DISINFO: Polish historical propaganda causes poor condition of the Russian-Polish relations
SUMMARY
The stagnation in the Russian-Polish relations is also explained by the activities of Polish propaganda, which is based on historical events, primarily the Katyn and the Smolensk tragedies. The Russians may raise the question of the fate of the Soviet prisoners of war (1919-1921) in a more active way, but we do it to a much lesser extent. Everyone understands that the current generation cannot be held accountable for the actions of their grand- and great-grandparents. Fortunately, the young people, who are the target of propaganda, eventually start to think for themselves.
After the Crimean events, the rhetoric of the Polish authorities has changed dramatically. Before 2014, there was criticism of Russia as a state, but after 2014, a big number of Polish media have started chauvinistic criticism not only of the Russian leadership but also the Russian citizens in general. Unfortunately, no one in Poland remembers positive moments of our common history, such as the joint conquest of Berlin in 1945 by the Russian and Polish units. In Poland, they talk only about tragic historical moments.
RESPONSE
This message is part of the Kremlin’s policy of historical revisionism – it repeatedly accuses Poland of the “falsification and re-writing” of its history. The second part of this message promotes the disinformation narrative about Russophobic Poland, which deliberately worsens its relations with Russia.
First of all, Poland does not promote any “anti-Russian historical propaganda”. In terms of the Katyn Massacre, the Polish authorities present their protests against the recent attempts of Russia to promote the Stalinist historical fakes about XX century history. The Katyń Massacre is a symbol of the criminal policy of the USSR against the Polish nation. In Spring 1940, almost 22.000 Polish prisoners of war were executed by the NKVD in Katyn, Kharkiv and Kalinin (Tver). The Massacre was carefully considered and organised by the Soviet leadership. Up until 1991, the Soviet authorities refused to accept responsibility for this crime, blaming Nazi Germany for the mass-murders of Polish prisoners of war. In 1992, Russian President Boris Yeltsin submitted documents confirming the Soviet blame for this crime to President Lech Walesa. Read more about the Katyń Massacre here.
The current crisis in the Polish-Russian relations is caused not by alleged “Polish historical propaganda”, but deliberate actions of the Kremlin: illegal annexation of Crimea and Russia's armed military aggression in Ukraine, continuous violation of international law, anti-Polish "historical" accusations, ungrounded expulsion of a Polish diplomat, among many others.
See similar examples of the Russian accusations against Poland in falsification and re-writing of history - Poland creates and promotes its historical myths in an active and aggressive way; Poland and Lithuania question the status of Russia as a country who won WWII; President Duda and President Zelensky promote propaganda and Poland tries to adjust history to politics, misinterpreting the historical facts.