What monuments will be demolished in Poland? In Poland, activists are trying to save monuments to Soviet soldiers from vandals and demolition. War with the Dead

One of the most pressing issues in recent months has been the mass demolition of monuments to Soviet soldiers in Poland, in order to combat the legacy of the “Soviet occupation.” But in the neighboring Czech Republic, the monuments are not touched, although there are plenty of questions about the socialist past there too. Why do the two West Slavic states that survived the Nazi occupation and then built socialism treat the heritage of the past differently?

Let's start with Poland, where settling historical scores with neighbors remains the cornerstone of the policy of the ruling Law and Justice party. As a matter of fact, since the early 1990s its leaders have made a career for themselves by fighting the past. Thus, 26 years ago, the main “lustrator” of the country became the current Minister of Defense of Poland, Antoni Macierewicz, who saw Soviet agents in almost everyone, including the recognized fighter against socialism, Lech Walesa.

As a matter of fact, the war against monuments in Poland began back in those days. So, 26 years ago in Krakow, a monument to Marshal Ivan Stepanovich Konev, whose troops liberated the old Polish capital in January 1945, was demolished. And they not only freed us, but also saved us from destruction similar to that in Warsaw. And the fact is that today Krakow has become the main tourist centre country, there is a huge merit to I.S. Koneva. But the “fight against communism” turned out to be more important...

Since the second half of the 1990s, the Poles seemed to have passed the acute phase of the fight against monuments, but during the presidency of Lech Kaczynski (2005-2010), the issue arose again. There was no mass demolition in those years, but the specter was in the air. New season The “hunt” for monuments began after the start of the Ukrainian crisis. In May 2014, in Katowice, the Monument of Gratitude to the Red Army was thrown off its pedestal, and in Warsaw, the Monument to the Soviet-Polish Brotherhood in Arms was not returned to its place after restoration.

After the representatives of Law and Justice returned to power two years ago, the war with the past was put on a grand scale. Thus, in the town of Penenzhno, not far from the border with Russia, a monument to the legendary General Ivan Danilovich Chernyakhovsky was demolished.

In Szczecin, vandals, with the tacit approval of the authorities, damaged the Monument of Gratitude to the Red Army. In Warsaw this year, gravestones in a military cemetery were desecrated. Incidents of this kind can be listed and listed...

Finally, on June 22 (the date looks like a demonstrative spit in the direction of Russia) of this year, the Seimas adopted a law on the dismantling of monuments reminiscent of the “Soviet occupation.” Only a few people voted against it. The document was supported not only by deputies of the ruling party, but also by supporters of the President of the European Union Donald Tusk from the Civic Platform, and representatives of the Cookie-20 party, and deputies from the Peasant Party. On September 2, the law came into force.

Polish Foreign Minister Witold Waszczykowski justified these actions. “It must be remembered that the Soviet Union contributed to the outbreak of World War II and also invaded Poland together with the Germans. Thus, this is a joint responsibility for the outbreak of World War II... If these are monuments in a cemetery, then they are protected. If not, then why should we value them?” he said.

There were still protests against the demolition of monuments. So, just recently in the city of Dravsko-Pomerania, residents did not allow the monument to Soviet tank crews to be removed. But you shouldn’t delude yourself.

The overwhelming majority of Poles are at least not against the war on monuments; there is no sign of mass protest on this issue. And the country's political elite showed almost complete unanimity on this issue.

And now at least 230 monuments (the figure of 350 was also mentioned) will be demolished.

The dismantling will look especially wild in Gdansk, Szczecin or Wroclaw, which until 1945 were called Danzig, Stettin and Breslau. Thanks to the Soviet Union, Poland received up to a third of its current territory, including long access to Baltic Sea and large coal deposits in Silesia. If we fully follow the logic of abandoning the Soviet legacy, these lands must be returned to Germany... But for some reason, the Polish authorities still want reparations from it, as from Russia.

Thanks to what is happening in Poland, there may be a feeling that the former socialist countries are experiencing a new war with history. But that's not true. There is no war against monuments in the Czech Republic. Like its northeastern neighbors, the overwhelming majority of both politicians and citizens here have a negative perception of the times of socialism. The entry of Warsaw Pact troops into Czechoslovakia in August 1968 evokes particularly strong feelings. But today this does not result in vandalism.

It cannot be said that the Czechs escaped the fate of the war on monuments. 26 years ago in Prague, the Monument to the Tank Liberators was painted pink. No one bothered to wash it - in the same 1991 it was dismantled, and today it stands in this form in the military-technical museum in Leshany. There have been numerous cases of obscene inscriptions appearing on monuments. In the country's second largest city, Brno, vandals knocked down a hammer and sickle from a monument to Red Army soldiers in the Kralovo Polje area...

But such an orgy did not acquire a large scale - and, moreover, it did not reach the point of mass demolition of monuments. By the way, the hammer and sickle in Brno was very quickly returned to its original place. Another story in the same city is also very indicative. In 2013, the Monument to the Soldier-Liberator standing in the very center of the city was sent there for restoration. And, unlike Warsaw, they returned to their place. The same thing happened in a number of other cases.

For a long time, former Czech radical anti-Soviet dissidents sought to dismantle the monument to Marshal Konev and rename the street named after him. However, both veterans' organizations and former and current presidents Vaclav Klaus and Milos Zeman were categorically against it. In 2015, there was talk again that the monument could be demolished, but again nothing came of this idea. Liberator and honorary citizen of Prague Konev remains where he stood.

Nothing happens to the monument at the Olsany Memorial Cemetery in Prague, where the Red Army soldiers who died in May 1945 are buried. Yes, there is one nearby memorial sign ROA - but there is no monument to its fighters there. The Vlasovites in Prague also died in battles with the Germans, but the attempt to turn them into liberators of the capital did not work.

The Czechs remember very well to whom they owe the preservation and liberation of both the city and the country. As President Zeman said, if it were not for the Red Army, “the Czechs would speak German and throw zigs.”

Why didn’t the Czechs become like the Poles? It seems that they also have a dislike for the times of socialism. There are also outright Russophobes, like former Foreign Minister Karel Schwarzenberg and his comrades in the Top 09 party. And a number of other political forces are anti-Russian, strongly supporting sanctions against our country. Nevertheless, it did not even come to the point of introducing a bill in parliament on the demolition of monuments, similar to the Polish one.

One of these components is the depth of contradictions with Russia. At the state level, the Czech Republic never fought with us (the White Czechs of the times Civil War there were, but the newly formed Czechoslovakia did not fight with Russia as a country). And from the enumeration of the Russian-Polish wars, you can lose count. There has never been any conflict between Russians and Czechs disputed territories– unlike the Poles.

Unlike the Poles, the Czechs did not ban the Communist Party, which has its own 10-15% of the votes and is stably represented in parliament - although no one invited it to the government. There are also “right-wing” Russophiles of a nationalist bent there, and they also periodically enter parliament. Outright Russophobes also have their plus or minus 15%, but in Poland these numbers are much higher. So the behavior of the authorities is quite consistent with the mood prevailing in society.

The standard of living probably also plays a role. In the Czech Republic it is significantly higher; Czechs rarely go to other countries to work. This cannot be said about the Poles - up to five million Polish citizens work in Germany, France, Great Britain, Norway... Accordingly, Polish politicians have a need to justify their own failures in the economy with various historical affairs. The Czechs have much less such a need.

This story is also paradoxical in the sense that the Poles consider themselves devout Catholics, while the Czechs are one of the most irreligious nations in the world. Politicians from “Law and Justice” constantly talk about faith and traditions, and then, contrary to Christian teaching, they begin to fight the dead.

Czech politicians talk about this much less often, but, unlike their neighbors, there is no state vandalism in their country.

Vadim Trukhachev

A law on the demolition of monuments to Soviet soldiers has come into force in Poland. More than half a million soldiers and officers of the Red Army died during the liberation of the country from Nazi occupation. The authorities now want to erase the memory of their feat. However, not all Poles agree with this.

Ruins, dirt and weeds are all that remains of the monument to General Chernyakhovsky in the Polish town of Penenzhno. The same fate probably awaits hundreds of memorials to Red Army soldiers across the country. For a year now, streets in Poland have been renamed under the decommunization law. Today new amendments to this document come into force - now they will take on monuments and demolish them. Now there are almost 500 monuments under attack, of which 230 are dedicated to Soviet soldiers.

“All objects dedicated to the Red Army promote the totalitarian system. They must disappear from public space,” says Daniel Markowski, a specialist at the Bureau for the Perpetuation of Struggles and Martyrdom at the Institute of National Remembrance of Poland.

More than 600 thousand Soviet soldiers are buried in Polish soil. Society argues: why disturb their memory? Member of the Sejm Kornel Morawiecki has been an ardent anti-communist since 1968. But even he voted against the amendments to the law.

“The Germans wanted to destroy us as a nation, but the Russians did not. We must be honest. There is no need to demolish monuments. People died for us, and they deserve to be immortalized,” he says.

However, not all monuments are planned to be destroyed. The amendments contain exceptions. This so-called “totalitarian symbol” in Olsztyn is a local landmark. Sculptural composition created by a famous Polish architect, they even offer excursions here. Olsztyn city center. The main church, nearby are several administrative buildings and a memorial of gratitude to the Red Army. It is on public display, and yet it is not in danger of being dismantled. The fact is that the monument is included in the list of Polish architectural monuments, and the law on decommunization does not yet apply to such objects.

Another exception is monuments that are located in burial places. By law you cannot touch them. Knowing this, activists are trying to save some monuments, Public organization“Kursk” - it was named after the Battle of Kursk - is ready to repair the monument in Lidzbark Warminski at its own expense and install it in a military cemetery. So far Warsaw is ordering it to be demolished, but local residents are against it.

“They were people just like us. What difference does it make whether they are communists or not? They fought and died here,” says local resident Marek Essen.

“Repair it and leave it in place. We must respect the memory of the soldiers,” say students of a local school.

Forty kilometers from here there is another monument that requires maintenance, a modest monument to the Hero of the Soviet Union Pyotr Dernov. In January 1945, in the battles for these places, he covered a German bunker with his chest. Now the monument is abandoned and desecrated.

“We need to clean the stone, remove all the graffiti, letters, remove all the paint,” says Jerzy Tyc. He and his friends take care of such monuments throughout Poland. Tytsa’s mother punished her not to forget about the feat of Soviet soldiers; in the winter of 1945, a Red Army soldier pulled her out from under fire. There are already 27 restored monuments and five cemeteries put in order. The nationalists threaten him, break out new red stars on the graves, and pour paint over the monuments. But Jerzy has defied unconsciousness and is not backing down.

“This is a fight for memory, for truth, between our organization and the government. It's all their fault. Young people, fooled by anti-Russian propaganda, come to the cemetery. And they consider themselves freedom fighters,” says Jerzy Tyc.

Tyts is convinced that in the rush of decommunization, the current government will not stop at monuments; sooner or later they will get to cemeteries.

The Sejm of Poland on the day of the beginning of the Great Patriotic War passed a law that actually legalized the destruction of monuments to Soviet liberating soldiers. According to new amendments to the law on decommunization, monuments and memorial stones “glorifying communism” are subject to demolition. According to data from voivodeships, there are about 490 such monuments in the country. It is expected that the monuments will be destroyed after consultation with the Institute of National Remembrance.

For now, the law will not affect objects installed in cemeteries and not on public display.

The State Duma has already condemned the decision of the Polish Sejm. “Crimes against peace and humanity that politicians commit can vary in the scale of their treachery. But it is absolutely obvious that Polish politicians who considered it possible to destroy monuments in honor of the Red Army are committing a crime against their country, destroying gratitude to those who gave peace to Poland and its people, desecrating the memory of those who were burned in the furnaces of concentration camps and gave their lives for these politicians to live today... The deputies of the Sejm of Poland seem to have had their conscience and head blown away,” said the Vice Speaker of the State Duma Irina Yarovaya.

How else can Russia respond to the cynical decision of the Polish Sejm, other than angry statements?

“The Polish Sejm, with its decision, is trying to put a “fat end” on the Soviet period of the history of its country,” says President of the Russian-Polish Center for Dialogue and Harmony Yuri Bondarenko. - Moreover, the current Polish elite thus continues to insist that there was no liberation of Poland. And those 600 thousand Soviet soldiers who died on the territory of Poland were simply soldiers of a hostile country, marching through the territory of their country, towards Berlin.

So far, the current Polish authorities have not raised the issue of demolition or “reconstruction” of military graves themselves. But I'm sure it will come to that. At a minimum, the question of removing “communist symbols” from burial sites will be raised.

So far the Poles have not mentioned this, since they position themselves as careful guardians of all historical burial sites located on Polish soil. Here they remember themselves as good Christians.

“SP”: — How will the war with the Poles “backfire” historical monuments?

“There is already a generation of Poles growing up who know nothing at all about the Soviet period of their country’s history. They are hiding from them that after the war in Poland, with the help of the USSR, industry was restored, shipyards, factories, etc. were built. Because if you talk about this, the question immediately arises: why did the “Soviet occupiers” need this? Moreover, another question will arise: why exactly after the “occupiers left” did Poland not manage to preserve all these factories and shipyards, turning everything into scrap metal?

In general, more than once it seemed to me that the bottom had been found in relations between Russia and Poland. But recent events convince me that this is not so. The incident with the “escort” was especially provocative. civil aircraft TU-154 of the Russian Minister of Defense in neutral waters by a Polish combat fighter. It’s hard to imagine what kind of idiocy the so-called Polish elite might even come up with.

I would never be surprised if they start digging up graves to try to prove yet another nonsense. For several years now, monthly meetings have been held in Poland where it is claimed that the plane with the president Lech Kaczynski near Smolensk was shot down by Russia, that those who survived were finished off. To this end, exhumations of those killed in plane crashes are regularly carried out in the hope of finding traces of bullets. Schizophrenia is becoming the norm in Poland. Therefore, you can expect anything from the Polish authorities. Sensible Poles are forced to remain silent so as not to lose, at a minimum, their jobs, and even freedom, as Mateusz Piskorski.

“SP”: — How should Russia react?

- First of all, continue to tell the truth. Without glossing over the most critical moments in Russian-Polish relations. Do not think that all Poles are Russophobic. Many of my friends in Poland watch and read Russian media on the Internet, including Free Press.

In addition, it is necessary to introduce the most stringent conditions for the export of Polish goods to Russia. If they allow themselves not only to spit on the memory of the fallen Soviet soldiers, but also to put a spoke in Gazprom’s wheels, why should we spare their economic interests? In general, I would bring exports from Poland to an absolute minimum - buy only what cannot be bought in other countries. Actually, the Poles themselves, by and large, buy from us only what they cannot live without - hydrocarbons. At the same time, on the contrary, to promote tourist trips ordinary Poles to Russia so that they can be convinced that our country is not the monster it is portrayed in the Western media.

By the way, after visiting the memorial in Katyn, the Poles are by no means imbued with Russophobia. On the contrary, they get a more objective picture of what happened. Even in Katyn, I would organize a special exhibition telling about how inhumanely Red Army prisoners were treated in Polish concentration camps in the 20s of the last century. More than 20 thousand people died then. And you can also add an exhibition telling about the persecution she was subjected to Orthodox Church in the territory Western Ukraine and Belarus, when these territories belonged to Poland.

“Poland is now, at the legislative level, trying to swear allegiance to Western civilization, finally getting rid of the Soviet period of its history, and, if we look more globally, then from belonging to the Eurasian community of peoples,” he argues Director of the Center for Geopolitical Expertise, member of the Public Chamber of Russia Valery Korovin. — However, the history of recent centuries shows that the West cynically uses a variety of peoples and civilizations, turning these peoples into biomass. Poland is treated in the West primarily as a colony that supplies cheap labor to the European market. This can be clearly seen from the socio-economic situation in Poland.

I would say that the Soviet monuments that are being demolished in Poland, as well as in Ukraine, are important bonds of Polish statehood. Because it was thanks to the victory of the Soviet people in the Great Patriotic War that the country of Poland emerged from oblivion. As is known, Hitler denied the Poles the right to have their own state. That is, the Poles are now trying to destroy the memory of those people who saved them, as a people, from the loss of national self-identification, and, to a large extent, from physical destruction.

The destruction of these monuments, on which post-war Polish statehood is based, is the beginning of the metaphysical destruction of Poland as a state and the transformation of the Polish people into fuel for the globalist cauldron.

“SP”: — Can Russia respond symmetrically to Poland? For example, again at the official level raise the question of who shot the Polish officers in Katyn?

“I think that from the height of our more than thousand-year-old statehood we should look at what is happening in Poland with sympathy, as another insanity of Polish society. On the other hand, we must make ourselves a “tick” for the distant future. If the question arises again about whether or not to restore Polish statehood, liquidated by the next conqueror, it will be necessary to remember how the Poles know how to “thank” their liberators.

And snapping and spitting in response to the Russophobic hysteria of the ungrateful Polish elite will be petty for such a great people as the Russians.

July 17th President of Poland Andrzej Duda signed a law on the demolition of all monuments Soviet era. Hundreds of monuments will be bulldozed, but the true goal of the cleansing is to reformat the consciousness of millions of Poles.

The Polish Sejm adopted this scandalous law on June 22. The document comes into force 3 months after signing by the president; it orders the dismantling of all monuments dedicated to people or events “symbolizing communism or another totalitarian system.” Exceptions are made for burial site memorials, works of art and scientific exhibits. Why such a law was needed, AiF.ru told Director of the Russian-Polish Center for Dialogue and Harmony Foundation Yuri Bondarenko.

Vitaly Tseplyaev, AiF.ru: - Yuri Konstantinovich, first of all, what monuments are we talking about?

Yuri Bondarenko: — About the monuments to Soviet soldiers that still stand on the streets and squares of Polish cities. They have, of course, been removed before. For example, back in 1991, a monument to Marshal Konev, who saved this city from destruction, was demolished in Krakow. In 2011, the Monument to the Soviet-Polish Brotherhood in Arms, which the whole country knew, was dismantled in Warsaw - it was removed under the pretext of building a metro line, with the promise of installing it in another place. Yes, they never installed it... In May 2014, the famous Monument of Gratitude to the Soviet Army was liquidated in Katowice. In 2015, in the city of Penenzhno, the authorities demolished a monument to army general, twice Hero of the Soviet Union, Ivan Chernyakhovsky.

However, according to various estimates, there are still from 200 to 500 similar monuments in Poland dedicated to the Soviet-Polish military brotherhood during the Second World War. There are especially many of them in the west of the country - in those territories that became part of Poland following the war.

These are Wroclaw, Szczecin, etc. And there, by the way, the attitude towards these monuments differs from the average - the monuments remind residents of who thanks to whom these territories became Polish.

— Why was this “tolerable” law adopted?

— The conservative party “Law and Justice” (PiS) currently ruling in the country has been working towards this for a long time. This party claims to be the most Russophobic political force in the country. Apparently, they decided that it was enough to tinker with each Soviet monument individually, put pressure on local authorities, be cunning and come up with plausible excuses for demolition, and argue with those who do not agree with the new interpretation of history. It’s easier to pass a law and demolish all the monuments. And since PiS controls both houses of parliament and the president, it was not difficult for them to pass such a law.

The task, I think, is very simple - to rewrite the history of the country under a new concept, according to which Poland smoothly transitioned from German to Soviet occupation. That is, it was not free for exactly half a century, from 1939 to 1989. And if this is so, then how can you erect monuments to one of these occupiers? At the same time, the authors of this initiative constantly emphasize that they do not touch the graves of Soviet soldiers - they say, we are good Catholics, we do not disturb the ashes of the dead...

This is not part of state policy - it is state policy itself, permeated with Russophobia. According to this policy, everyone who fought for the liberation of the country from half a century of occupation with arms in hand is heroes. Everyone they can is pulled out of the historical closet: even those who during the people's republic fled abroad, and those who, as “forest brothers” in the Baltics, fought with local administrations - by the way, they are called “damned soldiers” in Poland. Like their Baltic colleagues, these “people's avengers” were still heroes - they massacred civilians, women, children...

— While Poland is actively fighting against monuments of the Soviet era, such “feats” are unheard of in other countries of the former socialist camp. Why?

— Poland today strives to be the most pro-American country in Europe. However, some representatives of the Polish intelligentsia dreamed about this even during the years of Soviet power - there was even an anecdote about Poland becoming the 51st state of the United States. Indeed, nothing similar to the Polish “war on memory” is happening either in Hungary or in Slovakia, where there are also plenty of monuments to Soviet soldiers. For example, in Bratislava no one is encroaching on the majestic Slavin memorial complex, created in memory of thousands of Soviet soldiers who died during the liberation of the country and its capital.

June 22 Polish Sejm amendments to the law “On the prohibition of propaganda of communism or another totalitarian system.” They give municipal authorities the right to demolish “communist” monuments. The Russian Foreign Ministry's decision of the Sejm was a “shameful mockery” of the memory of Soviet soldiers and officers who died during the liberation of Poland in 1944-1945. On July 25, the Federation Council turned to Vladimir Putin with a request to impose sanctions against Poland.

Poland is not the first country to dismantle monuments erected during the USSR. Since 2015, Ukraine has had a number of decommunization laws in place, allowing for the demolition of monuments to Soviet power throughout the country.

In July 2014, in the city of Limanow in southern Poland, a monument to Soviet soldiers was demolished because “ appearance the monument was spoiled by the park landscape.” The Russian Foreign Ministry called the demolition of the monument a “blasphemous act,” and also added that they regard this as the outbreak of a “war of monuments.”

In July 2015, in the city of Nowa Sol in western Poland, a monument to Soviet-Polish brotherhood was dismantled. The mayor of the city, according to media reports citing his Facebook page, described the demolished monument as “huge, disgusting, constantly dirty, with rusty water flowing out.” On the site of the monument it was planned to erect a monument to the heroes of the struggle for Poland.

Since January 2014, a discussion began about the dismantling of the monument to Soviet general Ivan Chernyakhovsky at the site of his death in the city of Pienienzno in northern Poland. The Russian Foreign Ministry several times expressed indignation at the decision to dismantle the memorial and demanded to prevent its demolition, but in September 2015 they began to dismantle it. They planned to transfer the monument itself to the Russian side.

Ivan Chernyakhovsky - Soviet military leader, army general, in April 1944 was appointed commander of the troops of the 3rd Belorussian Front. On February 18, 1945, he was wounded by artillery shell fragments and died on the same day. He was buried in Vilnius.

In the photo: dismantling the monument “Monument to the Chekists - Soldiers of the Revolution”

In the spring of 2015, the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine adopted a package of laws on decommunization, which, among other things, involves the demolition of monuments to communist leaders. According to the Ukrainian Institute of National Remembrance, as of December 2016, more than 1.3 thousand monuments and memorial signs to Vladimir Lenin, as well as more than 1 thousand monuments and memorial signs to other leaders, were demolished in the country. Most of the monuments and memorial signs to Soviet leaders were dismantled in the Poltava, Kharkov and Zaporozhye regions. The dismantling of monuments to Soviet leaders continues.

Uzbekistan

In March 2015, in the city of Angren, Tashkent region of Uzbekistan, the obelisk erected in memory of local residents who died on the fronts of the Great Patriotic War. The regional administration and the city mayor, in response to public discontent, subsequently reported that by September 1, 2015, they were going to install a “Symbol of Peace” monument on the site of the monument.

Photo: Nacionala apvieniba/Twitter

In August 2016, the Latvian organization “Hawks of the Daugava” (established in a prison camp in Belgium (Zedelheim) in 1945 by former Latvian SS legionnaires) achieved the demolition of the monument to Soviet sailors in the city of Limbazi. A representative of the organization explained the demolition by saying that the sailors to whom the monument was erected died in battles with local nationalists, and Soviet military personnel were “engaged in looting.” Officially, local authorities cited the fact that the monument was in disrepair. Representatives of the Latvian Foreign Ministry stated that local authorities acted in the interests of the safety of the population.

In July 2015, sculptures of workers and soldiers installed on a bridge in the city center were dismantled in Vilnius. The emergency condition of the sculptures was cited as the reason. An article about the dissatisfaction of the local Russian-speaking population was published by the Guardian. In February 2017, reports emerged that the possibility of transferring the sculptures to the Lithuanian Art Museum was being considered, which in turn could transfer them to a park in the city of Druskininkai, where a collection of dismantled Soviet monuments is collected.