Call On Russia To Fully Open Its Archives
Warsaw / Prague, 5 March 2015. The Platform of European Memory and Conscience is deeply concerned about the Russian activity in the field of remembrance and about the return to propaganda based on the worst Stalin’s legacy. The Platform considers the declassification and publication of selected documents concerning Polish anti-Communist resistance by Rossarchiv to be manipulation with the aim to disparage the memory of the heroes of the Polish Underground.
The Second World War began with German and Soviet invasion of Poland. Half of Polish pre-war territory was annexed by the Soviet Union. Severe crimes, including the Katyn massacre, were perpetrated by Soviets against Poles. The Polish Home Army did not fight against the Red Army though. As the front line came closer, it started an open war against the Germans and cooperated with the approaching Soviets. In response, the Soviet authorities disarmed, deported to the Gulag, and in many cases also murdered the Polish soldiers. Despite the huge injustice of the Yalta solutions, including losing half of the territory, the leaders of the Polish Underground declared readiness to discuss the establishment of a Provisional Government of National Unity. In response, 16 top officials were abducted by the NKVD and judged in a staged trial in Moscow.
“In dealing with the past we are obliged to try to get to the truth. The Platform strongly condemns the publication of limited, very small and precisely chosen parts of documents in order to support certain theses. There is no “partial” or “half” truth. We consider the subordination of archival research to the contemporary goals of Russian neo-imperialist policy unacceptable,” says Platform President Göran Lindblad.
The Platform calls the Russian Federation’s authorities to return to Boris Yeltsin’s policy whereby access to archives and Soviet documents was much easier and remembrance policy was not led in a confrontational manner with a contempt for the truth. Only open archives with unlimited access for researchers can be helpful on the way to reconciliation based on truth and remembrance. Russia, do not be afraid! Open the archives!
Statement of the President of the Polish Institute of National Remembrance on the issue:
– The Platform of European Memory and Conscience
