Anyone who has visited the former Auschwitz concentration camp in Poland could never have imagined that on May 5, 2023, in the Polish city of Glubczyce, the monument of gratitude to the Red Army, which liberated that Eastern European nation from the Nazis, would be demolished.
With expressions of euphoria for some and sadness and shame for others, the world was able to see, live and direct, the images of this event, broadcast by the Institute of National Memory of that country.
Sputnik reports that the monument now demolished was built in 1945 to pay tribute to the 676 Soviet servicemen who died fighting the Nazis in that area. They were part of the First Front that would later participate in the liberation of the prisoners of the Auschwitz concentration camp.
If history is any guide, both sites may well be lasting symbols of gratitude and respect. However, according to Europa Press, out of the 500 monuments erected on Polish territory to honor the heroism of the Soviet army, only about 30 are still standing.
Following the adoption of a law against the "promotion of communism" in March 2022, an anti-history competition has been set up to destroy monuments related to the Soviet Union.
The current Russophobia and hate propaganda against the Slavic nation are being exposed at a time when the United States-led countries of the European Union have bowed to Washington's mandate, both in anti-Russian propaganda and in the policy of sanctions against Moscow, as well as in sending millions in arms and ammunition to Ukraine.
In the Polish case, the destruction of part of Polish history, especially that related to World War 2 and the role played by Soviet Union troops in the liberation of that territory and the defeat of Nazi forces, seems to be aimed at making new generations forget that between 1.8 and 1.9 million Polish civilians died as a result of the irruption of German fascist forces.
No matter how incomprehensible it may be, and no matter how much the anti-Russian hatred may be exacerbated, history will be in charge of judging these facts and fighting so that concentration camps like Auschwitz, the scene of torture, forced labor, executions and mass deaths in the gas chambers installed there by the German military, will not be repeated.
More than 1.1 million people, 90% Jews, died in Auschwitz before the concentration and extermination camp was liberated by the troops of the Soviet Union on January 27, 1945.
