: It must be said openly that not only Polish commanders, but also politicians practically did not assume the possibility of a Soviet invasion of Poland. There was a belief that Stalin would remain neutral, and even the so-called friendly neutrality. However, Polish political and military circles received confidential information, including from French intelligence, and even - which may seem the most shocking - on the part of German military circles regarding preparations for German-Soviet cooperation, which resulted in the secret part of the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact.

What was the direction of Marshal Edward Rydz-Śmigły when he gave the order not to fight the Red Army? Were they only political or military?

I think that various factors contributed to this. Certainly Rydz-Śmigły's situation was difficult because he had a poor orientation about the general situation at that time. However, the motives behind this decision could seem rational - Smigly was overwhelmed by the defeats suffered in the battles against Germany and was aware that the Soviet invasion was an absolute complement to the catastrophe of the Polish state. As a commander, he certainly wanted to avoid additional losses and deepen this disaster. He also hoped that the Soviets would perhaps allow Polish troops to march to Romania or Hungary, which was naive. He admitted to fighting in the event of an attack by the Soviets, but the order showed his instability.

However, as is often the case, unfortunately not only intentions are important, but also results. Despite everything, the opinion prevails, and I also agree that it was a wrong decision. First of all, Polish political authorities should clearly declare to the world that on September 17 Poland was invaded and a state of war exists between the Republic of Poland and the Soviet Union. This would later have its political significance. Unfortunately, it was not decided, perhaps also for fear of the reaction of Western powers, who, after all, referred to Soviet aggression in an almost indifferent way, still hoping that the Soviet Union would be a potential ally in the fight against Adolf Hitler.

How did the troops react to this order? Was it still possible to take an organized fight on the Eastern borders of the Republic of Poland on September 17?

This fight was fought because it was inevitable. Soviet forces simply attacked Polish troops or sought to disarm them. The number of Soviet soldiers used for aggression against Poland is assessed differently. In the first phase, around 450,000 were thrown, and then this number increased - in total, it could amount to over 700,000. On the grounds Polish encroaching upon the troops of the NKVD. Directly in the first moments of aggression, the Polish side could deploy about a dozen or so thousand soldiers and they were rear formations, which from September 1, staying in Kresy, were not able to participate in battles with Germany.

The main burden of fighting with the Soviets fell on the shoulders of the Border Protection Corps. However, it is often forgotten that they were not the first-division units, because the best, at least theoretically, KOP units were sent to fight Germany. Formations of the second and third line really fought against the Soviets. Despite this, they often resisted extremely heroically and did more than they really belonged to.

Which Polish military played a special role in defending the eastern border?

One can indicate here both senior commanders and lower officers who can be treated as heroes of these fights. Certainly, General Wilhelm Orlik-Rückemann - commander of the grouping of the Border Protection Corps - deserves special mention among the commanders. Troops under his command had the toughest battles with the Red Army and were of temporary success. They fought until the beginning of October - they ended the fighting only a few days earlier than General Franciszek Kleeberg near Kock. Among the subordinates of General Rückemann, Lt. Col. Nikodem Sulik stood out - later a Soviet prisoner, cruelly tortured by the NKVD, and one of the best known commanders in the 2nd Corps of General Władysław Anders; he was the commander of the 5th Kresowa Infantry Division.

As for senior commanders, it should also be mentioned that the Independent Operational Group "Polesie" under the command of General Kleeberg fought not only against Germany, but also with the Red Army, which in the PRL was obviously carefully hidden. General Anders also fought with the Soviets at the head of his Cavalry Operational Group, which broke the German lap near Tomaszów Lubelski. However, it was crashed in the Sambor area by armored forces of the Red Army while breaking towards the Hungarian border. The wounded Anders fell into the hands of the Soviets.

The tragic hero of the Polish-Soviet war was also the commander of the Corps District in Grodno, Brigadier General Józef Olszyna-Wilczyński . He was brutally murdered by the Soviets - this was the only case of direct murder of a Polish senior commander by Soviet soldiers. It is also worth mentioning rtm. Narcissa Łopianowski - a cavalry officer who destroyed over 20 tanks in the fighting in Grodno. It is worth noting that he also had an interesting later life path. In the captivity of the Soviet NKVD tried to get him to cooperate, which ended in failure. Łopianowski joined the army of General Anders, and then became a silent and participated in the Warsaw Uprising.

A completely forgotten and unknown figure is, in turn, a reserve lieutenant, officer of the Border Protection Corps, Jan Bołbott - a junior high school friend from Vilnius, Czesław Miłosz. He resisted the overwhelming Soviet forces from Tynne in Polesie. These fights are compared with the defense of Wizna by the unit of Capt. Władysław Raginis.

How can one characterize the armed effort of Poles in the eastern borders after September 17? Was the fight with the Red Army different in character from that of the German army?

It must be made clear that these fights were unusually chaotic. Let's remember that it was the 17th day of operations, and the German army practically defeated the Polish army, this campaign was already lost. However, I would like to draw attention to an important fact. There is no doubt that Poland did not have a chance to defeat the German army. Polish commanders were well aware of this - without the help of the West, it was impossible to defeat Germany alone by Poland. It can be said that the thesis that the invasion of the Red Army did not determine the defeat of Poland is generally true. However, you need to pay attention to something else. In my deep conviction, if the Soviet invasion of Poland had not taken place, the 1939 campaign would have lasted much longer.

The Wehrmacht attacked the Polish lands, where the terrain conditions favored offensive operations, later popularly known as the Blitzkrieg. At the beginning of autumn there was great weather, which was terrible for the Polish side, but beneficial for the German side. However, the situation began to change. First of all, German troops began to enter the areas of the Eastern Borderlands, which largely consisted of swamps, lakes, numerous small rivers, powerful forest areas and had very poor roads. In such areas, even defeated Polish troops could continue their fight, using even partisan tactics or mixed regular and partisan tactics.

In my opinion, such fights could be fought for several months. The experience of the Soviet-Finnish war has shown how, in favorable field conditions, with the sacrifice of soldiers, one can be more effective against a much larger army. If Polish resistance were prolonged, Western powers would have to react in some way. Of course, these are only hypotheses, but they seem justified. Thus, this is the impact of the Soviet invasion on the course of the Polish-German conflict.

What did the memory of Soviet aggression look like during the PRL?

I belong to a generation that attended schools at that time. At that time, quite a lot was said about September 1939, these topics were not avoided. However, for understandable political reasons, the Soviet vision of the Red Army entering Poland was presented. Even in powerful studies, the topic was overlooked that the fighting took place, mentioning only the entry of the Red Army. Of course, this led to the absurd picture of this campaign. Historians who wrote about it had to exercise healthy. The part of society that did not read second-cycle books did not have information from other sources, this knowledge simply did not reach.

I will give a characteristic example from my childhood. With flushed face I watched the loud and controversial Hubal movie from 1973 directed by Bohdan Poręba. This is one of the most outstanding works of Polish war film. It begins with a scene in which a unit in which Major Henryk Dobrzański serves is surrounded by an opponent. The commander of the regiment decides to dissolve the unit. Of course, as a young boy, I was convinced that the sub-unit was surrounded by German troops. In the meantime, in fact, Dobrzański's unit was active in the Red Army's activity zone, and was fighting the Soviet troops. He made his first clashes with Germany only in the areas south of Warsaw, and so he made his way through the Soviet lap.

After 1989, did any of the battles particularly record itself in the collective memory of Poles as a symbol of fights with the Soviets?

These fights began to be restored in the collective memory after the fall of the Polish People's Republic. I think that the heroism of Grodno's defenders was particularly pointed out. It is indeed a remarkable story, since civilians, and especially schoolchildren and scouts, have been involved in the defense of this city. The defense of Grodno can certainly be a symbol, just like the fights fought by the Border Protection Corps from General Rückemann's group at Szack and Wytyczno.
The West would have helped Poland? This is a long article abour various military heroes who fought bravely, but the help from Western countries? Why would that be a plausible hypothesis and justified. What acts in the past history of the West would have made that likely? Revealed: Nazi-looted Czech gold sold by Bank of England ends:
On September 29, 1938, Germany, Italy, France, and the UK signed the Munich Pact, which was seen as act of appeasement toward Germany. It permitted Nazi Germany's annexation of Czechoslovakia's areas along the country's borders mainly inhabited by German speakers, for which a new territorial designation "Sudetenland" was coined.

Hitler promised not to claim any other European territory. To prevent confrontation, Great Britain and France accepted his demands. Since Czechoslovakia was not even invited to the conference, it felt betrayed by the UK and France; Czechs and Slovaks call the Munich Agreement the Munich Dictate.

October 1, 1938 was set as the date of Czechoslovakian evacuation of the territory. In March 1939 the Germans marched into Czechoslovakia, making most of the country a German protectorate and subsequently nullifying the Munich Pact.

To avoid war, the USSR signed a non-aggression pact with Germany. On September 1, 1939, Hitler attacked Poland, hoping that the UK and France would not intervene. His bid ultimately backfired, as both countries declared war on Germany, sparking the full-scale outbreak of the worldwide conflict.
Next is an example of a discussion inside Poland. It is a comment on an episode in an interview:
Czarzasty about the Red Army. The journalist did not expect such a retort
Jan 10, 2020 update 10 Jan 2020, 7:55
In an interview with Agnieszka Gozdyra in the program "Polityka na Ostro" the head of SLD stated that "if someone says that he is celebrating the Red Army, he is a moron." The journalist's retort surprised him greatly.

If someone says that I glorify the Red Army, this is a moron - Włodzimierz Czarzasty said in Polsat

Am I a moron? - Agnieszka Gozdyra asked, running the program .

When Czarzasty asked her if she said that, she said that she had expressed such an opinion once.

Sorry. You don't listen to people who say that - he said.

Asked how he spreads the accents, because we know why the Red Army came here, he replied: "I say, I said and I will say: The Red Army drove the Nazis from Poland and Auschwitz. If you think otherwise, I would advise you to think. Is something I said is not true?".

I believe that the Red Army, going to Berlin, expelling the Nazis, raped Polish women and destroyed Polish property along the way. Will you agree with this? - Asked the journalist.

Czarzasty agreed with her, but he said: "I never said it, you just made it".

I have a question: did the Red Army chase the Germans out of Poland? Not alone, with Poles. You say the same thing, so if you wanted to offend me in a program I didn't hear, you also offended yourself - he said.

The host replied that she did not want to offend the politician, and he heard the program because he wrote to her later on Twitter .

Czarzasty said: " Russians raped women, murdered, there was war , raped also in Germany, Americans also raped, I know what the Ribbentrop-Molotov pact is and you won't put in my head that I speak badly about it that the Russians drove the Germans out of Auschwitz and Poland. If anyone thinks otherwise, he is a moron and an end.
What I learned in the above articles is that Poland has a difficult time with its past. The official solution seems to have emerged that the best is not to talk about it, and not deal with it. What is a way out? Would it help to see it in a Eurasian perspective, a global perspective. There are surely different opinions, here is one offered by Iran.
Iranian ambassador to Poland: Don't go to the bottom of the abyss
MAGDA CEDRO
MACIEJ MIŁOSZ
ZBIGNIEW PARAFIANOWICZ
Jan 9, 2020
[...]
Shortly after the fire, information appeared that Iran's highest spiritual leader, Ali Khamenei, mentioned Poland as "a small, evil European state" acting against Tehran's interests. When asked by DGP, its ambassador in Warsaw Masud Edrisi Kermanszahi denied these reports. However, he reserved that he always advises friends from Poland not to get to the bottom of the abyss on the rope dropped by the Americans. "
 

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There was this comment from an article on the Russian page of Deutsche Welle. Виктор Ерофееев: Почему Польше не нравится праздничный салют в Москве | DW | 17.01.2020 which I got to after first seeing an article in a Polish paper:
CULTURE AND LIFESTYLE Victor Erofeev: Why Poland doesn't like fireworks in Moscow
On Friday in Moscow, was given a salute in honor of the liberation of Warsaw on 17 January 1945. But the Poles themselves feel about it is ambiguous. And this is understandable, says Viktor Erofeyev.

On January 17, 1945, the capital of Poland was truly liberated from the Nazi troops. During the military operation, the Red Army knocked out the Germans from Warsaw, or rather, from its ruins remaining after the Warsaw uprising. However, in Warsaw (from the point of view of Polish history), pseudo-liberators entered - Soviet troops and units of the pro-Soviet Army Ludova, who marched through the ruined city with Polish flags. “Pseudo” because, as a result, Poland lost its full-fledged state sovereignty until 1989. From the Soviet, and now from the Putin point of view, such an assessment of the events by the Poles is a blatant ingratitude.

To reconcile the two points of view is impossible, and in the future very difficult. Some understanding emerged during perestroika, and now instead we have a complete break.

Outwardly, it is expressed, in particular, in the very approach to the day of January 17. The Poles will not officially celebrate it in any way, although a wreath at the memorial to the fallen Soviet wars will obviously be laid by veterans and city authorities. In Moscow, on the contrary, a big fireworks is expected.

Fierce confrontation between Putin's Russia and Poland in the year of the 75th anniversary of the victory over Nazi Germany occurs for two reasons. The first is historical. The second is acutely political.

The historical one is connected with the fact that the warming of relations that has taken shape in perestroika, which was determined by the converging human and social values, is now blocked by the return of old ambitions and claims. Things got to the point that, judging by the current Russian position, Poland is almost a provocateur and partly the culprit of the war, and not its victim.

From the Polish point of view, the totalitarianism of the national socialist and Soviet models is identical. Poland knew all their "charms", having suffered from mass repressions on both sides. The Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact (Stalin-Hitler), which predetermined the next, fourth in the history of the partition of Poland, became fatal for Polish statehood. Having gained independence in 1989, Poland finally got the opportunity to recall its tragic relations with Russia.

But the current sharp aggravation of Polish-Russian relations is connected with the political situation. Putin returned to Polish history several times during the fall and spoke unprecedentedly of Polish after Nazi Berlin, Jozef Lipsky, as a “bastard” and “anti-Semitic pig”. But the question was, in fact, not in Lipsky. It is precisely now, today, that Poland is preventing the Russian president from "restarting" relations with Europe for the benefit of himself (as for the benefit for Europe, this is another question).

European opposition to Moscow’s policies, primarily in connection with Ukraine, has become more sluggish over time. Macron France decided to move towards neogollism. Italy largely abandoned the desire to argue with Russia. Finally, in Germany, the interests of business contacts with Russia (meaning Nord Stream and much more) come into conflict with the moral side of things. And in America, Trump, too, in his own way, gives signals of a desire to establish relations with Moscow.

In the context of the fact that the President of Ukraine himself is also looking for contacts with Putin to solve the Donbass problem, the softening of the Western position becomes, if not justified, then understandable.

And only Poland, first of all Poland, and with it the Baltic countries, which have learned on themselves all the "joys" of the Soviet regime even more than their Polish friends, do not want to make a political compromise. But the Russian elite dreams of Yalta-2, a treaty that will give it the opportunity to determine areas of influence where no one else meddles, and to create something similar to the Soviet Union if possible.

And although the Kremlin assures that a new Soviet Union is impossible, it can be understood that the Poles do not believe this. They know from their own experience, and now from the experience of Ukraine, that the current Russian authorities have historically adopted the philosophy of tsars, communists, and also, excuse me, Gopniks: never to admit anything, if it’s not profitable for you, if it goes against your interests.

Attack on Poland will not give Russia anything. Poland learned to resist Russia, knows its geographical neighbor with its sovereign values well. Poland, of course, has its own historical sins, there are blunders, including the current nationalist bias of its authorities, but poking a finger at Poland’s sore spots is fraught for themselves. Indeed, regardless of the history of Lipsky, anti-Semitism existed, but if we recall the beginning of the 1950s, the Stalinist war with cosmopolitanism, which turned into outright anti-Semitism, is a real catastrophe. To think that the West will put pressure on Poland and make it softer about the Kremlin, playing on anti-Semitism, which is intolerant in the West, may turn out to be more expensive for Russia, as they say. And it’s pointless: Russia will sooner change than Poland will surrender,

Viktor Yerofeyev, writer, literary critic, broadcaster, author of "Russian beauty", "the Good Stalin", "Akeady", "Pink Mouse" and many others, knight of the French Order of the Legion of honor.

The review expresses the personal opinion of the author. It may not coincide with the opinion of the Russian edition of Deutsche Welle and as a whole.


What could ease this conflict? Knowledge of history, In terms of defence policy most of there countries lean on the power of the US, some more willing like others, but is that sustainable, healthy or in their own self interest? That Poland has been convinced to buy Freedom gas is anything but healthy. And does the Polish Government realize that demographic changes are occuring. What if Poland became like "Sweden"?

I found several other articles: Here is an interesting thread from research gate with discussion of
ResearchGate: In what measure Poland was determining the outbreak of WWII? Why Nazis decided to attack it after signing a non-aggression treaty?
Quora: If Poland had allied with Germany before Sept. 1, 1939, could the combined Polish and German forces have defeated Russia? I asked the last question, because when reading the articles, I almost sensed a regret in some corners that Poland had not done that and that now being an ardent member of NATO is it trying to make up. Perhaps it is not that bad, let us see.

Recalling the opinion of the author of the article, Victor Erofeev: "To reconcile the two points of view is impossible, and in the future very difficult." I tried an I Ching on the future relation between Russia and Poland, and used an online virtual random application. It gave Hexagram 49 with the second line moving. I could have done it without a computer, would it have been better? For now the following is more hopeful than reading and translating more articles:
Yin (New)

Yang (New)

Yang (New)

Yang (New)

Yin (Old)

Yang (New)

The present is embodied in Hexagram 49 - Ko (Revolution): What takes place is believed in only after it has been accomplished. There will be great progress and success. Advantage will come from being firm and correct. In that case, occasion for repentance will disappear.

The second line, divided, shows its subject making his changes after some time has passed. Action taken will be fortunate. There will be no error.
Perhaps this I Ching is worth more analysis, but that will be in the future if at all, because changes are not imminent.
 
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