Recommended Articles Archives - Polonia Institute https://poloniainstitute.net/category/recommended/recommended-articles/ simpleblogdescriptionhellog Mon, 02 Dec 2024 22:56:35 +0000 en hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.8.5 https://poloniainstitute.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/cropped-thumbnail_LOGO-4001-32x32.jpg Recommended Articles Archives - Polonia Institute https://poloniainstitute.net/category/recommended/recommended-articles/ 32 32 104543105 Urgent strengthening of the Polish Armed Forces is essential. https://poloniainstitute.net/battle-of-ideas/urgent-strengthening-of-the-polish-armed-forces-is-essential/ Mon, 02 Dec 2024 22:56:35 +0000 https://poloniainstitute.net/?p=9585 Urgent strengthening of the Polish Armed Forces is essential What about the K2 program? [OPINION]  Jakub Palowski  24 25.11.2024, Defence 24   Growing threats are making the strengthening of the Polish Armed Forces, and in a two-three-year perspective, an increasingly urgent task. One of its elements is the realization of...

The post Urgent strengthening of the Polish Armed Forces is essential. appeared first on Polonia Institute.

]]>
Urgent strengthening of the Polish Armed Forces is essential

What about the K2 program? [OPINION]

 Jakub Palowski

 24 25.11.2024, Defence 24

 

Growing threats are making the strengthening of the Polish Armed Forces, and in a two-three-year perspective, an increasingly urgent task. One of its elements is the realization of the K2PL basic tank program, which, in addition to operational capabilities, will also provide industrial potential and opportunities for further development for the Armored Forces.

The war in Ukraine is now entering a very dangerous phase. It is expected that the new President Donald Trump administration will want to bring about a cessation of hostilities and a ceasefire. However, this, paradoxically, does not mean a decrease in the threat from Russia to NATO countries, including Poland, but a further increase. This is because, after the ceasefire, the Russian Federation will not “use up” manufactured and refurbished equipment in the fight against Ukraine but will stockpile it.

At the same time, the Russian army, full of men with combat experience and increased in numbers to 1.5 million soldiers, will pose an increasing threat to NATO countries. Moscow will not be able to maintain such a force forever (the majority are well-paid professional and contract soldiers), but for a few years, it certainly will. This makes it relatively soon—2-4 years after the ceasefire—that Russia may reach the maximum of its combat capabilities against NATO. This is because some of the modernization projects in NATO countries—such as the purchases of Leopard 2A8 tanks with active protection systems in Germany, the Netherlands, the Czech Republic and Lithuania, the growing number of purchases of modern CV-90 BWPs, but also a number of other programs in various domains, including the fifth-generation F-35 fighters, which more countries, most recently Romania, are equipping themselves with—will provide a leap in combat capabilities after 2030. And these programs will be carried out with a high degree of industrial security, and probably also taking into account the evolution of the battlefield and the lessons of the war in Ukraine. This means that Russia may seek to strike against NATO countries earlier.

Military officials are also sounding the alarm that the threat could come at relatively short notice. In a recent interview with “Rzeczpospolita”, the Operational Commander of the Armed Forces, Major General Maciej Klisz, when asked about the ceasefire in Ukraine, in the context of the consequences for Poland, said:

I even think that we should not only not slow down, but actually speed up our armaments, because we probably won’t have the eight years of comfort that Ukraine had between 2014 and 2022.

Maj. Gen. Maciej Klisz, Operational Commander of the Polish Armed Forces in an interview presented in “Rzeczpospolita.”

Gen. Klisz added that Russian war production is important for the economy, so it will continue and even increase, as reducing it would cause economic problems. General Valery Zaluzhny, Ukraine’s ambassador and former chief of staff of the Ukrainian army, says a breakthrough on the battlefield could come after 2027, as Russia currently lacks resources and technology. With that said, a ceasefire could bring that moment closer, and Russia’s hybrid actions could make it more difficult and slow down (in fact, this is already happening, including in Poland) the building of Europe’s resilience to aggression.

Western analysts also speak of a similar threat, pointing out that in the second half of the current decade, the US—especially under the new administration—may decide to reduce its engagement in Europe, placing more emphasis on the Indo-Pacific region. Such a ‘decision’ may also be taken by China’s political leadership by invading Taiwan, presumably in coordination with Russia to ‘tie up’ some of the Western states’ capabilities in Europe. s Professor Justin Bronk of the UK’s RUSI Centre wrote as recently as December 2023, “In the event of such a confrontation (between China and the US in the Pacific), Russia will have a strong incentive to seize the only opportunity in a generation to breach NATO, while the US will not be able to effectively support Europe. No later than 2026-2028, Russian industry will be after a few years of military production, allowing it to rebuild forces strengthened by combat experience.”

All this has implications for NATO countries, especially the most vulnerable like Poland. For the threat may come at a time when a comprehensive modernization and full transformation of the Armed Forces has not been achieved. All the more reason, however, to pursue those programs which, given the planned timetable and delivery capabilities, offer the prospect of strengthening the Polish Armed Forces in the short term.

An example of such a program is the purchase of the K2 tank. Next year, the Polish Army should have 180 such vehicles at its disposal, and the purchase of 180 more is being negotiated. The second contract, unlike the first one, is also to cover technical security and support vehicles and technology transfer, including tank production, and some of the vehicles will also be in a new configuration, probably with an active protection system, allowing, for example, to fight drones.

The second contract for K2 tanks will therefore make it possible to, in fact, complete the first stage of this armored program, as 180 tanks are not even enough to rearm all existing units of the 16th Mechanized Division, let alone newly created ones—whether within the 16th Division or the new 1st Legion Infantry Division. Thanks to the implementation of the second stage of the K2 program, the Armored Forces will be largely modernized in a fairly comprehensive manner, as the rearmament of the 18th Mechanized Division with Abrams tanks purchased from the Americans and the 11th Lubuskie Armored Cavalry Division with Leopard 2’s will be completed in parallel. The Armored Forces, along with the Missile and Artillery Forces, and partly the air and missile defense forces, are likely to be the ones with significantly greater capabilities already in a few years’ time, although still lower—in terms of numbers—than assumed in the development plans.

In addition to the tanks themselves, the K2PL program also includes the construction in Poland of facilities to support the operation and production of new tanks, together with the development of a new version. What does this mean in practice? Firstly, thanks to the development of the K2PL variant, it will be possible to quickly introduce tested and proven modifications to the already existing K2 tanks in the Gap Filler version, related, for example, to providing protection against unmanned vessels. And all this will be able to be implemented in a single logistics system, without additional testing.

Secondly, facilities will be built not only for servicing but for the production of tanks and vehicles based on them, such as technical security vehicles. And here, paradoxically, is where one of the problems with the implementation of the K2PL program arises. The negotiated contract concerns 180 tanks and 81 support vehicles, of which only a part is to be built in Poland. According to unofficial information from Defence24.pl, the industrial side’s demand is that the cost associated with the construction of production lines should be included in the contract price. “Rzeczpospolita” also wrote about this. Only that this results in an increase in the unit price of the combat vehicle, and in addition the Armaments Agency negotiating the contract on the part of the Ministry of Defense has limited possibilities of subsidizing production, as the Ministry of State Assets has its responsibility here.

We already faced a similar situation in the Polish defense industry several years ago.

At the end of 2017 and the beginning of 2018, after an earlier redefinition of the program by the then Ministry of Defence (change of the leader from HSW to the headquarters of the Polish Armaments Group), a PGZ consortium submitted a bid in the “Homar’” rocket artillery program, which, as the Deputy Minister of Defense Wojciech Skurkiewicz later said, exceeded many times the budget planned for this task. This is because the offer “sewed in” the costs of building production lines for launchers and missiles, and the entire program included only three squadrons (less than 60 launchers and 1,800 GMLRS guided missiles), although the Strategic Defense Review conducted at the Ministry of Defence indicated the need to purchase at least nine.

The offer was rejected, 20 off-the-shelf HIMARS were purchased, and from 2022 onwards, purchases of two rocket artillery systems (Homar-K from the Republic of Korea and Homar-A, a Polonized HIMARS from the USA) began in parallel. In hindsight, it would have been better if this “expensive” production line had been established by then, regardless of whether it was to be financed by the Ministry of Defense or the former Ministry of the Treasury and now State Assets. Because now you could order more squadrons and more missiles already from the Polish line, with security of supply… and investing in your own economy.

And in the K2PL program it may be similar, as here too the capital weakness of the PGZ companies can be seen as they choose to “sew in” the cost of the entire production line into the contract offered to the Armament Agency. However, there is now a full-scale war going on abroad in Poland (and in 2017-18, and earlier when “HOMAR” was redefined, “only” to limited hybrid operations) and there is really no more time to waste. The Ministry of Defense and the Ministry of State Assets should come to an agreement on how to efficiently and effectively subsidize the construction of the K2PL tank production line. Because looking at the deterioration of the security situation, the consequences could be incomparably worse than in the “HOMAR” case.

“We are not implementing modernization programs, you can see the indecision, the sluggishness. We have not started the production of tanks. The assumption when we bought K2 tanks and K9 howitzers was to strengthen the Polish defense industry, absorb these technologies, and start production in Poland. Who is holding this back, paralyzing it? Is it only due to competence disputes or for other reasons? After all, our military needs tanks. If the Prime Minister and the head of the BBN say that we are threatened with war, why is the Polish Army not given equipment to fight? The agreements that concerned the purchase of tanks and howitzers were signed almost three years ago, and technology transfer was assumed. Who is blocking this and why? We have empty divisions, without equipment, and this applies to basically every type of military equipment. What is happening with “Borsuk?” After all, the contracts were supposed to be in place already last year. I’m not talking about what’s happening with ammunition anymore, because we’re standing still all the time, we don’t have the basic components. But at this point acquiring equipment, completing the army is an absolutely key objective,” says Lieutenant General Waldemar Skrzypczak, former commander of the Land Forces.

Gen. Waldemar Skrzypczak

We should add that, as in the case of the aforementioned rocket artillery program, the current contract is only one stage, as it will allow either the rearmament of one expanded division, or the existing structures of the 16th Mechanized Division and the first newly formed ones in the 1st Legion Infantry Division. Given that there is no turning back from further expansion of Land Forces formations (this is required not only by Poland’s situation but also by the new NATO force model) further orders of tanks (and other equipment) will be necessary. The expanded production line will therefore be used, to produce at least several hundred tanks for newly formed and reserve units in the long term.

There is also no doubt that the strengthening of the capabilities of the Polish Armed Forces, undertaken in the short term, also requires a number of other actions, related, for example, to training, communications, individual equipment or popularization of the use of unmanned systems and countermeasures. This does not change the fact that modernization programs for conventional equipment should be urgently pursued, as this equipment is still in use. Especially where there are real opportunities for quick results. This will allow the Polish Army’s capabilities to be strengthened, and very often in areas where allies either do not invest at all or do so slowly, waiting to rebuild their industrial capacity and taking a very high risk in a 2–5-year timeframe.

From the moment of the expected ceasefire in Ukraine, a kind of race against time will begin, and the urgent implementation of the modernization programs of the Polish Armed Forces is crucial not to lose this race. Because the cost of a possible defeat may be difficult to predict.

The post Urgent strengthening of the Polish Armed Forces is essential. appeared first on Polonia Institute.

]]>
9585
2023 Winning Essays – Polonia Institute https://poloniainstitute.net/recommended/2023-winning-essays-polonia-institute/ Wed, 20 Nov 2024 21:26:02 +0000 https://poloniainstitute.net/?p=9559 Polonia Institute 2023 Competition on the History of Poland German genocide of ethnic Poles in WWII   First Prize – Michael Swiatek The German Reich’s Brutal Program of Invasion, Incarceration, and Extermination in the Planned Destruction of Poland  Second Prize – Holstege Max Poland in WWII: A Terrifying and Turbulent...

The post 2023 Winning Essays – Polonia Institute appeared first on Polonia Institute.

]]>
Polonia Institute

2023 Competition on the History of Poland

German genocide of ethnic Poles in WWII

 

First Prize – Michael Swiatek

The German Reich’s Brutal Program of Invasion, Incarceration, and Extermination in the Planned Destruction of Poland

 Second Prize – Holstege Max

Poland in WWII: A Terrifying and Turbulent History.

Second Prize  – Kucherenko Nikita

The Erasure of Morality: A Detailed Account of the Victimized Polish during WWII.

Third Prize – Okpomo Kenneth

Revisiting Nazi Germany Crimes against ethnic Poles.

Third Prize – Palutis Jeffrey

Nazi Germany’s Attempts at Polish Genocide.

Third Prize – Rocchio Angelina

2023 Polonia Institute Scholarship Essay.

 

The post 2023 Winning Essays – Polonia Institute appeared first on Polonia Institute.

]]>
9559
PI 2023 Competition on the History of Poland Winning Essay https://poloniainstitute.net/competition-on-the-history-of-poland/2023-competition/pi-2023-competition-on-the-history-of-poland-winning-essay/ Tue, 19 Nov 2024 18:39:21 +0000 https://poloniainstitute.net/?p=9550 PI 2023 Competition on the History of Poland Winning Essay The German Reich’s Brutal Program of Invasion, Incarceration and Extermination in the Planned Destruction of Poland by Michael Joseph Swiatek 2023 Grand Prize Michael J. Swiatek Essay  

The post PI 2023 Competition on the History of Poland Winning Essay appeared first on Polonia Institute.

]]>
PI 2023 Competition on the History of Poland Winning Essay

The German Reich’s Brutal Program of Invasion, Incarceration
and Extermination in the Planned Destruction of Poland

by Michael Joseph Swiatek

2023 Grand Prize

Michael J. Swiatek Essay

 

The post PI 2023 Competition on the History of Poland Winning Essay appeared first on Polonia Institute.

]]>
9550
The Meaning of German Leadership in Europe https://poloniainstitute.net/competition-on-the-history-of-poland/2023-competition/the-meaning-of-german-leadership-in-europe/ Tue, 19 Nov 2024 18:04:55 +0000 https://poloniainstitute.net/?p=9539 Will Germans murder Poles again as during WWII?  by  Zbigniew WOJCIK, Polonia Institute The call to freeze German assets to pay WWII reparations to Poland. The Meaning of German Leadership in Europe. Russia’s assets were frozen recently by Western countries because of the atrocities Russians committed during the war in Ukraine,...

The post The Meaning of German Leadership in Europe appeared first on Polonia Institute.

]]>
Will Germans murder Poles again as during WWII? 

by  Zbigniew WOJCIK, Polonia Institute

The call to freeze German assets to pay WWII reparations to Poland.

The Meaning of German Leadership in Europe. Russia’s assets were frozen recently by Western countries because of the atrocities Russians committed during the war in Ukraine, 2022-2024. During WWII, Germans committed much more terrible atrocities on Polish citizens and in much greater numbers. Western societies should consider freezing German assets invested in their countries to pay delinquent German reparations because Germany officially refuses the responsibility. Poland demands $1.3T WWII reparations from Germany.

Instead of freezing Germany’s assets to enforce payments of WWII reparations to Poland, the UE blocked paying Poland funds due to COVID-19 pandemic damages, and EU cohesion funds to raise the standard of living in poorer regions. Poland‘s development was slowed by tremendous destruction by Germany during WWII.

German imperialism.

Nazi was a political National Socialist German Workers’ Party [20] created before WWII.  Nazi was de facto a political platform of German imperialism, as the assaultiveness of this country has been observed for over eight centuries, evidenced by “Drang Nach Osten” (19th-century German nationalist intent to expand Germany into Slavic territories of Central and Eastern Europe) and earlier “Northern Crusades” [2] (medieval 12th to 13th-century military expeditions). Germans created NAZI and made it prevalent in the nation, enriching antisemitism and anti-Polonism. Nazi’s principles, goals, and positions on domestic and foreign affairs were in line with German imperialism.

Germans show their caution against repeating history in a peculiar way.

Protests are organized in Germany against the intent to deport millions of immigrants. [7] “People traveled from across Germany to attend Saturday’s [Feb. 2024] protest, saying they felt it was important to be there in order to show their opposition to racism and caution against repeating history.” [7] If  Germans are indeed against repeating history, they should rather pay overdue reparations to Poland. Neo-Nazi politicians are considered far-right in Germany. The leftists support immigrants instead of discouraging the repetition of Germany’s history.  Slogans appeared during pro-democratic demonstrations in Germany such as “Never Again is Now,” “Against Hate” and “Defend Democracy.”[8]

Support of costly illegal immigration in Germany may be missing the target of “caution against repeating history’ and “Never Again” as German politicians reject paying Poland the reparations for WWII. Leftist German leadership created the above slogans to spread leftist propaganda and direct efforts of protesting Germans toward misleading causes. Millions of victims of German atrocities in Poland would definitely prefer financial payments to the Polish country as some form of compensation for all the unimaginable crimes committed by Germans during WWII instead of listening to fake leftist propaganda. Preparations for leftist demonstrations are very costly and time-consuming, and do nothing positive for the “Never Again”  movement, as far as repeating the imperialistic history of  Germany’s failures to win through their atrocities against humanity.

Germany supports leftist/post-communist politicians in the EU, e.g. Donald Tusk in Poland.

Germans installed oppressive Donald Tusk’s regime in Poland.

‘The Polish President Andrzej Duda [on January 2024] criticized the European Commission (EC) for blocking EU funds in what he said had been “an attempt to force Poland to change” its government’ [11]. President Duda did not want to accept EU law as superior to the Constitution of Poland.  The new pro-EU government in Poland, led by Donald Tusk since Dec 13, 2023, has pledged to regain access to the funds the EU did not want to release to the conservative government of Poland.

Fig.1. Hostile gesture of the Prime Minister of Poland, Donald Tusk, towards the friend of Poland, the U.S. President, Donald Trump. Angela Merkel watches the situation (on the left in a green jacket). Picture of the author’s TV taken when playing a Polish TV Republika channel

Because of his false promises, Tusk gained a lot of supporters.  This is a perfect example of German imperialism, as the European Commission with German President, Ursula von der Layen, extended its power by gaining political and economic control [12] of Poland and loudly expressed her support for Tusk. Tusk expressed his hostility towards America by shooting his fingers into the back of President Donald Trump and clearly wanted the German top politician Angela Merkel to notice his act, see Fig.1.

The control of Poland by hostile Germany is historically brutal, especially during WWII. These competition essays remind the atrocities of German imperialism during WWII, which, unfortunately, started to resume nowadays, and German politicians still do not feel responsible for actively practicing their imperialism on Poland and Poles.

 An example is the brutality committed by the Prime Minister of Poland, Donald Tusk, derided by the Law and Justice (PiS) party in Poland as a “servant of Berlin” [9] and by Tusk’s top hitman, Adam Bodnar, the Minister of Justice in Poland. The Polish Priest Michal Olszewski was accused of receiving money from the “Justice Fund” dedicated to helping victims of crimes and domestic abuse in Poland. The “funds were allocated following the procedures in Poland governing the use of the fund” to help the victims of crimes [4], so they were used according to rules. The Priest “was constantly urged to testify „something” [3] after arrest. He has been subjected to the “practices of denying water and toilet access’, which “have been classified as torture under the 1984 UN Convention against Torture [4]. The treatment of Priest Olszewski is “reminiscent of the communist era of repression in the 1950s’ in Poland under Soviet occupation”. The torture of the priest was ordered to be kept secret.[5]

Torturing Priest Olszewski by Tusk’s regime also reminds the torturing of Father Popieluszko by communist Jaruzelski’s regime under the Soviet occupation of Poland in 1984 [19].  There were “more than 3,000 priests martyred in Poland under the Nazi and Communist regimes which dominated the country from 1939-1989.” [3] Tusk’s regime continues torturing Polish priests as a way to suppress Polish patriotism.  For his commitment to “European [read: German] understanding”, Tusk was awarded a special German prize in September 2024. [3]  Adam Bodnar, the top Tusk minister, was sent to Germany to accept the prize on behalf of the Prime Minister.

Prime Minister Tusk selected tricky people for his regime government.

Adam Bodnar, today Prosecutor General of the  Ministry of Justice in the Tusk government of Poland, was the Ombudsman in Poland and a member of the Helsinki Human Rights Foundation in the past [18]. Polish Bishop Antoni Długosz asked Bodnar: “You publicly defended the murderer of a 10-year-old girl, deploring the handcuffs and night-time interrogation… Why did the handcuffs on a child murderer bother you but not the handcuffs on an arrested priest?” [6]  “The Częstochowa bishop also spoke about the torture to which the priest [Olszewski] was subjected while in custody and about the rejection of requests to visit his family or religious superior.”

Propaganda supporting “German leadership in the EU.”

Propaganda supporting the need for terrifying activities of the Tusk regime in Poland was carefully prepared, as Tusk was also the Prime Minister of Poland several years earlier. In 2022, it was clear that Donald Tusk would likely win the executive power in Poland in the next elections, and he was trusted in Germany to do the job. So, the necessity of using an oppressive regime like Tusk’s regime in Poland had to be supported earlier by German-directed propaganda so that Tusk would win the election.

For example, research papers in high-level research journals prepared Poles, Europeans, and the world to see Tusk as a rescuer no matter what atrocities he commits, e.g., paper [10]. It is very far-going propaganda, and perhaps naive researchers publishing scientific papers are not a match to ruthless and cynical politicians.  See the propaganda [10] excerpt: “On 25 July 2022, the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) communicated a new round of 37 cases filed against Poland based on complaints that the right to a fair trial envisaged in Article 6 of the European Convention on Human Rights had been violated because Polish courts no longer met the standards of independent tribunals established under the law…”

As presented above and specifically in [10], German leadership in Europe brings impressive propaganda to positively characterize planned atrocities to be committed by “servants of Berlin.”  Propaganda becomes visible before the atrocities appear to be seen as very positive and even patriotic to average citizens, and not ugly.

German imperialistic spirit

German imperialistic spirit is best represented by the genocide of Poles during the Warsaw Uprising of Aug. 1, 1945. Because of the overwhelming retreat on the eastern front, Germans could attempt to stop the Russians by immediately withdrawing from Warsaw and leaving arms and ammunition inside the city. The Polish Home Army would get the power to withstand the Soviets, which would enormously complicate the relationships inside the Allies block because of the Polish army fighting with the Allies in the West of  Europe. Polish Home Army fighting against the Soviets in Warsaw would stop the Red Army going toward Berlin. Many more German civilians would survive WWII because the Western Front would get more time to reach even Berlin, and maybe the German capital would not be destroyed so entirely by the Soviets.

Instead of focusing on their own survival, Germans preferred murdering hundreds of thousands more Poles in Warsaw and leaving mounds upon mounds of human corpses. If Germany does not pay Poland the reparations for WWII, they will continue their genocides as German people today do not know what their predecessors were doing in the past.

My uncles told me an unfortunate story about Germans pushed west by Russian forces at the end of WWII. Poles were forced to dig defensive tranches for the German troops occupying territory near Sochaczew. After the Soviets came in, these tranches were filled with naked human corpses. Most of them were likely Germans because nobody knew these dead people. The explanation is that these dead Germans did not manage to evacuate ahead of time, trusting German propaganda. The corpses were robbed of everything because of a complete shortage of everything in the territories occupied by Germany. If not for German imperialism, there would not be tranches full of German corpses in Poland. What is a better way to tell Germans they are repeating their history? Paying reparations for mistakes is better than being terrible victims again of the errors of imperialistic politicians.

The unification of Germany was likely a mistake.

During my interviews with U.S. intelligence in 1986/86 I recommended the unification of East and West Germany into one country. [17] Poles worked with foreign intelligence when Poland was not a sovereign country or independent at the time of WWI; see, e.g., the activities of Dmowski and Piłsudski when they fought for the independence of Poland. WWII reparations were on the table during the Cold War when I was talking to the CIA officers and Germany started to pay them to Israel. At that time, in the 1980s, the collapse of the Soviet Block would not have recreated the monster “Leader of Europe” if Germany had been occupied with paying WWII reparations, also to Poland.  We hoped that unified Germany would continue the well-played mission of West Germany to oppose considerable Russian power in the future.

Unfortunately, under today’s “German leadership” in the EU, the Constitution of the Republic of Poland is no longer superior to UE laws [1] as seen by Germany, and Poland is no longer treated as a sovereign country of Europe. The real problem is with Western politicians who made Germany militarily weak.  Together with other West-European countries [13], Germany does not protect Europe [15], and the top German politicians used to collaborate with Russia, e.g. chancellors of Germany Gerhard Schröder [14] and Angela Merkel [16]. Close cooperation between Germany and the Soviet Union in 1939 led to WWII. Therefore, our essays describing the atrocities committed by Germans during WWII are crucial to prevent history from repeating. What more can we do?

Conclusion

Given the tricky murderous activities of the Tusk regime taking place in Poland under the “German leadership,” a reminder in the form of historical essays about German crimes during WWII is essential. Germany’s unification after the collapse of the Soviet Bloc did not bring the expected mission of big Germany opposing much greater Russian power. Instead, close collaboration between Germany and Russia appeared, which in the past led to the burst of WWII, followed by the extermination of people on an industrial scale, see the essays.

Bringing a neighboring country, Poland, under German control, similar to the annexation of neighbors by Hitler before WWII, is a fact: the Tusk regime was installed in Poland.  The long-lasting torture of the Polish priest Olszewski by the Tusk regime is a fact. Tortures make an enormous impression: people will be afraid to oppose Germans. Sophisticated propaganda in support of the Tusk regime is a fact; see papers like [10]. German propaganda was also very impressive before WWII erupted. The predecessors of the Tusk regime in Poland possibly made mistakes, but torturing a priest is a too-far-going escalation.

Also, millions of Germans were killed during  WWI and WWI as a result of German imperialistic politics, and despite this experience, Germany turned imperialistic again. Our essays should be recommended in Germany for reading in all schools. “German leadership” in Europe is a wrong political platform.

It is still time to fight German imperialism by: i. letting people know about German NAZI as a platform, having a new platform as “German leadership in Europe” today, and first of all, ii. forcing Germany to pay WWII reparations to Poland, the country suffering the most because of German atrocities. Our 2023 essays describing German atrocities are timely and valid given the resumption of German imperialism through the support for the Tusk regime.  Stabilization of the center of Europe through the friendship and presence of the U.S. in Poland is necessary [17], and not by depriving Poland of sovereignty through the aggressive “German leadership” in the E.U. Reparations paid to Poland would build more substantial territory between two imperia: Russia and Germany and prevent WWIII, as the two countries fought WWI and WWII.

References:

[1] https://www.cnn.com/2021/10/08/world/poland-court-eu-treaties-ruling-intl/index.html

[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drang_nach_Osten

[3] https://wpolityce.pl/facts-from-poland/697607-60-hours-of-hell-or-fr-olszewskis-letter-from-jail

[4] https://brusselssignal.eu/2024/07/allegations-of-priests-torture-in-custody-outrage-poland/

[5] https://www.radiomaryja.pl/informacje/ks-bp-a-dlugosz-w-obronie-ks-m-olszewskiego-panie-ministrze-bodnar-dlaczego-pan-milczy/

[6] https://niezalezna.pl/polska/kosciol/glos-kosciola-ws-ks-olszewskiego-biskup-pyta-bezposrednio-bodnara-dlaczego-teraz-pan-milczy/526489

[7] https://apnews.com/article/germany-afd-far-right-protests-bundestag-berlin-90d8497434a424ded198ce3d6d5fabb9

[8] https://apnews.com/article/germany-far-right-protests-extremism-afd-747b80d0865a22679aea02ac3aa7ef75

[9] https://www.euractiv.com/section/politics/news/tusk-cancels-trip-to-germany-amid-deteriorating-relations/

[10] ANNA ADAMSKA – GALLANT, “Backsliding of the Rule of Law in Poland – a Systemic Problem With the Independence of Courts, International Journal For Court Administration”,  Dec 2022. https://iacajournal.org/articles/474/files/638de114b92e9.pdf

[11] https://www.thehindu.com/news/international/polish-president-criticizes-eus-executive-for-blocking-funds/article67762769.ece

[12]  https://www.britannica.com/topic/imperialism

[13] https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/alarm-grows-over-weakened-militaries-and-empty-arsenals-in-europe/ar-AA1liSDK

[14] https://www.dw.com/en/putin-and-schr%C3%B6der-a-special-german-russian-friendship/a-55219973

[15] https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-60155002

[16] https://www.nytimes.com/2022/06/08/world/europe/angela-merkel-russia-putin.html

[17] Zbigniew Wojcik, “Slaying the Soviet Beast. … WHAT NEXT”, Liberty Hills, 2019.

 

***
See also Introduction to the Winning Essays by the Jury Member Zbigniew Wójcik here:

https://poloniainstitute.net/competition-on-the-history-of-poland/2023-competition/the-meaning-of-german-leadership-in-europe/

 

The post The Meaning of German Leadership in Europe appeared first on Polonia Institute.

]]>
9539
Spetznaz Operation against Poland https://poloniainstitute.net/expert-analyses/spetznaz-operation-against-poland/ Mon, 12 Feb 2024 01:28:22 +0000 https://poloniainstitute.net/?p=9250 Spetznaz Operation against Poland  Remarks by Prof. Andrzej Nowak Kremlin’s handpicked Tucker Carlson was used to promote Putin’s vision of history. Instead of listening to this “Short course”, you may have the full version, presented by the Russian President earlier to the American public in his so far most ambitious...

The post Spetznaz Operation against Poland appeared first on Polonia Institute.

]]>
Spetznaz Operation against Poland

 Remarks by Prof. Andrzej Nowak

Kremlin’s handpicked Tucker Carlson was used to promote Putin’s vision of history. Instead of listening to this “Short course”, you may have the full version, presented by the Russian President earlier to the American public in his so far most ambitious work on history entitled “The Real Lessons of the 75th Anniversary of World War II”, published in “The National Interest”.

My analysis of this extraordinary piece of propaganda is available in a book “Powrót imperium zła. Ideologie współczesnej Rosji” (Krakow 2023), soon to be published in English as: “Russian Empires: Death and Transfigurations. Mentalities, ideologies, and fears (1907-2023)”. Here I will quote only fragments:

“Poland” is a keyword in Putin’s essay. Indeed, the article is the fullest expression of the truth that it is Poland that should be blamed for the Second World War and especially for the Holocaust. All that Putin signaled in his Westerplatte speech on 1 September 2009 and developed in his speeches of December 2019 was now written in black and white, on paper, and on the website of the American magazine run by Russia’s friends. The narrative begins with presumed Poland’s ambition to annex neighboring countries. Poland made an agreement with Hitler and together with Germany partitioned Czechoslovakia in 1938.

The Soviet Union wanted to help the government in Prague, but as the Western Powers made their own deal with Germany in Munich, it was impossible to carry out that noble intention. “In these circumstances, the Soviet Union signed the Non-Aggression Pact with Germany [the Ribbentrop–Molotov Pact of 23 August 1939]”.

So, Putin drew a parallel between the treaty on the grounds of which the Soviet Union and Germany sought to partition six countries of Eastern Europe that is Poland, Finland, Latvia, Estonia, Lithuania, and Romania in August 1939 and the non-aggression agreement between Poland and Germany concluded in January 1934, when Germany had not annexed any territories yet, neither had it perpetrated genocide. But above all, no territorial expansion or partitioning occurred on the grounds of the Polish–German agreement, as we know.

Still, Putin spiced up his interpretation with a savoury quote taken out of its context, which is known to historians, from the discussion between Hitler and Józef Lipski, Polish ambassador to Berlin, which took place in September 1938. Allegedly, the quote proved that it was Lipski (or broadly speaking, Poland) that suggested the Endlösung of the Jewish problem to Hitler. When Hitler invaded Poland, the Red Army was sent west to “defend the Soviet borders.”

Putin supplemented this strategic argument for the annexation of eastern Poland by the Red Army on 17 September 1939 with another reason connected with the initial premises of his text: it was necessary to save the minority of millions of Jewish people inhabiting the pre-war territories of eastern Poland because otherwise they would have surely been killed by the “Nazis and their local accomplices– anti-Semites and radical nationalists.”

In Putin’s argumentation, the attack of the Red Army on 17 September 1939 was not a stab in the back undercutting the Polish defense campaign against the Germans, but apparently, a humanitarian operation to prevent pogroms or rather a full-scale Holocaust orchestrated by the Poles and Ukrainians. […] Of course, a major portion of Putin’s article reminds the reader of the decisive role of Russia (the Red Army) in the victory over fascism. The Soviet Union saved the world and liberated Central and Eastern Europe as well as the Far East (from the Japanese version of fascism). Unfortunately, even though the Nuremberg Tribunal condemned not only the Nazis, but also their collaborators, the latter continue to be revered in some countries (presumably in Ukraine and the Baltic states).

Yet, it should be noted, Putin said, that the East European collaborators of the Nazis outclassed their German masters in inhumanity. He quoted examples of such barbarity: the mass execution of the Jewish people in Babi Yar near Kiev, the massacres of Poles in Volhynia, the extermination of the Jews of Lithuania and Latvia, and the burning down of Khatyn.

Naturally, Putin’s text does not contain any mentions of Katyn and other mass murders committed by the Soviets on the territories they occupied in the wake of the Ribbentrop–Molotov Pact, although the number of victims, killed or tortured to death, went into the hundreds of thousands. But he did mention Khatyn, a Belarusian village burnt down in 1943 by an SS unit full of “collaborators” under the command of Oskar Dirlewanger. It was purposefully selected as a memorial site and an important place in Moscow’s politics of memory, because its name is misleadingly similar to Katyn, and so a Nazi German crime was to cover up a far larger atrocity committed by the Soviets.

This was a typical detail in Putin’s narration in 2020. If anybody mentioned a fact that he had overlooked in his text, Putin would call the remark an instance of inadmissible “historical revisionism.” There was a Khatyn, but there was no such thing as Katyn. Whosoever says otherwise is a revisionist (and should be punished for it).

Putin concluded his analysis, clearly turning to his Western readers: only through the cooperation of the superpowers, as happened in Yalta in 1945 but, sadly, was discontinued in subsequent years, can the world be saved from a new war. A new conflict may erupt due to the “state egoism” of small countries and fascism, which is reviving (in Eastern Europe, of course) and may jeopardize the globe, but is being disregarded. The five Powers which are permanent members of the UN Security Council, Russia, China, the United States, the United Kingdom, and France, should take Putin’s history lesson to heart and jointly tackle modern-day threats.

I shall not even attempt to catalog the historical manipulations, shocking lies, and captious half-truths that make up Putin’s opus magnum, also because the task has already been undertaken by other historians like Richard Overy and Marek Kornat, the best experts on the history of the Second World War and especially its origins. But my main reason for not engaging in professional polemic with the lord of the Kremlin is that it would be futile. The pen of a historian with an old-fashioned penchant for the truth is no match for a bat swung by a History-Maker backed by the power of his Empire which he does not hesitate to use. One needs a broader overview of Putin’s actions in 2020–2022 to grasp the sense of his sudden interest in Poland’s malevolent part in world history.

From 2015 on, unlike over the eight previous years, Moscow could no longer rely on the benefits drawn from the game of mock-partnership with Warsaw. As we know now, it was getting ready for a new phase of “liberating” Ukraine, and so it had to prepare the ground in its immediate neighborhood.

For Ukraine, since it wants to join NATO and the European Union, there is no better source of strategic support than Poland. It was known too that Warsaw was willing to give its support to Kyiv. Therefore, “under Western eyes” Poland had to appear in a different light. The methods to achieve that were suggested by Professors Aleksei Miller and Fyodor Gayda during the meeting of the Kremlin historians, while the final impressive sortie belonged to Dr. Putin on the columns of The National Interest.

Their counsel in December 2019 was, “If we’re to find an enemy we share in common with the Eurocrats, Poland’s our best bet.” Plainly, the objective was to demonstrate that Poland is a hotbed of anti-Semitism, xenophobia, and racism. All of progressive Europe should turn its back on Poland with disgust, lest the thought of protecting NATO’s eastern flank against any risk other than Polish and Ukrainian “fascism and Banderism” should cross anyone’s mind.

It ought to be pounded into Polish heads that Banderism and the Volhynian Carnage are the only events that mattered in the whole of their historical experience of Ukraine. These were the preoccupations of Vladimir Putin in his article for The National Interest, but of course, such responsibilities also rest with the commandoes of his “information Spetsnaz” as they were aptly named by Igor Panarin, a top-ranking Spetsnaz officer. The “interview” or rather a sermon given by Putin to Tucker Carlson is only the next step in this operation.

This text was published on Prof. Andrzej Nowak’s FB profile on February 11, 2024 here: https://www.facebook.com/100044575682975/posts/926405175521997/?mibextid=2JQ9oc

The post Spetznaz Operation against Poland appeared first on Polonia Institute.

]]>
9250
Dark side of “progressive justice” in Poland https://poloniainstitute.net/recommended/recommended-articles/dark-side-of-progressive-justice-in-poland/ Sun, 14 Jan 2024 18:14:22 +0000 https://poloniainstitute.net/?p=9193 Why Polish MPs Kamiński and Wąsik must be treated as Political Prisoners First, Judge Tomasz Trębicki, who just sentenced MPs Kamiński and Wąsik to 2 years in prison for exceeding official authority, is a member of the Iustitia Association, which brings together anti-PiS judges. This is a politically engaged group...

The post Dark side of “progressive justice” in Poland appeared first on Polonia Institute.

]]>
Why Polish MPs Kamiński and Wąsik must be treated as Political Prisoners

First, Judge Tomasz Trębicki, who just sentenced MPs Kamiński and Wąsik to 2 years in prison for exceeding official authority, is a member of the Iustitia Association, which brings together anti-PiS judges. This is a politically engaged group of activist judges who openly support the current government and all illegal actions of the Tusk regime.

Secondly, Judge Trębicki is the son of a former Councilwoman of the City of Warsaw elected by the Tusk political party Civic Platform, who represented that party in the Warsaw City Council.

Thirdly, Judge Trębicki’s mother was the head of the parliamentary bureau of the current Minister of Internal Affairs Marcin Kerwiński. It was Kerwiński who led the police operation to arrest and deliver to prison the two MPs, former heads of the Central Anticorruption Bureau, Mariusz Kamiński and Maciej Wąsik.

Fourthly, Judge Trębicki is a friend of the son of General Marek Dukaczewski, the former head of the post-communist military secret services. He did business with people who were prosecuted for corruption crimes by Wąsik and Kamiński, heads of the Central Anti-corruption Bureau.

Fifthly, Judge Trębicki does not hide his political involvement. On social media, he likes only anti-PiS and pro-Tusk profiles.

Accordingly, the sentence by the openly biased judge is null and void! 

On top of all this, the two MPs were pardoned by the President of Poland already twice!

Hence, the criminal post-communist mafia with roots and standards mastered under the stalinist/communist/martial law oppression system returned to power in Poland, this time under the direction and with the support of “democracy-loving” Germany.

The post Dark side of “progressive justice” in Poland appeared first on Polonia Institute.

]]>
9193
Call for help – gross violations of democracy and human rights in Poland https://poloniainstitute.net/recommended/call-for-help-gross-violations-of-democracy-and-human-rights-in-poland/ Sun, 14 Jan 2024 02:39:27 +0000 https://poloniainstitute.net/?p=9181 Call for help! Gross violations of democracy, rule of law and human rights in Poland! On October 15, 2023, parliamentary elections took place in Poland. A coalition of post-communist parties advocating for the improvement of democratic standards and the allegedly endangered rule of law came to power. However, within a...

The post Call for help – gross violations of democracy and human rights in Poland appeared first on Polonia Institute.

]]>
Call for help!

Gross violations of democracy, rule of law
and human rights in Poland!

On October 15, 2023, parliamentary elections took place in Poland. A coalition of post-communist parties advocating for the improvement of democratic standards and the allegedly endangered rule of law came to power. However, within a few weeks of their rule, there have been numerous brutal attacks with the use of physical force on democratic state institutions like public media, state employees and parliamentarians from the opposition, Supreme Court judges, chiefs of security forces, the Prosecutor General, and lately the President of Poland himself!  

Increasingly physical violence is replacing the public debate. The opposition politicians, the judiciary, journalists, state employees, and even private businesses are being intimidated and persecuted. 

Numerous fundamental principles of the Polish Constitution are being openly and blatantly violated every day! There is a real threat to the freedom of speech and the physical well-being of journalists, opposition politicians, and state employees.

The first political prisoners have been taken!  their human rights are being violated! Now they are on a hunger strike and appeal to the international community FOR HELP!

After years of communism, Poland struggled to rebuild its democratic institutions, casting off the yoke of the totalitarian past imposed by Moscow’s occupiers. Despite significant economic progress, changes in some areas were slow and inadequate due to former communists retaining significant influence in the country after the formal demise of the communist system.

A leader of the Solidarity movement and a Peace Prize winner Lech Walesa who became the President of Poland in 1990, turned out to be a communist agent who assured a smooth transition of the communist criminals to successful businessmen in the post-communist Poland. As a result, Poland was denied the benefit of the necessary process to serve justice to communist criminals and traitors, who continue to harm Poland to this day.

Poland was denied the transitional justice healing process essential in every post-conflict society.

To this day, individuals responsible for the repressions during martial law sit on the courts, despite their advanced age, and adjudicate or influence cases against their former victims from the Solidarity movement!

The attack on the efforts to reform the broken justice system, whereby the former oppressors adjudicate cases of their former victims, angered and united left-wing groups that recently assumed power in Poland.  However, instead of improving democratic standards and the rule of law, they chose the path of an unprecedented assault on democracy and the rule of law, including the devastation of the state institutions, attempts to delegitimize and completely wipe out the opposition and all the media and communication channels that do not support their regime led by Donald Tusk. 

The first decision of the new government was the forcible takeover of public media.  According to Polish law, public television stations should be managed by government-independent institutions according to specific terms outlined by Polish law.

In total disregard of this law, strong bulldozers illegally appointed by the new government forcibly shut down and disrupted the signal of the main news channels of the public television stations across Poland, and with the help of hired private security personnel, forcibly removed the legal boards of the media institutions.

The employees of the public media were not allowed to return to work even after the court declared these actions of the government illegal. Too bad for the courts, the new government says!

The perpetrators also immediately took down and blocked the documentary film “Reset” which reveals their dealings with Putin’s Russia in connection with the assassination of the Polish President in Smoleńsk, Russia, on April 10, 2010.

Today hundreds of journalists are unable to work in Poland, and many have already been dismissed from work. The ruling coalition also organizes attacks on private media critical of its actions, using hybrid warfare mechanisms of lies, manipulations, defamation, and intimidation, used by the authoritarian regimes.

Mafia Revenge

At the beginning of the year, the police stormed the Presidential Palace, arresting two members of the parliament without the knowledge and consent of the President. Those two members of the parliament acted as Minister and Deputy Minister of the Central Anticorruption Bureau in the former government.

They are being persecuted right now for fighting corruption at the highest levels of the previous Tusk government. In March 2015, under the first Tusk government, they were found guilty of exceeding their official powers by the judge linked to the corruption mafia they investigated. Subsequently, they were pardoned by the President of Poland. However, the current Tusk government does not recognize the presidential pardon and intends to hold the President liable for protecting the two former government officials and current members of the parliament. They are in prison on a hunger strike right now, and their lives are in danger.

These arrests were made in total disregard of the decision of the Polish Constitutional Court, which had previously deemed the actions against the current members of the parliament protected by immunity as illegal. A similar decision was handed down by the Supreme Court.  

Unfortunately, the position of neither of these judiciary institutions essential for Polish democracy has been respected. The Speaker of the Sejm, representing the government majority, ordered the trial to be held in an unauthorized chamber of the Supreme Court, the only chamber still controlled by individuals responsible for the repression during the martial law of 1981.

A significant number of prosecutors and judges refuse to succumb to pressure from the new government to robber stamp further unlawful acts of the neo-communist junta. The latest attack was on the Prosecutor General. The leadership of the prosecutor’s office was completely unlawfully stripped of power, contrary to the law. The new Minister of Justice is attempting to obstruct the actions of independent prosecutors who investigate serious allegations against the new government.

There are dangerous signs of intimidation of private businesses as well, especially those that could be associated with initiatives unfavorable to the government. The independence of the Central Bank of Poland is under threat, and decisions of the Polish Constitutional Court are completely ignored.

For many people in Poland and around the world, it is shocking that politicians who came to power with slogans of improving democracy and the rule of law act in total disregard of those principle and driven by revenge implement standards reminiscent of those seen today in Belarus and Russia.

Poland is heading in a dangerous direction. The current Tusk government is jeopardizing the most basic civil rights and is undermining democratic standards and institutions. Such actions cannot be accepted in the name of any political plan. These actions must be met with the strong condemnation of the international community.

We, therefore, call on the leadership of the United States, the beacon of freedom and democracy in the world, to take immediate action and unequivocally condemn the totalitarian practices, gross violations of the Constitution and the rule of law, the devastation of democratic institutions, persecution of the opposition, the assault on the media and freedom of speech, and violations of human rights by the Tusk government and the former ombudsman for human rights currently serving as the Minister of Justice who makes mockery of justice and human rights. 

Polonia Institute

 source: niezalezna.pl 

The post Call for help – gross violations of democracy and human rights in Poland appeared first on Polonia Institute.

]]>
9181
Voiceless Shout of the Polish Lapin from Ravensbruck https://poloniainstitute.net/polands-history/voiceless-shout-of-the-polish-lapin-from-ravensbruck/ Fri, 23 Jun 2023 23:39:41 +0000 https://poloniainstitute.net/?p=9005 Voiceless Shout of the Polish Lapin from Ravensbruck Maria Szonert Binienda It’s been 17 years already since I was called to the dying Helena Piasecka. We had never met before, so I didn’t know Helena personally. But she knew of me or rather heard about me. She knew that in...

The post Voiceless Shout of the Polish Lapin from Ravensbruck appeared first on Polonia Institute.

]]>
Voiceless Shout of the Polish Lapin from Ravensbruck

Maria Szonert Binienda

It’s been 17 years already since I was called to the dying Helena Piasecka. We had never met before, so I didn’t know Helena personally. But she knew of me or rather heard about me. She knew that in 2002 I published a book in the USA under the title “World War II through Polish Eyes” that was very meaningful to her. This publication resonated widely among the Polish community in the area of ​​Cleveland, Ohio, where I have lived and where Mrs. Helena Piasecka resided after coming to the US.

I admit that my legs buckled under me when her guardian explained that Helena went through the German concentration camp in Ravensbruck, where she was subjected to terrible medical experiments. Her friend explained to me that before she dies, Ms. Piasecka wants to give me her documents and materials that describe the ordeal of her life. She wanted to entrust to me the mission of her life – to save from oblivion the terrible suffering and harm inflicted on Polish women at the hands of German torturers in the Ravensbruck Concentration Camp and to work towards an unequivocal condemnation of these barbaric crimes by the international community, in particular the German society, and achieve an authentic apology and compensation from the Germans themselves.

Our meeting was brief but very intense. Aware that her hours were numbered, Helena was very eager to meet me. Unfortunately, she couldn’t talk much anymore. She communicated with me mostly with her eyes. Her gaze was sharp, determined, and extremely penetrating, her eyes wide-opened. We spoke through her friend, who was well-prepared for my visit.

Helena had pierced me with her sharp eyes in a silent scream throughout our meeting. She would indicate with her hand what documents her friend should give me. She listened attentively to what her friend was saying to me, nodding silently with her eyes in approval. Her companion briefly told me the story of Helena, successively handing over to me clippings from various English-language newspapers with headlines about Helena illustrated with photographs of a beautiful woman.

When she came to the description of the medical torture, tears appeared in Helena’s eyes, and she began throwing herself frantically on the bed. The nurse got up from the chair and uncovered Helena’s legs to show me the scars left by the German tortures. Helena began to tremble and toss, trying to turn around to show the back of her legs. I saw huge scars running down her legs from top to bottom. The moment was dramatic. As she was uttering groans of despair, I didn’t dare to take a picture. The caregiver explained that Helena relives these tortures every day. All her life, she was covering her legs and developed a deep phobia of showing them. Still, she decided to show them to me that day.

After this traumatic experience, the caregiver handed me an additional file of previously prepared copies of articles and documents. Helena instantly fell asleep. Shaken by this experience, I thanked the caregiver and said goodbye.

The year was 2006. At that time, I was working on documenting the crimes committed by the Stalinist regime against the invincible soldiers, preparing for publication a book entitled Null and Void – Case Study on Comparative Imperialism based on the story of Halina Zwinogrodzka Junak. I duly secured all materials received from Ms. Piasecka, sent one copy of the documents to the Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, and put Helena’s story aside for further study after the story of Ms. Zwinogrodzka was completed.

As I am writing these words, it is already the year 2023. I just checked whether the Holocaust Memorial Museum took proper care of the evidence of crimes against the Polish lapins from Ravensbruck that I entrusted to them. It turns out that the folder with Helena Piasecka’s documents is listed in the Museum’s collection here: https://collections.ushmm.org/search/catalog/irn518597, but the materials are available only in the Museum’s library for in-person use. Helena Piasecka’s documents have not been digitized, and the Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington has not properly developed the collection about the Polish women subjected to medical torturous experiments in the German Concentration Camp Ravensbruck.

After I meet with Pani Helena, I did not realize that it would be 17 years before I return to these materials… An outstanding American journalist named Norman Couisins, who dealt with the case of Polish women subjected to medical torture in Ravensbruck, wrote:

The human mind is adaptable to learning and innovating but is not adaptable to dealing with painful matters.

Maybe that’s why, after publishing the book about invincible soldiers, I did not immediately return to the story of Helena Piasecka. Then came the 2010 assassination of Polish President Lech Kaczynski in Smolensk, Russia, which turned my entire world upside down and took 13 years of my life.

It was not until the energetic actions of the government of Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki under the leadership of Minister Arkadiusz Mularczyk that brought this terrible subject of the hellish German crimes against Polish women from the resistance movement back to life. Thank you, Prime Minister Morawiecki and Minister Mularczyk, for bringing back from oblivion these horrendous crimes!

Who was Helena Piasecka?

Born in 1914 in Żuromin, about 120 kilometers northeast of Warsaw, Helena Piasecka was a teacher. She graduated from the University of Lublin before the war, majoring in teaching. In 1939, she married Edward Piasecki, an officer of the Polish Army who took part in the defensive war of 1939. He was an adjutant of the 16th Combat Artillery Regiment in Grudziądz and fought as a fire officer of the second battery of the 16th Regiment in defense of Modlin. After the September campaign, he joined the ZWZ. He was murdered in the German Auschwitz concentration camp in 1942.

Helena was arrested by the Gestapo in February 1941 for her activities in the resistance movement. She was pregnant at the time. Deported to Ravensbruck, she gave birth to two twin boys there. Unfortunately, the children died shortly after birth.

Polish women in Ravensbruck were subjected to deliberate torture aimed at their quick destruction. They were sent to hard labor and starved to death with minimal food rations. Most of them weighed only 70-78 pounds. Those who could not work were murdered.

The torture of quasi-medical experiments began in Ravensbruck in the spring of 1942. In the first round, 10 women were subjected to this torture. These experiments continued in 1943. A total of 74 Polish resistance fighters were subjected to this medical torture, at least three of whom were minors.

Helena Piasecka was summoned to this medical torture on August 15, 1943, together with her older sister Władysława Karolewska.

“Behind these doors, you will find out what awaits you!”

This was the answer of the SS man who led her to the torture room.

Seeing that she was inevitably becoming the next guinea pig, Helena resisted but was quickly overpowered and euthanized. When she woke up in the hospital room, she had a very high fever and terrible pain in her legs. It turned out that her left leg was broken in 5 places. Both legs were in plaster. During the so-called recuperation in the hospital, bed bugs got into the wounds. When the cast was removed, and she saw her legs covered in blood and bedbugs, she immediately fainted. In total, Helena was subjected to three such terrible operations.

Despite this horror, she lived to see liberation. When the Germans were fleeing Ravensbruck in 1944, Helena could not walk. Her companions of fate took her from the camp in a baby carriage. In this chaos of historical turmoil, Helena was lucky. One of the French Resistance prisoners, Violette Lecogne, took care of her. Her fiancé Robert DuCroquet was the medical doctor who undertook to treat Helena. In 1946, Helena spent six months in a French hospital under his care.

After leaving the hospital in November 1946, Helena Piasecka, together with her sister Władysława Karolewska (both pictured in 1958), testified as witnesses before the British Nuremberg Tribunal regarding medical torture used by Nazi Germany on Polish women in Ravensbruck.

According to the Nuremberg Tribunal, about 200 German doctors were involved in this criminal practice, and at least 300 knew what was happening. Only 23 doctors were prosecuted for this bestiality, and only 15 of them were convicted. Of these 15, only 7 were sentenced to death by hanging, and 5 received life sentences.

German medical experiments contributed nothing to medical science

The Nuremberg Tribunal concluded that the medical experiments carried out did nothing for the good of medicine. Not a single cure or drug was developed from these experiments. Nothing practical of any medical value was obtained from these tortures. These experiments contributed nothing to medical science.

Doctors around the world saw a mortal threat to the medical profession in the practice of medical torture, and in 1948 the World Medical Association adopted the First Amendment to the Hippocratic Oath, which has not been changed for 2000 years. German degeneracy forced the first amendment to the Hippocratic Oath in 2,000 years. It reads:

I swear that I will treat human life with the greatest respect from natural conception. Even under threat and coercion, I will not use my knowledge contrary to human law.

See also:

https://republikapolonia.pl/2023/05/31/niemy-krzyk-polki-z-ravensbruck/

 

The post Voiceless Shout of the Polish Lapin from Ravensbruck appeared first on Polonia Institute.

]]>
9005
The bribery mafia in the European Parlament behind blocking funds for Poland https://poloniainstitute.net/current-events/the-bribery-mafia-in-the-european-parlament-behind-blocking-funds-for-poland/ Mon, 23 Jan 2023 15:49:05 +0000 https://poloniainstitute.net/?p=8831 Shocking findings – decisions of the  European Parliament bought by bribes! The bribery mafia co-created a mechanism that blocks funds for Poland The bribery mafia, linked to the Qatari, Moroccan and Russian services, created, or at least co-created, the conditionality mechanism that led to Poland’s money being withheld by the...

The post The bribery mafia in the European Parlament behind blocking funds for Poland appeared first on Polonia Institute.

]]>
Shocking findings – decisions of the  European Parliament bought by bribes!

The bribery mafia co-created a mechanism that blocks funds for Poland

The bribery mafia, linked to the Qatari, Moroccan and Russian services, created, or at least co-created, the conditionality mechanism that led to Poland’s money being withheld by the European Union when war broke out in Ukraine. Poland is Ukraine’s main supporter while Germany refuses to help.  This shocking thesis was presented based on incoming reports of corruption in the European Parliament. The shocking findings were presented on Polish TV Republika by a member of the European Parliament Dominik Tarczyński.

Almost daily, new findings come to light in a complex and wide-ranging corruption and espionage scandal in the European Parliament. MP Dominik Tarczyński is collecting materials that may indicate that some of the MEPs involved in the corruption scandal took part in the attacks on Poland in the EP that have been ongoing for the last few years.

In recent days, the Spanish media in a series of publications have become interested in Juan Fernando Lopez Aguilar, the chairman of the European parliamentary LIBE committee from which most drafts of anti-Polish resolutions originated in recent years. Videos have been released showing the scene where this committee voted on the waiver of visas for Qatari, then adjourned, and the video shows how Eva Kaili and Mark Tarabella – the main characters of the scandal – approached Aguilar and – presumably – gave him instructions. 

The next day, shocking footage was released from the committee led by Mr. Aguilar. He is well-known in Poland as one of the most involved in anti-Polish actions in the European Parliament. It was Lopez Aguilar who asked during a meeting with the Polish opposition what “we can still do”, as he put it “to overthrow the Polish government”, and Radosław Sikorski then drew his attention to “Polish journalists” present in the room (as a warning not to speak publically about this matter) – Dominik Tarczyński explained today on TV Republika.

All materials published by foreign media in connection with the corruption scandal in the European Parliament point to the socialist milieu, one of the most involved in attacks on Poland. Tarczyński pointed out that Francesco Giorgi, the partner of the arrested Eva Kaila, in 2020 announced the mechanism of conditionality, linking the rule of law with financing, as a great success of the socialist faction in the European Parliament. The draft of the conditionality mechanism passed through the LIBE committee headed by the aforementioned Lopez Aguilar. 

In the past, Giorgi was an assistant to Panzeri, a former MEP who admitted to investigators that he was the head of a group organizing corruption. One of those involved in the case is also MEP Mark Tarabella, who is accused of accepting 140,000 euros for the resolution against Algeria. This shows that there were not only pro-Qatari or pro-Moroccan actions but also anti-Algerian actions, there were also anti-state actions being purchased by the outside forces. Hence, it can be assumed that if people took part in attacks on Poland, they took money for these attacks. 

said the Polish MEP.

Dominik Tarczyński pointed out that the resolution on the mechanism of linking the rule of law with financing had a provision that NGOs were to be excluded from this rule. 

This was announced despite the fact that Panzeri’s organizations where Giorgi worked are suspected of money laundering. These organizations announced as a success the resolution that secured funding for the organization, he added. The MEP also drew attention to the Pegasus Investigating Committee, consisting, among others, Eva Kaili, Mark Tarabella, and Maria Arena. 

They fought against the right of the Polish secret services to have mechanisms such as Pegasus thanks to which they themselves were caught and detained.

We must not be naive and look at these facts as merely “Qatargate” or “Moroccogate” – this is “Russiagate.” Strange information appeared after Russia spent 300 million euros on lobbying. Putin’s daughter Got married in Morocco. When we start to wonder where Morocco got this briberry money [referred to in the EP corruption case], all threads will lead to Russia overnight.

Tarczynski said.

The bribery mafia, linked to the Qatari, Moroccan and Russian services, created or at least co-created the conditionality mechanism that led to Poland’s money being blocked when war broke out in Ukraine. Poland is Ukraine’s main supporter, and Germany refuses to help. A bribery mafia puts up a blockade at the back. Can this be summed up? 

There is no other way to sum it up, these are the facts,

he added.

Earlier, Dominik Tarczyński showed documents confirming transfers of huge amounts in a corruption case in the European Parliament. Millions of dollars in suitcases went to former EP vice-president Eva Kaili and her family, as well as to other politicians. What all these people have in common is that they either initiated attacks against Poland or directly wrote (mostly unsubstantiated) reports against Poland.

Recently, the EP held a debate on the corruption scandal, the background of which is lobbying for Qatar and Morocco. A request for a debate was made by several political groups in the EP. The corruption scandal erupted in December 2023 with the arrest of EP vice-president, Greek socialist Eva Kaili, who is accused of taking huge bribes from Qatar. Her lawyer, Michalis Dimitrakopoulus, said in December that the defense had requested that she testify using electronic surveillance, but the prosecution refused this request. As a result, Kaili will remain in pre-trial detention in Belgium until at least the end of January 22.

At the same time, the investigation into her case is ongoing in Greece, where she also faces imprisonment. If Kaili is found guilty in Greece, the sentence handed down by the national judicial authority is likely to be more severe than that in Belgium, where the penalties for this type of crime are lenient – between 3 and 5 years in prison. In her home country, she faces 15 years in prison. In Greece, Kaili is, among others, under the scrutiny of the money laundering office. The investigation into her case is to determine whether she imported undeclared funds from abroad and invested them in Greece, mainly in real estate.

Kaili is not the only negative protagonist of the corruption scandal in the EP. Her family and friends are also involved in the case. Pier Antonio Panzeri, a former Italian MEP, is also in custody. He is the founder of the non-governmental organization “Fight Impunity.” He was also charged in connection with a corruption scandal. Panzeri’s application for release from prison was also postponed until January 26.

MEP Mark Tarabella is vice-chairman of the EP delegation for relations with the Arabian Peninsula. His house was searched by the Belgian police. He suspended his membership in the Socialists and Democrats group. In early January, the President of the European Parliament, Roberta Metsola, launched an urgent procedure to lift the immunity of two MEPs at the request of the Belgian judicial authorities. It’s about Andrea Cozzolino and Tarabella.

The bribery scandal in the European Parliament is developing. Stay tuned.

The original article in Polish was published here:  https://niezalezna.pl/472331-szokujace-ustalenia-ws-afery-korupcyjnej-w-pe-mafia-lapowkarska-wspoltworzyla-mechanizm-ktory-blokuje-srodki-dla-polski-wideo

The post The bribery mafia in the European Parlament behind blocking funds for Poland appeared first on Polonia Institute.

]]>
8831
What does Poland demand in its note diplomatique to Germany? https://poloniainstitute.net/current-events/what-does-poland-demand-in-its-note-diplomatique-to-germany/ Sat, 29 Oct 2022 02:28:26 +0000 http://poloniainstitute.net/?p=8684 Important Message from Poland’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs! The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Poland has issued a communiqué explaining what was included in the content of the note diplomatic sent to Germany on WWII reparations. The Ministry also clarifies why the word “compensation” was used instead...

The post What does Poland demand in its note diplomatique to Germany? appeared first on Polonia Institute.

]]>
Important Message from Poland’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs!

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Poland has issued a communiqué explaining what was included in the content of the note diplomatic sent to Germany on WWII reparations. The Ministry also clarifies why the word “compensation” was used instead of “reparations”.

FULL TEXT OF THE COMMUNIQUÉ FROM THE MINISTRY OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS:

In the diplomatic note to the Government of the Federal Republic of Germany sent by the Republic of Poland concerning reparations for damage caused by Germany as a result of German aggression and occupation in 1939-1945, the Republic of Poland demands:

– Compensation for material and immaterial damage in the amount of 6 trillion 220 billion 609 million zlotys;

– Compensation for the victims of German aggression and occupation and their family members for the damage and harm caused to them;

– The undertaking of  systemic measures by the Federal Republic of Germany leading to the return of cultural property seized from Poland that is located on German territory;

– The return of assets and liabilities of Polish state banks and credit institutions looted by the German state between 1939 and 1945;

– The settlement of debts arising from the plundering activities of the Deutsche Reichsbank financing the criminal war effort of the Third Reich and from the activities of the Bank of Issue in Poland;

– Full rehabilitation of the murdered activists of the pre-war Polish minority and compensation for the losses suffered by Polish organizations in Germany;

– Full and systemic regulation of the present status of Poles and persons of Polish origin in Germany by restoring the status of a national minority, in particular concerning the teaching of the mother tongue;

– Proper cooperation with the Republic of Poland in commemorating the Polish victims of World War II;

– Taking effective measures by the German authorities to present an accurate picture of the war and its consequences to their own society, especially the harm and damage caused to Poland and the Poles.

“Compensation” instead of “reparations”

 Furthermore, in view of the discussion in the media surrounding the note diplomatique, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs states the following:

The note uses the term “compensation” and not “reparations”, as the former is a much broader formulation and includes both reparations in the international legal sense and other claims described in the note’s body.

Contrary to the false information appearing, the note diplomatique to the Government of the Federal Republic of Germany contains the figure amount of compensation due to the Republic of Poland resulting from the calculations contained in the Report on Losses Incurred by Poland as a Result of German Aggression and Occupation During World War II 1939-1945.

The account of war losses caused by the USSR will be prepared based on studies analogous to those which led to the Report on Losses Incurred by Poland as a Result of German Aggression and Occupation During World War II 1939-1945, per the resolution of the Sejm of the Republic of Poland.

Disclosure to the public of a note diplomatique addressed directly to another state would violate the basic principles of diplomacy. The note diplomatique does not constitute public information – this is clear from the jurisprudence of the Polish courts (inter alia, the judgment of the Voivodship Administrative Court in Warsaw of 19 December 2019 and of 20 August 2020 issued in cases ref. II SA/Wa 2275/19 and II SA/Wa 1954/19, respectively). Notwithstanding the above, out of concern for the openness of the public debate and the reliability of information presented by the mass media, the Minister of Foreign Affairs has decided to publish the present communique, which contains a description of the essential contents raised in the note. In addition, the note may be consulted at any time by all Members of the Sejm of the Republic of Poland and Senators of the Republic of Poland -–pursuant to the provisions of the Act of 9 May 1996 on the Exercise of the Mandate of Deputies and Senators and the Act of 21 January 2021 on the Foreign Service – in conditions ensuring the maintenance of diplomatic secrecy.

 

For the Polish language original, please see:

https://wpolityce.pl/polityka/619945-wazny-komunikat-msz-co-znalazlo-sie-w-nocie-do-niemiec

The post What does Poland demand in its note diplomatique to Germany? appeared first on Polonia Institute.

]]>
8684