Stop Soviet propaganda regarding the liberation of 1945 and about liberators who were, in fact, murderers, child killers and rapists. Down with communism! – said Karol Nawrocki, Ph.D., the President of the Institute of National Remembrance, during a briefing in Głubczyce.
On 5 May 2023, an object of Soviet propaganda – a "monument of gratitude to the Red Army" - was dismantled in Głubczyce (Opolskie Voivodeship). The obelisk, erected in 1945, commemorated the 676 Red Army soldiers of the 1st Ukrainian Front who fell in the fighting for the city in March 1945. Based on the documentation of the Polish Red Cross, it was determined that in 1952 a comprehensive exhumation of the remains of Red Army soldiers was carried out in Głubczyce, and no burial sites of Red Army soldiers were left there.
The year 1945 in Poland, in the Opole region and in other regions, was not a year marking a clash between the enslavers and the liberators. It was not a clash between good and evil. It was, however, a year marking a clash between evil and evil, between enslavers and enslavers, whether they were German National Socialists or Soviet Communists. Since 1939, they wanted to destroy Poland, they wanted to destroy Central Europe, in 1939 and in 1945, the IPN President stated during the briefing.
Therefore, such propaganda objects cannot have their rightful place in a free, independent and democratic Poland. This is not a monument. It is an object. A true monument has historical and aesthetic value. This monument, on the other hand, refers to events which did not take place, in 1945 we cannot talk about liberation or Red Army heroes.
- stressed IPN President, Karol Nawrocki
He further added that the Institute of National Remembrance is dismantling Soviet monuments – the tools of Soviet propaganda, but is also fighting for the awareness of the next generations of Poles in this regard.
Adam Siwek, Director of the IPN's Office for the Commemorating the Struggle and Martyrdom, pointed out that the Institute of National Remembrance continues its mission, which began in 2022, to execute the law - the Law on the Prohibition of the Propagation of Communism and Other Totalitarian Regimes. He summarized that 28 objects of Soviet propaganda have been removed so far, 7 of which were dismantled by local authorities, responding to an appeal made by the IPN President.
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