Morawiecki issued a statement after Russia’s Putin claimed in a series of recent appearances that Poland was partly responsible for the outbreak of World War II.
Putin has also reportedly accused Poles of anti-Semitism and claimed that the Soviet Union helped “save lives” when it invaded eastern Poland in 1939 following a pact with Nazi Germany.
“The 20th century brought the world inconceivable suffering and the death of hundreds of millions of people killed in the name of sick, totalitarian ideologies,” the Polish prime minister said in his statement on Sunday.
“The death toll of Nazism, fascism and communism is obvious for people of our generation. It is also obvious who is responsible for those crimes – and whose pact started World War II, the most murderous conflict in the history of humankind,” he added.
'Attempts to distort history'
“Unfortunately, the more time passes since these tragic events, the less our children and grandchildren know about them," Morawiecki also said.
"That is why it is so important that we continue to speak out loud, telling the truth about World War II, its perpetrators and victims – and object to any attempts at distorting history."
According to the BBC, Putin has in recent days mentioned Poland and its wartime history five times at key meetings.
While attending a defence ministry board meeting on Tuesday, the Russian leader, “in an unusual outburst,” described the Polish ambassador to Nazi Germany as "scum and an anti-Semite pig," the British public broadcaster has reported on its website.
The Polish prime minister said in Sunday’s statement that Poland was “the war’s first victim” and that his country experienced “the armed aggression of Nazi Germany and Soviet Russia.”
The BBC has reported that Putin's “sudden interest” and criticism of Poland follows a European Parliament resolution that blamed both the Soviet Union and Nazi Germany for the outbreak of the war more than 80 years ago.
European lawmakers in September passed a resolution condemning a secret agreement between Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union that opened the door to those countries invading Poland in 1939 and paved the way to the horrors of World War II.
The BBC reported that the Soviet Union has frequently been accused of carving up Poland together with Nazi Germany under its pact of non-aggression with Hitler, known as the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact.
Poland’s Morawiecki said in his statement on Sunday that the Molotov-Ribbentrop pact, signed on August 23, 1939, “was not a ‘non-aggression pact,’” but “a political and military alliance, dividing Europe into two spheres of influence.”
He added that Nazi Germany on September 1, 1939 invaded Poland from the west, south and north, while “the USSR joined in,” attacking Poland from the east on September 17, 1939.
Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki. Photo: Adam Guz/KPRM
Morawiecki also said that on September 22, 1939 “a great military parade was held” to celebrate “Nazi Germany’s and Soviet Russia’s joint defeat of [an] independent Poland.”
Hitler and Stalin were 'not only allies but in fact friends'
He added that Hitler and Stalin were for a long time “not only allies but in fact friends” while “the USSR and the Third Reich cooperated closely all the time.”
“Thanks to Stalin, Hitler could conquer new countries with impunity, lock Jews from all over the continent in ghettos, and prepare the Holocaust – one of the worst crimes in the history of humankind,” Morawiecki also said.
According to the Polish prime minister, “President Putin has lied about Poland on numerous occasions, and he has always done it deliberately.”
Morawiecki said: “This usually happens when Russian authorities feel international pressure related to their activities – and the pressure is exerted not on [the] historical but contemporary geopolitical scene.”
According to Morawiecki, Russia has in recent weeks “suffered several significant defeats – it failed in its attempt to take complete control over Belarus, the EU once again prolonged sanctions imposed on it for illegal annexation of Crimea, the so-called “Normandy Format” talks did not result in lifting these sanctions and simultaneously further restrictions were introduced – this time by the US, significantly hindering the implementation of the Nord Stream 2 project.”
At the same time, “Russian athletes have just been suspended for four years for using doping,” Morawiecki said.
'Attempt to cover up problems'
“I consider President Putin’s words as an attempt to cover up these problems,” he added.
Morawiecki also stated that “the Russian leader is well aware that his accusations have nothing to do with reality.”
He concluded that “there can be no consent to turning perpetrators into victims, those responsible for cruel crimes into innocent people and attacked countries.”
The Polish foreign ministry on Friday summoned Russia’s ambassador and “voiced strong opposition" after it said top Russian officials, including Putin and parliamentary Speaker Vyacheslav Volodin, made a series of "insinuations” about historical issues.
Poland’s Deputy Foreign Minister Marcin Przydacz was quoted as saying on Friday that some recent claims by top Russian officials about the causes and course of the war were “based on the propaganda of a totalitarian state” and showed “that the Stalinist narrative is consciously and aggressively trying to enter the Russian historical mindset.”
(gs)
Source: premier.gov.pl