Polish foreign ministry 'disappointed' with Katyn sign

The controversial sign appeared next to Polish graves in Russia, suggesting that Red Army soldiers held captive by Poles during the Polish-Soviet War (1919-1921) suffered inhumane conditions and tens of thousands never returned home.

The Polish foreign ministry said the signs featured “false information” about the Bolshevik prisoners of the war who had died in Polish captivity.

The sign is located a few dozen metres away from the mass graves of some 4,500 Polish victims of the Katyn massacre of 1940.

According to the sign, some 175,000 Red Army soldiers were taken captive in the Polish-Soviet War, but 75,000 did not return home.

The ministry said that the information on the signs at the cemetery, “notably the figures of deceased POWs, exceed by a few [multiples] the actual numbers that have been confirmed by Polish and Russian historians”.

The statement added that “the majority of the prisoners died because of camp conditions that resulted from the dramatic economic situation of Polish lands after a long-time struggle for independence. Those conditions equally affected the Russian soldiers and Polish citizens.”

The signs were installed by the Russian Military-Historic Association which is headed by Russian Culture Minister Vladimir Medinsky.

Medinsky has in past referred to POW camps used by Poles in the Polish-Soviet War (1919-1921) as “concentration camps”.

The statement by the ministry said that Poland has “repeatedly heard assurances from senior [Russian] officials of the willingness for dialogue and cooperation to constructively solve issues that divide our countries.”

“Poland is ready for an open and constructive debate in order to avoid disputes about history between our countries and to solve the existing ones,” the statement said. (rg)