Auschwitz vs Oświęcim: Russia Snubbed as West Rewrites History

The history of the 20^th century, and especially of the Second World War is being gradually but steadily re-written by the West and those aspiring to adopt its "values".

First, Ukrainian Prime Minister Yatsenyuk made a sensational historical "discovery" that it was the Soviet Union that invaded Hitler's Germany (not vice versa) and Ukraine (having been a constituent part of the USSR it could hardly be invaded by its own people). He most fittingly made this allegation while visiting Germany, and his hosts didn't even blink.

This claim to historical fame was not lost on the Polish Foreign Minister, who decided to better his neighbour's breakthrough in historical research and "revealed" that Auschwitz was liberated by Ukrainian, not Russian soldiers.

He based his "discovery" on the fact that the armies advancing through that part of Poland belonged to the First Ukrainian Front. Was he not aware that the Front was named after the Soviet Republic that it had liberated before entering Poland, and comprised soldiers from almost a hundred ethnic groups of the Soviet Union, the Russians being by far the largest? Didn't he know that when the Soviet troops arrived at the gates of Auschwitz the surviving prisoners cried "the Russians are here"?

Well, there are not many people left to remember this, but what is a bit intriguing these days is that the place is still referred to by the name the Germans gave it, while it has a historic Polish name of Oświęcim. By the same logic applied by the Polish FM to the name of the Ukrainian Front, it may be argued that Oświęcim was a Polish, not a German affair.

Actually, none other than US President Barak Obama might have thought so when he referred to a "Polish death camp" at a ceremony honouring a Polish resistance fighter back in May 2012. All hell broke loose in Poland at the highest level with cries of utmost indignation at the gravest of insults. President Obama profusely apologised to Warsaw's triumphant satisfaction. If only such sensitivities were exhibited towards other countries, say, for example, Russia.

As for the Polish role in the Holocaust, consider this: of the three million Polish Jews only 10% survived, and among the prison population of Oświęcim, by far the largest group were Polish Jews, who made up almost a third of the overall number. Were they all rounded up by the Germans?

The history of anti-Semitism in Poland is well documented, as is the collaboration of the locals with the Nazis when it came to deporting Jews to concentration camps. There are quite a few stories of Oświęcim survivors going back to their places only to find out that their homes and possessions had been taken over by neighbours who refused to hand them back. 

This is the Polish side of the story, but there is a German side too. Of the 6,500 SS personnel who manned Oświęcim during the four and a half years of its existence, only 750 were eventually convicted of any crime. The rest, having fled to the West before the advancing Soviet Army, escaped justice. It has been said that this anniversary of the liberation of Oświęcim is probably the last in the lives of the survivors. How many of their torturers are still alive and well? And how long before they are celebrated as victims of a "Russian invasion"?

These thoughts must have been heavy on the minds of the veterans of the Battle of Stalingrad who have written a letter to the German Chancellor Angela Merkel protesting against the re-writing of history and the support the West — and Germany — is offering to the Ukrainian followers of Nazism.

"We are witnessing a spectre haunting Europe — the spectre of the 'brown' plague. This time it is Ukraine who has become an incubator for Nazism, where the ideology of ultra-nationalist, anti-Semitic and misanthropic hues is now being put into practice — physical violence, extermination of dissenters, murder of people on the grounds of ethnic hatred, rejection of different cultures", write the Stalingrad veterans to Angela Merkel.

"We see familiar scenes: torch-lit processions, thugs in uniforms bearing Nazi insignia, Nazi salutes, fascist marches in central Kiev under the protection of the state, statements about second rate ethnic groups. 

"Nazi formations, such as the 'Right Sector', the so-called 'National Guard', numerous informal but well-armed battalions, like the 'Azov' one, supported by the Ukrainian army, air force and heavy artillery, are systematically exterminating the people of East Ukraine", the letter continues.

"These heirs of the so-called 'Ukrainian Liberation Army' which, shall we remind you Frau Merkel, fought alongside the Wehrmacht in WWII; as well as of the Waffen SS 'Galicia' that 'distinguished' itself in the persecution of Soviet Jews, have succeeded in glorifying their ideological fathers and grandfathers."

The veterans of the Battle of Stalingrad, writing to the German Chancellor Angela Merkel express their bewilderment at the position taken by the West. 

"It could be interpreted as lenience towards Ukrainian Nazism. This is exactly how this European position is seen in Ukraine, and this is exactly how the Russian people are beginning to see it. And we would like to know, what the German people would say from the vantage position of their national historical experience."

The letter signed by the surviving veterans of the Stalingrad battle warns that revision of history as seen in Ukraine and elsewhere is a direct road to Nazism, and calls on the German Chancellor to support their fight against the revival of Nazism in Ukraine and elsewhere in the world.