Institute of National Remembrance https://ipn.gov.pl/en/news/769,Institutes-preliminary-analysis-of-the-archival-documents-published-by- the-Feder.html 2021-09-27, 11:02 05.03.2015 Institute’s preliminary analysis of the archival documents published by the Federal Archival Agency of Russia on 26 February 2015 On 26 February 2015 a collection of documents entitled „How the Polish underground forces „helped” the Red Army defeat the Nazi Germany in 1944-1945” appeared on the website of the Federal Archival Agency of Russia. The publication was accompanied by an interview with the head of the Archives, Andrei Artizow, given to government's newspaper „Rossijskaja Gazieta” distinctively entitled „Shot in the back”. The authors pointed out that it was intentionally released on the eve of the National Day of Remembrance of the „Soldiers accursed”. Their intention was to present the Home Army soldiers as thugs and allies of the Third Reich. In the last few days a group of researchers from the Institute of National Remembrance has been analyzing a collection of documents published by the Russian side. The initial reading of the documents indicates that their choice has been made for current political purposes. The published collection is very selective, there is no scientific apparatus and commentaries to the documents seem manipulative. Thus, this cannot be treated as a reliable source publication as it does not meet accepted academic standards. Many of the published documents contain information which vague and devoid of context. Further documents duplicate the same information, creating a feeling of mass-character of the described events. Probably some of the documents do not even apply to the Home Army or other organized units of Polish independence underground. The reported cases are as strange as alleged poisoning of a Red Army officer with Polish apples [doc. No. 45]. With the selection of documents the authors strive to hide the real picture of the Soviet presence in Poland in 1944-1945. They did not publish the archival material regarding mass deportations of the Home Army soldiers and civilian population into the Soviet Union, arrests and executions of members of the Polish independence underground, building a repression apparatus modeled on the Soviet one, and finally on the Augustów Roundup, the largest Soviet crime against Poles committed after the end of World War II. Without this information, the reader is not able to understand the reasons behind the Polish underground struggle, carried out mostly in self-defense. In the course of the „Tempest” operation the Home Army joined forces with the Red Army to fight the Germans. This, however, resulted in the aforementioned repressions. The published documents tell about attempts to rescue the arrested [doc. No. 19], including destroying the NKVD camp in Rembertów in May 1945. [doc. No. 32]. Despite the authors efforts, the true elements of Soviet policy towards Poland and Polish people during those times are clear. You will find information about disarming of the Home Army soldiers and the „liquidation operations” against them [doc. 8, 48, 51], mass arrests [doc. No. 55] and hostile attitude of the population [No. 58]. One of the documents exposes the Red Army as a Soviet secret agency [doc. 11]. Other suggest that actions of the Red Army resulted in clashes with not only with the Polish underground, but also with subordinate to Communist authorities units of Polish „People's” Army and militia. The scale of rapes, robberies, murders committed by the Red Army was so large that even the high-ranking representatives of the new authorities did not remain indifferent to the crimes [doc. 15, 57]. The authors of the collection apparently failed to notice that their actions are compatible with Soviet propaganda against the Home Army, devised already in 1944 [doc. 12], and above all, the fact that some of the published documents have been produced by the Soviet repression apparatus in preparation to the Moscow Trial of the Sixteen [doc. 29, 33, 44]. After the Yalta conference, leaders of the Polish Underground State, who expressed willingness to negotiate, were deceitfully abducted and trialed by the Soviet authorities. Publication of the Federal Archival Agency of Russia is nothing more than a continuation of false accusations against the Polish Underground State, put forward by the Stalinist prosecutors in June 1945. Statement of the President of the Institute of National Remembrance, Dr. Łukasz Kamiński, concerning the accusations of the Russian propaganda with regard to the Polish underground resistance 1944-1945 - 27 February 2015 Statement of the Platform of European Memory and Conscience on the issue - 5 March 2015 Официальное сообщение ИНП на тему содержания документов, опубликованных „Росархивом” 26 февраля 2015 г. Downloads (pdf, 84.91 KB) Opcje strony Print this page Generate PDF of this page Notify about this page Share this article Share on Facebook Share on Twitter.