Poland Steps Up Efforts To Falsify History Ahead Of Anniversary Of WWII Victory - Moscow

PIENIEZNO (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 16th February, 2020) Polish authorities have ramped up efforts to falsify history in the run-up to the 75th anniversary of the Soviet Union's victory over Nazi Germany in World War II, Russian Ambassador in Warsaw Sergey Andreev said on Sunday.

Earlier in the day, Russian diplomats honored the memory of Soviet Gen. Ivan Chernyakhovsky at the site of his death near the northern Polish town of Pieniezno (formerly the East Prussian town of Mehlsack) in February 1945. The monument to Chernyakhovsky, which used to stand at the site, was removed by the Polish authorities in 2015.

"The 75th anniversary of the victory in the Great Patriotic War is approaching. And as always, as the memorial date nears, the campaign to rewrite and falsify history and devalue our victory intensifies. As we approach May 9, this campaign strengthens, but we are ready for this. We are convinced of our rightness," Andreev said.

While interpreting historical events, Warsaw often forgets that modern Poland exists thanks to the Red Army, he added. Polish authorities, he went on, claim that Red Army soldiers replaced the Nazi occupation with Soviet dominance and did not bring them genuine liberty.

"This interpretation ignores one fundamental fact: if it were not for the victory of the Red Army and the Soviet Union in the Great Patriotic War, these countries [like Poland] simply would not be on the map," he stated.

According to the ambassador, one should accept own history "with all its good and not so good pages" and not betray it under any circumstances.

Andreev therefore said that Russia would continue giving tribute at the site of the death of Chernyakhovsky, the youngest ever Soviet general, "regardless of whether there is a monument here or not." Chernyakhovsky died from wounds at the age of 37 on February 18, 1945.