Polish embassy counteracts Italian newspaper's Holocaust claims
The Polish Embassy in Rome on Monday sent a letter of protest to the Italian Corriere della Sera newspaper over its claims about the Polish people, whom the paper had accused of having "their own personal responsiblity in the Holocaust".
The letter, which was published by CdS, expressed "concern" over a piece by the noted Italian columnist Gian Antonio Stella, expressing the embassy's "surprise" at its theses and "resentment" over paper's conclusions.
In an October 11's piece about a recent nationwide prayer event on Poland's borders, Stella said the initiative was directed "against migrants", calling on the Polish people "never to forget" what he called "their own personal responsiblity in the Holocaust, not only alongside German Nazis but also later", such as the Kielce pogrom of 1946.
The Polish embassy criticised Stella's "anti-historical charges of antisemitism" and his suggestion of responsibility, made against the Polish people.
The Polish diplomats reminded the Italian audience about the many Polish citizens who were named Righteous Among the Nations (see: NOTE) as well as the country's longest record of resistance against the Nazi German tyranny.
"On the Polish territory, occupied by the German Nazis, there wasn't a single group which collaborated with the invaders", the embassy emphasised, adding that soldiers of Jewish descent were among those buried in military cemeteries, including in Monte Cassino (see: NOTE 2), the site of a famous Polish World War II victory which allowed the Allied forces to capture Rome and then the whole of Southern Europe.
"All of this makes charges levelled against the Polish people of alleged 'personal responsibility in the Holocaust' groundless and incomprehensible", the Polish diplomats wrote.
They are false and "deeply unjust in relation to history and the dignity of people, Polish and otherwise", they added.
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NOTE: The Righteous Among the Nations distinction is awarded by the Jerusalem-based Yad Vashem Institute, Israel's official memorial to the victims of the Holocaust. Most trees planted at Yad Vashem to commemorate those who saved Jews during the war are dedicated to Polish people. In all, out of 26,000 Righteous Among the Nations worldwide, more than 6,700 come from Poland.
NOTE 2: In 1944, Anders Army (see: NOTE 3) troops proved crucial in defeating the Germans in what was called "the biggest inland battle in Europe" - the famous Battle of Monte Cassino. This exceptionally hard-fought and fateful victory, which cost much Polish blood, allowed Allied forces to capture Rome and later the whole of southern Europe.
On May 18, 1944, a Polish 12th Podolian Cavalry Regiment patrol climbed to the top and raised a Polish flag over the ruins.
In all, 923 Polish soldiers were killed in the fighting, with 2,931 wounded and 345 reported missing.
NOTE 3: Named after its commander, General Wladyslaw Anders, the Anders Army was formed on the strength of the 1942 Sikorski-Mayski Agreement sealed between the Soviet Union and Poland. The document provided for the formation of a Polish force to aid the Soviet army and other Allied states in their struggle against the Third Reich.
Conscripts to the Anders Army were mainly recruited from Polish people incarcerated in Soviet prisons and labour camps. In order for the Polish captives to join the force, the were granted amnesty. On March 24, 1942, the Anders Army began its evacuation from the USSR, making its way through Iran to Palestine under a British-Soviet-Polish agreement. In Palestine, the force passed under British command and formed the bulk of the Polish 2nd Corps, which fought in the Italian campaign.
The Anders Army also played a role in the formation of the state of Israel.
In Palestine, the army's commanders became known for turning a blind eye to thousands of desertions by the army's Jewish-descended conscripts, who left Anders Army to join Jewish military organisations fighting for the independence of Israel. Among the soldiers granted an official release from the formation was Menachem Begin (born Mieczyslaw Biegun) - the founder of Israel's Likud party and the 6th Israeli prime minister.
In line with the policy of the Polish government-in-exile, when leaving the Soviet Union the Anders Army also helped civilians of Jewish descent, including soldier families, groups of (Polish-)Jewish children and war orphans, to escape Soviet repression and travel safely to Palestine against a British ban. Polish authorities circumvented the interdict by loading fellow citizens of Jewish descent onto ships and navigating them around the Arabian Peninsula. Jewish children, on the other hand, are said to have been clad in Catholic school uniforms and transported to Palestine through Iraqi deserts by trucks.
Apart from "the biggest inland battle in Europe" - the famous Battle of Monte Cassino (see: NOTE 2), another Italian-theatre decisive battle fought by Anders Army's II Corps, actually becoming its only independent operation, was the Battle of Ancona, in which Polish troops took over a strategic Adriatic port. The operation contributed to the breaking of the Gothic Line and subsequent surrender of the Axis forces in Italy.
The Polish 2nd Corps under General Anders also partook in the famous battle of Bologna, which began on April 9, 1945, and ended on April 21. It was one of the Italian Campaign's last battles, whose aim was the liberation of Bologna - a decisive step in the Germans' ultimate defeat on the Italian territory. After the city's liberation a Polish rifle unit was the first to enter the city. (PAP)
