Belarusian parliament angered by plans of a march of "cursed soldiers" in Poland
MINSK. Feb 21 (Interfax) - Belarusian MPs have expressed indignation with the intentions of right-wing radicals in Poland to hold another march of "cursed soldiers" in Hajnowka.
"On behalf of parliament members, I want to express my deepest indignation and anger that a right-wing radical action is being planned in Hajnowka again. It is especially painful that this is happening on the year of the 75th anniversary of the victory in World War II," deputy chairman of the international affairs' committee of the House of Representatives of the National Assembly Oleg Gaidukevich said to media representatives in Minsk on Friday.
He said that the Belarusian side "is angered by the permission of such marches, especially in a country that suffered badly itself from fascism and Nazism."
"We are indignant and ask our Polish colleagues to hear us after all: Romuald Rajs was a person who murdered women, children and old people. Our ethnic Belarusians live in Hajnowka and we will be defending them," Gaidukevich said.
"Cursed soldiers" or "doomed soldiers" is the general name for various anti-Soviet and anti-Communist illegal organizations formed in Poland towards the end of World War II and after it. These secret organizations continued an armed struggle against the Polish government until the late 1950s.
Romuald Rajs, also known as Bury, was the leader of such an organization. In January-February 1946, he and his men committed the massive murder of 79 ethnic Belarusians in East Poland, which was later recognized as an act of genocide.
Hajnowka is a town in Podlaski voivodeship of Poland.