EU and Russia in Dispute over Poland’s role in WW2

The European Commission in Brussels said that it would not accept the distortion of historic facts, after Russia implied Poland was partly accountable for starting World War Two. The Commission further noted that it would challenge disinformation wherever it occurred.

Last month Russian President Vladimir Putin anticipated that Poland shared responsibility for the war, because it conspired in Nazi German plans to dismember Czechoslovakia in 1938. The speaker of the Russian parliament insisted Poland to apologize for obliquely instigating the war.

“Everyone is entitled to his own opinion, but not his own facts. The Commission’s role here is to talk about facts,” EU Justice Commissioner Vera Jourova spoke to the European Parliament on Wednesday.

“The European Commission fully rejects any false claims that attempt to distort the history of the Second World War or paint the victims, like Poland, as perpetrators,” she said. Jourova vows that it was the pact between Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union, signed by foreign ministers Joachim von Ribbentrop representing Nazi Germany, and Vyacheslav Molotov of USSR, on August 23, 1939, that contributed the most, ultimately leading to world war. This version of the build-up to the Second World War is the most reliable account and consistently backed by prominent Historians.

“The Nazi-Soviet alliance enabled the attack on Poland by Nazi Germany on 1 September 1939, and subsequently Soviet troops on 17 September. These events marked the beginning of the Second World War – these are the facts,” she further stressed. “Distortion of historical facts is a threat to our democratic societies and must be challenged wherever possible,” she added.

“Organized and targeted dissemination of distortions and disinformation is something we have to oppose and reject.” The Justice Commissioner concluded.

By Beka Alexishvili