Poland urges Russians to stop discussing foreign minister's point about Auschwitz liberation
MOSCOW. Jan 22 (Interfax) - Poland has insisted on "avoiding unnecessary, emotional discussions" in Russia about recent words by Polish Foreign Minister Grzegorz Schetyna that it was Ukrainians who liberated the inmates of Nazi concentration camp Auschwitz.
"We appeal for avoiding unnecessary, emotional discussions, especially in view of the upcoming 70th anniversary of the liberation of the camp and International Holocaust Remembrance Day," the Polish Embassy in Moscow said in a statement.
"We are fully aware, on the basis of historical facts, that in the ranks of the Ukrainian Front of the Red Army, which opened the gate of the camp on January 27, 1945, there were Russians, Ukrainians, Belarusians, Jews and members of other ethnic groups, including Poles," it said.
"It is indisputable that all the soldiers who participated in the liberation of the camp must be remembered and respected, and no one is trying to either to question or depreciate it," the embassy said.
In an interview with a Polish radio station, Schetyna had said: "Maybe it's better to say that it was the First Ukrainian Front and Ukrainians that liberated [Auschwitz], because there were Ukrainian soldiers there then, on that day in January, and it was they who opened the gate?"
The First Ukrainian Front, which had been called Voronezh Front until 1943, fought in Poland. The Auschwitz prisoners were liberated by its 59th and 60th Armies.