PM Morawiecki for "Politico": Europe must not allow Russia to rewrite its history. Russian MFA responds

In an extensive article published on Tuesday, ahead of the 75th anniversary of Auschwitz concentration camp liberation, the head if Polish government present listed arguments supporting the claim that very much like in the post-war period when "the Soviet propaganda dictated the narrative of World War II", Russia again attempts to portray the USSR as liberators of Europe from Nazi terror.

"Far from being a 'liberator,' the Soviet Union was a facilitator of Nazi Germany and a perpetrator of crimes of its own — before and after the liberation of Auschwitz" - Morawiecki wrote.

Polish PM wrote in the article that the Soviet occupation lasted "45 years, cost millions of lives and robbed Poland and Central Europe of their independence and chance for normal economic development". He added that during its course, "the Soviet regime also peddled a distorted version of history and World War II, which claimed the USSR 'liberated Europe' from Nazism and ignored Moscow’s real role in the conflict".

"In trying to present the Soviet Union as the world’s saviour from Nazism, Russian President Vladimir Putin neglects Moscow’s military aggression not only against Poland but also against the Baltic States — Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia — in June 1940, and its decision to provoke a "winter war" with Finland from November 1939 to March 1940" - Morawiecki wrote. According to him, this version of history has nothing in common with facts, and above all, "insults the memory of millions of victims of communism".

PM Morawiecki also stressed that "in reality, it was the alliance between Nazi Germany and the USSR in 1939 that paved the way for the start of World War II. The Third Reich would not have been able to rebuild German military capability without the Soviet supply of natural resources and military cooperation".

"That false narrative is being rehabilitated and instrumentalised again today, as Russia attempts to burden Poland and other European countries with responsibility for cooperation with German dictator Adolf Hitler," Morawiecki argued. "Renewed attempts to paint Poland as a perpetrator, rather than a victim, can’t be tolerated" - he underscored.

Head of Polish government also wrote: "as the world commemorates 75 years since the liberation of Auschwitz, Russia is trying to rewrite history. (...) Given that the European Union was born from the ashes of World War II, we must guard against false narratives like those being peddled today".

In response to Mateusz Morawiecki's article Russian MFA spokesperson Maria Zakharova wrote on Facebook on Tuesday that "devoting an article to the Holocaust, Polish PM places a number of false theses in its core. One of them, central, is about 'Soviet occupation, which was to last for another 45 years, cost millions of lives'. Lies and manipulation have become true co-authors of Polish politicians discussing the issue of the World War Two".

She also wrote that after the WWII, the Soviet Union "proceeded to deliver a vast programme to reconstruct the economy" of Poland, and its government "acted selflessly, often sacrificing its own interests". According to Zakharova, it was thanks to the USSR that Poland received the so-called Recovered Territories and found itself among the United Nations founding-states.

"Another awful lie by Morawiecki is the claim that the Red Army in essence 'did not liberate Warsaw'" - Zakharova wrote. "But even that wasn't the rock bottom. Outside the boundaries of good and evil is the sentence saying that "while the Red Army did eventually liberate Auschwitz [Zakharova uses the Polish name Oświecim], the camp could have been liberated half a year earlier" - she added.

Russian MFA spokesperson then quoted the words of gratitude to Joseph Stalin sent - as she wrote - by General Zygmunt Berling in the fall of 1943. The said fragment, the general speaks of gratitude for taking good care of the Polish Army formed in the USSR and for "making our dream come true of taking part in the fight against the German oppressors of Poland".

In her comment, Zakharova levelled accusations against Morawiecki: "an official has allowed himself to question Soviet Union's role in saving the world from Nazism, disregarding the outcome of the Nuremberg trials".

Zakharova called Morawiecki's article "another attempt to rewrite the history of the World War Two". She concluded her comment as follows: "It's not an article, but a true suicide: four pages with which Polish prime minister has killed a human in himself".