Russia accuses Poles of 'mockery of history' over Auschwitz

[webfact]

Russia accuses Poles of 'mockery of history' over Auschwitz
VANESSA GERA, Associated Press

WARSAW, Poland (AP) — Russia has accused Poland of engaging in a "mockery of history" after the Polish foreign minister credited Ukrainian soldiers, rather than the Soviet Red Army, with liberating Auschwitz 70 years ago.

The exchange underlines the deep tensions between Russia and Poland, which is hugely critical of Russian actions in Ukraine. Those strains are casting a shadow over the 70th anniversary commemorations of the liberation of the Nazi death camp, which will be held Tuesday in Poland.

Poland has apparently snubbed Russian President Vladimir Putin, who will not attend even though he was at the 60th anniversary event in 2005. The situation is particularly awkward since Auschwitz was liberated by Soviet troops on Jan. 27, 1945, and some of the more than 1.1 million victims were Soviet citizens, including Jews and prisoners of war.

In a radio interview Wednesday, Polish Foreign Minister Grzegorz Schetyna was challenged over what the journalist called the "pettiness" of not inviting Putin, given that he is the inheritor of the Soviet Union and that the Red Army freed Auschwitz.

Schetyna replied that "maybe it's better to say ... that the First Ukrainian Front and Ukrainians liberated (Auschwitz), because Ukrainian soldiers were there, on that January day, and they opened the gates of the camp and they liberated the camp."

In Russia, Schetyna's comments were seen as a cynical insult and drew an avalanche of angry official comments. The Foreign Ministry accused Schetyna of "anti-Russian hysteria" and disrespecting the memory of those who died liberating Europe from Hitler.

"It's common knowledge that Auschwitz was liberated by the Red Army, in which all nationalities heroically served," the Foreign Ministry said in a statement. "We believe that the mockery of history needs to be stopped."

The group of forces involved in the liberation of Auschwitz was called the First Ukrainian Front after it pushed the Nazis back across the territory of then-Soviet Ukraine before moving into Poland.

Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov called Schetyna's comments "sacrilegious and cynical."

"Auschwitz was liberated by the Red Army, which included Russians, Ukrainians, Chechens, Tatars and Georgians, among others," Lavrov said.

At the United Nations, Russia's envoy Vitaly Churkin addressed the Polish envoy, telling him that the First Ukrainian Front, like other Red Army forces, contained representatives of the Soviet Union's more than 100 ethnic groups and asking him to convey the information to Schetyna.

The organizers of the ceremonies, the Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum and the International Auschwitz Council, did not issue specific invitations to national leaders this year, but asked nations contributing funds to the site — including Russia — if they were going to attend.

Poland appears to have used this form of protocol as a way of avoiding a direct invitation to Putin. Some Poles have been critical of this, saying politics should not intrude on such a major Holocaust commemoration, the last one where a significant number of Auschwitz survivors can still be expected to attend.

Schetyna, though, put the blame on Putin for not attending, saying it was his decision.

The Nazis operated the Auschwitz-Birkenau death camp in occupied Poland from 1940 to 1945. Most of the victims were Jews, but Roma and other groups were also killed there.
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Associated Press writers Vladimir Isachenkov and Jim Heintz in Moscow contributed to this report.


-- (c) Associated Press 2015-01-25

[Somtamnication]

I am afraid I am with the Soviets Russians on this one. The Soviet Army liberated this horrible camp. The Poles need to climb another pole and not this one. Too slippery!

[Paulc01]

Russian hubris. They made Auschwitz possible when Stalin and the Russians allied with Hitler and invaded Poland in 1939. And then later on the barbarous Red Army murdered over 20,000 captured Polish officers in the Katyn Massacre. Not to mention almost half a century of Russian dictatorship, terror, and killings until the brutes collapsed in 1989.

[JingerBen]

Russian hubris. They made Auschwitz possible when Stalin and the Russians allied with Hitler and invaded Poland in 1939. And then later on the barbarous Red Army murdered over 20,000 captured Polish officers in the Katyn Massacre. Not to mention almost half a century of Russian dictatorship, terror, and killings until the brutes collapsed in 1989.

That horrible period of European history was a blood orgy that all sides participated in with alacrity.

[johna]

It was 5 million Jews killed in Auschwitz until 1995, (Poles, Russians etc. don't count) and in 1995 the Polish government announced the total number of all people killed in Auschwitz was 1.5 million. Now according to this AP report its 1.1 million.

The Holocaust industry takes another hit.

[hansnl]

I am afraid I am with the Soviets Russians on this one. The Soviet Army liberated this horrible camp. The Poles need to climb another pole and not this one. Too slippery!

Ahhh.....

Like climbing the pole of being the next victim of the KGB-thug by means of an invasion?

Don't get any ideas, all countries bordering on Russia being eastbloc countries or just neutrals, are in danger of Putin's dangerous ideas.

That said, Poland, through it's actions during and after the war, does not really deserve a medal. do they?

Not including the Polish soldiers fighting Germany, they deserve all merits.

Edited January 25, 2015 by hansnl

[basatop]

Well,it is worth to mention,that quite a lot of Ukrainians worked as guards in German concentration camps.They also had Ukrainian SS divisions.They were very hostile to Russia after millions of them died in great femine in 1930-?Don't you remember that old Ukrainian geeser Demianiuk? very cruel

guard from Treblinka,look in Wiki about Ivan Demianiuk.As many of great criminals he had found

refuge in USA,where he got citizenship not once but twice!

[Choctastic]

I would suggest to the Polish leadership, they don't catch any flights for a while.

[surfinglife]

Russian hubris. They made Auschwitz possible when Stalin and the Russians allied with Hitler and invaded Poland in 1939. And then later on the barbarous Red Army murdered over 20,000 captured Polish officers in the Katyn Massacre. Not to mention almost half a century of Russian dictatorship, terror, and killings until the brutes collapsed in 1989.

Mockery of history?? 99% of Russians think that WWII started in 1941 and know nothing about the Motherland's invasion of Poland in September 1939. They don't even call it the World War. To them it's Great Domestic War (literal translation from Russian).

[keebone]

Russian hubris. They made Auschwitz possible when Stalin and the Russians allied with Hitler and invaded Poland in 1939. And then later on the barbarous Red Army murdered over 20,000 captured Polish officers in the Katyn Massacre. Not to mention almost half a century of Russian dictatorship, terror, and killings until the brutes collapsed in 1989.

Mockery of history?? 99% of Russians think that WWII started in 1941 and know nothing about the Motherland's invasion of Poland in September 1939. They don't even call it the World War. To them it's Great Domestic War (literal translation from Russian).

Or indeed the Red Army invasion of Finland in November 1939

[umbanda]

Just thanks the Russians for the fighting they put up to defeat Germany, and Hitler for the stupidity in thinking that Russia will be an easy pray...

Unfortunately looks like some "new world" leaders didn't learn anything with that......Not with Germany, not with Russia....and not with Auschwitz..... and specially....not with Hiroshima. Memory is shorter than life.

[billd766]

quote ""It's common knowledge that Auschwitz was liberated by the Red Army, in which all nationalities heroically served," the Foreign Ministry said in a statement. "We believe that the mockery of history needs to be stopped."

Would the Russians care to explain what happened to the Cossacks at the end of the war. Many fought against Russia and were handed over to Russia in Austria and sent to the gulags in Siberia. Many Cossacks also killed their own wives and children, then commited suicide rather than return to "Mother Russia".

Why did the Russians stop before they got to Warsaw and let the Germans destroy the city and all the remaining Jews in it? They even refused to let Allied bombers attack the Germans then fly on to Russian controlled territory to refuel and return.

In my opinion Vladimir Putin is a worthy successor to Iosif Vissarionovich Stalin and Lavrentiy Pavlovich Beria.

No mention there about how many millions of Soviet citizens Stalin had murdered or sent to the gulags.

Edited for poor spelling, twice.

Edited January 25, 2015 by billd766

[Jingthing]

It was 5 million Jews killed in Auschwitz until 1995, (Poles, Russians etc. don't count) and in 1995 the Polish government announced the total number of all people killed in Auschwitz was 1.5 million. Now according to this AP report its 1.1 million.

The Holocaust industry takes another hit.

What are you on about? Who has ever said 5 million Jews were killed in ONE death camp? I think nobody has ever said that. You do realize that there were numerous death camps, right?

[Baerboxer]

Just thanks the Russians for the fighting they put up to defeat Germany, and Hitler for the stupidity in thinking that Russia will be an easy pray...

Unfortunately looks like some "new world" leaders didn't learn anything with that......Not with Germany, not with Russia....and not with Auschwitz..... and specially....not with Hiroshima. Memory is shorter than life.

Just be a little more factual in your thanks. Russia, on the tyrant despotic dictator Stalin's orders, invaded and annexed the Baltic states, and parts of Finland. He then did a secret pact with Hitler to invade Poland from the East at the same time Germany did from the West and agreed how Polish territory would be carved up. The massacre of Polish army officers and intellectuals murdered on Stalin's orders was to make control and indoctrination of the conquered people easier.

Hitler stabbed Stalin in the back and invaded Russia. At no time prior to that had Stalin sided with the allies or supported them in anyway, He used a similar network of concentration camps, filled with detainees denied any trial, mass executions and rule by fear and secret police that the Nazi's did.

The Allies needed to support Stalin on the basis of my enemies enemy is my enemy. He took the aid and support and fought against Germany who were trying to destroy his country. He did little to help in the fight against Japan until right at the end, when it suited his agenda.

Eastern Europe was "liberated" from the Germans and then put straight under the Soviet jackboot, where it stayed for half a century.

Putin seems to want that old Russian / Soviet sphere of influence back. He's ruthlessly exploiting all what's going on on the the world's stage at a time he perceived the West is weaker. A dangerous man.

Russia and it's Soviet empire may have fought against the Germans but they were never really allies with the West.

Edited January 25, 2015 by Baerboxer

[maidee]

70+ years after .. still anyone alive that was overthere in that time ?

[Publicus]

While the facts of history need to be respected, this is all about the present and Vladimir Putin who is a carryover leftover of the deceased Soviet state he is trying to reimpose on the region.

Ukrainians and Poles identify with Europe and the West, not Russia, Putin, Stalin, the tsars.

All but a few of the former Soviet republics identify with Europe and the West and have voluntarily joined the EU and/or Nato, to include Poland long since. Stalin imposed himself on eastern Europe to include Poland and now Putin is trying to revive that awful if shrunken empire and to also do it by military means.

The Red Army's discovery and liberation of WWII Nazi death camps was incidental to defeating the Nazis. The Russian massacre at Katyn and Stalin's death camps in the Soviet Union were hardy any different from the genocide of the Nazis.

Putin poisons you with radiation, has you shot at the elevator of your apartment building, or tosses you into a gulag prison to be gradually beaten to death.

This stink is about the present and it is Putin who is stinking the place out.

Edited January 25, 2015 by Publicus

[Jingthing]

70+ years after .. still anyone alive that was overthere in that time ?

I think there are still some who were young then.

[h90]

Russian hubris. They made Auschwitz possible when Stalin and the Russians allied with Hitler and invaded Poland in 1939. And then later on the barbarous Red Army murdered over 20,000 captured Polish officers in the Katyn Massacre. Not to mention almost half a century of Russian dictatorship, terror, and killings until the brutes collapsed in 1989.

But do not forget the games Poland (with the help of UK and France) played with the German minority in Poland. Without trying to starve them out Hitler might never have attacked Poland.

[Jingthing]

Russian hubris. They made Auschwitz possible when Stalin and the Russians allied with Hitler and invaded Poland in 1939. And then later on the barbarous Red Army murdered over 20,000 captured Polish officers in the Katyn Massacre. Not to mention almost half a century of Russian dictatorship, terror, and killings until the brutes collapsed in 1989.

But do not forget the games Poland (with the help of UK and France) played with the German minority in Poland. Without trying to starve them out Hitler might never have attacked Poland.

Let's defend Hitler now. Isn't that peachy?

[rickirs]

It is Putin who mocks history.

Political relations between Warsaw and Moscow have been particularly bad since September 2014. In response to the Russian-led insurgency in Crimea and Ukraine, Poland had lobbied the EU hard to impose tougher sanctions on Moscow, and it is to host elements of a new Nato rapid reaction force, created in response to the Russian intevention in Ukraine.

In September 2014 Russia to cut gas exports to Poland without warning up to 24% when Poland had been exporting gas itself to Ukraine to make up for Russian shortfalls there. Putin has since threatened a complete gas shutoff to the whole of Europe if it aided Ukraine in any fashion to counter pro-Russian insurgents in Ukraine. History has shown that when one nation takes unilateral threatening action against another, the other nation will react.

Putin lives in a nation where people thinks he is a Hero. He needs to get out more often, maybe flirt with a few world leader wives. He is not as formidable as he thinks.

[ExPratt]

He had to invade Poland to Join up with Prussia . It was a long term plan , The"starving of the German population" is Nazi propaganda. The arranged the carve up of Poland in the non aggression pact with the soviets , who the occupied half of Poland

Anyway Putin should be invited , Red Army lost over 8 million, civilians over 20 odd Million

[Jingthing]

I can understand the reasons to invite him and also not to invite him ... but there is no doubt, Putin is a horror show of TODAY.

[rickirs]

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Russian hubris. They made Auschwitz possible when Stalin and the Russians allied with Hitler and invaded Poland in 1939. And then later on the barbarous Red Army murdered over 20,000 captured Polish officers in the Katyn Massacre. Not to mention almost half a century of Russian dictatorship, terror, and killings until the brutes collapsed in 1989.

But do not forget the games Poland (with the help of UK and France) played with the German minority in Poland. Without trying to starve them out Hitler might never have attacked Poland.

Good one - Hilter as the defender of the oppressed!!!!

Now that is what I call a true mockery of history.

[StasD]

Mockery of history?? 99% of Russians think that WWII started in 1941 and know nothing about the Motherland's invasion of Poland in September 1939. They don't even call it the World War. To them it's Great Domestic War (literal translation from Russian).

Do not tell what you do not know. I was taught in school that WW2 began in 1939. But Russian Great War started in 1941. I finished school in 1979,

Edited January 25, 2015 by StasD

[Scott]

A reported post has been removed.

[bangon04]

"The situation is particularly awkward since Auschwitz was liberated by Soviet troops on Jan. 27, 1945, and some of the more than 1.1 million victims were Soviet citizens, including Jews and prisoners of war."

and it is a well-known historical fact that the Soviet Union was highly sympathetic to the Jewish people all through the empire right up to the exodus of Russian Jews to Israel.

[Jingthing]

70+ years after .. still anyone alive that was overthere in that time ?

I think there are still some who were young then.

Here you go:

The voices of Auschwitz

The 70th anniversary of the liberation of the notorious Nazi concentration camp could mark the last major commemoration for many Holocaust survivors

There are fewer and fewer of those who still remember.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/sf/world/2015/01/23/with-fewer-voices-auschwitz-survivors-speak/