https://www.rferl.org/a/28778037.html
Good afternoon all,
The above link from Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty has great pictures of war memorial monuments and some related material.
The captions are "political" in nature and I hesitated to post this link. On reflection, ... since just about everything is contemporary "political" ... if used for research on the history of WWII and not for partisan political objectives, I believe it's worth spending some time on the above link.
I hope the moderator(s) concur.
A colleague told me of link because of the column in Stargard and the statute to "Soviet - Polish General Zygmunt Berling".
Hopefully this proves of value.
~ Bob
Virginia, USA
WWII related war monuments in Poland
Re: WWII related war monuments in Poland
The author confuses monuments inside cemeteries of Soviet soldiers (protected by an international agreement with Russia, and because of that untouchable) with monuments built somewhere else, usually in the centers of towns/cities (and totally at the mercy of local authorities).
The monuments are frequently dedicated to to the Red Army, Polish People's Army, "Polish-Soviet brotherhood" (it was said because you can't choose your brothers) or the Soviet Union. They are really like monuments dedicated to the Wehrmacht, the Waffen-SS, or the Third Reich - and equally unacceptable.
It's obvious that the Russians and their culture were the first and the greatest victims of the Soviet totalitarian regime. That the suffering of the Russians during the WW2 was incomparable with anything - what was going on in Britain and the US was just another first world problems in comparison.
But the monuments as a rule have nothing to do with Russians, Russian soldiers - they usually simply glorify communism.
And the monument in Brzeg is only beautiful on that photo, in reality it's a beyond belief abomination (known locally as the plumbers' monument - because of its ugliness).
The monuments are frequently dedicated to to the Red Army, Polish People's Army, "Polish-Soviet brotherhood" (it was said because you can't choose your brothers) or the Soviet Union. They are really like monuments dedicated to the Wehrmacht, the Waffen-SS, or the Third Reich - and equally unacceptable.
It's obvious that the Russians and their culture were the first and the greatest victims of the Soviet totalitarian regime. That the suffering of the Russians during the WW2 was incomparable with anything - what was going on in Britain and the US was just another first world problems in comparison.
But the monuments as a rule have nothing to do with Russians, Russian soldiers - they usually simply glorify communism.
And the monument in Brzeg is only beautiful on that photo, in reality it's a beyond belief abomination (known locally as the plumbers' monument - because of its ugliness).