Russia and Poland. Two peoples, close in blood and language. However, it so happened that for a long time of its existence, the Polish state was most often hostile to the Russian. In our country, an inferiority complex is being intensively cultivated: to repent for the partitions of Poland is the duty of a "Russian intellectual", to remember the Time of Troubles and the Polish occupiers in the Kremlin is a manifestation of rancor. The book by Igor Pykhalov, author of the bestselling books "The Great Slandered War" and "Why Stalin Expelled the Nations", is devoted to the history of Russian-Polish relations from the time of Kievan Rus until World War II.
The work belongs to the genre of Documentary literature. It was published in 2019 by Peter Publishing. The book is part of the "Intelligence Survey" series. On our website you can download the book "Poland: The Hyena of Eastern Europe" in fb2, rtf, epub, pdf, txt format or read online. Here you can also, before reading, refer to the reviews of readers who are already familiar with the book, and find out their opinions. In the online store of our partner, you can buy and read a book in paper form.
Polonophobia, or anti-Polonism, is a manifestation of hostility towards the Polish people and towards Polish history. Judging by the fact that books by Polonophobes are readily published in Russia, and on the Internet there are a lot of Russian-language articles and statements saturated with hatred of Poles, anti-Polonism in Russia has become the norm for many people ...
Can this phenomenon be considered "normal"?
Every nation, like every person, has its own negative traits. In the history of most countries, there are shameful facts and crimes. And there are people who pay attention mainly to flaws and vices and do not notice the good either in the historical past or in the present. I am not one of those people, but in the end, everyone has their own shortcomings ...
But Russian literary polonophobes for the most part are not seriously interested in history. They call themselves "Russian patriots" and derive their knowledge mainly from books translated from English. For example, they annoyingly repeat the words of Sir Winston Churchill about how Poland in 1938 "with the greed of a hyena took part in the robbery and destruction of the Czechoslovak state", but they will not say a word about how the future law-abiding citizens of democratic Czechoslovakia in 1918-1920 years on a grand scale looting in Russia.
Lieutenant General of the White Army Grigory Semyonov recalled it this way:
“As the commander of the Czech troops, General Syrovy, admitted, discipline in the Czech regiments was so shaken that the command could hardly restrain the units. The robbery of civilians and government institutions along the route of the Czechs reached absolutely incredible degrees. Plundered property in military echelons was delivered to Harbin, where it was sold quite openly by the Czechs, who rented the building of the local circus for this purpose and set up a store from it, which sold household items exported from Siberia, such as samovars, sewing machines, icons, silver dishes , carriages, agricultural implements, even copper ingots and vehicles exported from the factories of the Urals.
In addition to open robbery, organized, as can be seen from the previous exposition, on a broad, purely commercial basis, the Czechs, taking advantage of impunity, put on the market counterfeit Siberian money in huge quantities, printing them in their echelons. The Czech command could not or did not want to fight this evil, and such connivance had the most corrupting effect on the discipline in the regiments of the Czech troops. "
Semyonov also argued that for the extradition of Kolchak to the Bolsheviks "in Chita, General Syrovy was handed over to General Syrovy by Russian officers against receipt of 30 silver two-kopecks — a symbolic payment for betrayal." Most likely, this is a bike, but the bike is very eloquent.
But the fact that this same General Jan Syrovoy during the Polish occupation of the Cieszyn region served in Czechoslovakia as prime minister and minister of national defense and did nothing to protect Czechoslovakia - it's true ...
Sir Winston Churchill writes about this with sorrow: “Immediately after the conclusion of the Munich Agreement on September 30, the Polish government sent an ultimatum to the Czech government, which was to be answered within 24 hours. The Polish government demanded the immediate transfer of the Cieszyn border area to him. There was no way to resist this rude demand. "
With all due respect to Sir Winston's opinion, I will allow myself to doubt that Czechoslovakia had no opportunity for military resistance. At the end of 1939, Finland - with a population four times smaller than in Czechoslovakia - responded "No" to territorial claims from the USSR, fought for three months and defended its independence.
What prevented Czechoslovakia from saying “No” to the Poles?
Before answering this question, you need to understand why the so-called Munich Agreement of 1938 took place. In modern Russia, there are two main versions: "Soviet" and "Hitler".
According to the "Soviet" version, Great Britain and France betrayed Czechoslovakia in order to incite Germany against the USSR. The main drawback of this version is that it is completely incomprehensible: why did the British and French in less than a year provide guarantees to Poland and got involved in a war with Germany.
The "Hitler" version of 1938 - promoted by modern Russian neo-Nazis without any objection from the public - says that Western countries simply "made a mistake" in 1919, including the German Sudetenland in Czechoslovakia, and in 1938 "corrected the mistake and returned »Germany German lands. Russian General Anton Denikin commented on this "deep thought" back in 1939:
"If we take into account the public sentiment of 1919, then only a madman could then make a gift from the Sudetenland to the defeated Reich, recognized by the whole world as the culprit of the World War - from areas that, moreover, never belonged to the Reich ..."
This is all true. The Sudetenland was never part of Germany, and before it became "Czechoslovak", it was part of Austria-Hungary. In general, the Sudeten Germans did not live so badly. The famous American historian William Shearer, who worked as a journalist in Germany in the 1930s and repeatedly visited neighboring countries, writes:
“Undoubtedly, in comparison with the situation of national minorities in Western countries, even in America, their situation in Czechoslovakia was not so bad. They had full democratic and civil rights, including the right to vote, they had their own schools, their own cultural institutions. The leaders of their political parties often held ministerial posts in the central government. "
The Germans in Czechoslovakia had their own Sudeten-German party, defending the rights of the German population. And those Germans who did not at all like the order in Czechoslovakia could freely leave the country and leave for permanent residence in Germany ...
The political leaders of Czechoslovakia had enough arguments to defend, in the eyes of international public opinion, the right to the territorial integrity of their country. There was only one thing: the determination of the majority of the population to defend the borders with arms in hand.
William Shearer naively believed in the presence in 1938 of "35 well-trained and armed Czechoslovak divisions stationed behind impregnable mountain fortifications."
... The armament was most likely good. Learning is a difficult question. It is not a fact that General Syrovoy and his associates with their "Siberian military experience" could teach their subordinates a lot. And the fortifications are made "impregnable" by staunch and courageous people who are ready to fight the enemy. There were too few such people in what was then Czechoslovakia. This was the fundamental difference between Czechoslovakia and Finland.
The "appeasers" Chamberlain and Daladier were quite typical mediocrities and did not harbor any insidious plans in relation to Russia. They simply had nothing to answer the words that Hitler said on September 27, 1938 to Chamberlain's representative Horace Wilson: “If France and England want to attack us, let them attack! It doesn't matter to me at all! Today is Tuesday, next Monday we will be at war! " Great Britain and France did not want to fight, but Great Britain and a decent ground army did not have to fight on the continent. But the main thing is that Czechoslovakia itself was in no way going to fight. Pan President Edward Benes would not have turned his tongue to say: "Let them attack ..."
As a result, Hitler achieved the consent of England and France to revise the borders of Czechoslovakia in favor of Germany. The "appeasers", according to Churchill, achieved the following: "The year of respite, which was allegedly won in Munich, put England and France in a much worse position compared to Hitlerite Germany than they were in at the time of the Munich crisis."
And Poland took advantage of the Munich Agreement to gain its own benefits. Of course, it was very ugly, one might even say "disgusting" ...
The only question is, who can say this with a clear conscience?
To be honest, Churchill had no moral right to compare Poland with a "greedy hyena" ... If only Sir Winston at the same time compared Great Britain and France with "stupid donkeys", and Czechoslovakia with a "cowardly ferret" - then it would be another matter ...
But only Poland "deserved" the "zoological epithet" from the great Briton.
Why?
Speaking on October 5, 1938 in the British House of Commons, Churchill was indignant:
“What happened in Warsaw? The British and French ambassadors visited the Foreign Minister, Colonel Beck, at least tried to meet with him in order to ask for some mitigation of the cruel measures that are being used against Czechoslovakia in connection with the Teshen region problem. The door was slammed in front of them. The French ambassador never received an audience, while the British ambassador received a very harsh response from one of the ministry officials. The whole affair is portrayed by the Polish press as political tactlessness on the part of both powers ... ”.
Churchill's indignation is not difficult to understand. The door that slammed shut in front of the British ambassador hurt the national pride of all respectable Britons. Here you will not only start calling yourself "hyena" ... Of course, if you are a British patriot.
But the patriots of most other countries, including Russia, will never feel resentment against the Poles for this diplomatic incident. Because Britain has fully deserved such an insult both for its "Munich policy" and for many other not very beautiful deeds ... And those who clumsily imitating Churchill thoughtlessly repeat the words "Hyena of Europe!" Hyena of Europe! " do not look like Russian patriots, but like Russian-speaking parrots.
NOTES:
Churchill W., World War II. (In 3 books). - M .: Alpina non-fiction, 2013. - Book. 1.S. 159e
Semenov G.M., About me: Memories, thoughts and conclusions - M .: AST, 2002. - S. 234-235.
In the same place. P. 233.
Churchill W., Decree. op. - Book. 1, p. 149.
Denikin A.I., World events and the Russian question // Denikin A.I., The path of a Russian officer. Articles and essays on historical and geopolitical topics - M .: Ayris-press, 2006. - P. 470.
Shearer. U., The rise and fall of the Third Reich - M: Astrel, 2012. - S. 404.
In the same place. S. 509.
In the same place. P. 441.
Churchill W., Decree. op. - Book. 1, p. 155.
Churchill, W., The Muscles of the World. - M .: Eksmo, 2009 .-- S. 81.
Now is the time to remember what the then Poland was like, for the sake of whose salvation from Hitler we had to become one with Britain and France.
As soon as it was born, the revived Polish state unleashed armed conflicts with all its neighbors, seeking to expand its borders as much as possible.
Czechoslovakia was no exception, the territorial dispute with which flared up around the former Cieszyn principality.
At that time, the Poles did not succeed. On July 28, 1920, during the offensive of the Red Army on Warsaw, an agreement was signed in Paris, according to which Poland ceded the Teshin region to Czechoslovakia in exchange for the neutrality of the latter in the Polish-Soviet war.
Nevertheless, the Poles, in the words of the famous satirist Mikhail Zoshchenko, “harbored rudeness,” and when the Germans demanded the Sudetenland from Prague, they decided that the right opportunity had come to get their way. On January 14, 1938, Hitler received Polish Foreign Minister Jozef Beck.
"The Czech state in its present form cannot be preserved, because as a result of the disastrous policy of the Czechs in Central Europe, it represents an unsafe place - a communist hearth", - uttered the leader of the Third Reich. Of course, as stated in the official Polish report of the meeting, "Pan Beck warmly supported the Fuhrer"... This audience marked the beginning of Polish-German consultations over Czechoslovakia.
In the midst of the Sudeten crisis on September 21, 1938, Poland presented Czechoslovakia with an ultimatum to "return" the Cieszyn region to it. On September 27, another demand followed. Anti-Bohemian hysteria was whipped up in the country. On behalf of the so-called "Union of Silesian Insurgents" in Warsaw, recruitment to the "Cieszyn Volunteer Corps" was quite openly launched. Formed detachments of "volunteers" were sent to the Czechoslovak border, where they staged armed provocations and sabotage.
So, on the night of September 25, in the town of Konskie near Trshinets, Poles threw hand grenades and fired at the houses in which the Czechoslovak border guards were located, as a result of which two buildings burned down. After a two-hour battle, the attackers retreated to Polish territory. Similar clashes took place that night in a number of other places in the Cieszyn region. The next night, the Poles raided the Frishtat railway station, fired at it and threw grenades at it.
On September 27, throughout the night, almost all districts of the Cieszyn region were heard rifle and machine-gun skirmishes, grenade explosions, etc. and Skshechen. Armed groups of "rebels" repeatedly attacked the Czechoslovakian arms depots, Polish planes violated the Czechoslovak border every day.
The Poles closely coordinated their actions with the Germans. Polish diplomats in London and Paris insisted on an equal approach to solving the Sudeten and Cieszyn problems, while the Polish and German military agreed on a line of demarcation of troops in the event of an invasion of Czechoslovakia.
At the same time, touching scenes of "fighting brotherhood" between German fascists and Polish nationalists could be observed. So, according to a report from Prague on September 29, a gang of 20 people armed with automatic weapons attacked the Czechoslovak border post near Grgava. The attack was repulsed, the attackers fled to Poland, and one of them, being wounded, was taken prisoner. During interrogation, the caught bandit said that there were many Germans living in Poland in their unit.
As you know, the Soviet Union expressed its readiness to come to the aid of Czechoslovakia, both against Germany and against Poland. In response, on September 8-11, the largest military maneuvers in the history of the revived Polish state were organized on the Polish-Soviet border, in which 5 infantry and 1 cavalry divisions, 1 motorized brigade, and aviation took part. As expected, the Reds attacking from the east were completely defeated by the Blue. The maneuvers ended with a grandiose 7-hour parade in Lutsk, which was personally received by the "supreme leader" Marshal Rydz-Smigly.
In turn, on September 23, it was announced from the Soviet side that if Polish troops entered Czechoslovakia, the USSR would denounce the non-aggression pact concluded with Poland in 1932.
As mentioned above, on the night of September 29-30, 1938, the notorious Munich Agreement was concluded. In an effort to "pacify" Hitler at any cost, England and France cynically surrendered their ally Czechoslovakia to him. On the same day, September 30, Warsaw presented Prague with a new ultimatum, demanding immediate satisfaction of its claims. As a result, on October 1, Czechoslovakia ceded to Poland the region where 80 thousand Poles and 120 thousand Czechs lived. However, the main acquisition was the industrial potential of the occupied territory. At the end of 1938, the enterprises located there produced almost 41% of the pig iron smelted in Poland and almost 47% of the steel.
As Churchill wrote about this in his memoirs, Poland "Eagerly the hyena took part in the robbery and destruction of the Czechoslovak state"... An equally flattering zoological comparison is given in his book by the previously quoted American researcher Baldwin: "Poland and Hungary, like vultures, tore off pieces of a dying divided state".
Today in Poland they are trying to forget this page of their history. Thus, the authors of the book "History of Poland from Ancient Times to the Present", published in 1995 in Warsaw, Alicia Dybkowska, Malgorzata Zharyn and Jan Zharyn, managed not to mention the participation of their country in the section of Czechoslovakia at all:
“The interests of Poland were indirectly jeopardized by the policy of concessions of the Western states to Hitler. So, in 1935, he introduced universal military service in Germany, thereby violating the Versailles agreements; in 1936 Hitler's troops occupied the Rhine demilitarized zone, and in 1938 his army entered Austria. The next target of German expansion was Czechoslovakia.
Despite the protests of her government, in September 1938 in Munich, France, Great Britain and Italy signed an agreement with Germany, giving the right to the Third Reich to occupy the Czech Sudetenland, inhabited by a German minority. In the face of what was happening, it became clear to the Polish diplomats that now the turn had come to violate the Versailles resolutions on the Polish question ”.
Of course, can one be indignant at the participation of the USSR in the "fourth partition of Poland" if it becomes known that they themselves have a snout in the fluff? And Molotov's phrase so shocking to the progressive public about Poland as the ugly brainchild of the Versailles Treaty turns out to be just a copy of Pilsudski's earlier statement about "Artificially and ugly created Czechoslovak Republic".
Well, then, in 1938, no one was going to be ashamed. On the contrary, the seizure of the Teshin region was seen as a national triumph. Jozef Beck was awarded the Order of the White Eagle, although, for example, the Order of the Spotted Hyena would be more suitable for such a "feat". In addition, the grateful Polish intelligentsia presented him with honorary doctorates from Warsaw and Lvov universities. Polish propaganda was overwhelmed with delight. Thus, on October 9, 1938, Gazeta Polska wrote: "... the road open before us to a sovereign, leading role in our part of Europe requires enormous efforts in the near future and the resolution of incredibly difficult tasks".
The triumph was somewhat overshadowed only by the fact that Poland was not invited to join the four great powers who signed the Munich Agreement, although she was counting on it very much.
Such was the then Poland, which, in the opinion of the home-grown liberals, we were obliged to save at any cost.
Give us a place to fight!
As you know, the main stumbling block, because of which the negotiations in Moscow finally came to a standstill, was the issue of the passage of Soviet troops through the territory of Poland and Romania. The fact is that at that time the USSR did not have a common border with Germany. Therefore, it was not clear how, in the event of the outbreak of war, we would be able to enter into combat contact with the German army.
At a meeting of military delegations on August 14, 1939, Voroshilov asked a specific question about this: “In general, the outline is clear, but the position of the Armed Forces of the Soviet Union is not entirely clear. It is unclear where they reside geographically and how they physically take part in the common struggle ".
To which General Dumenk, unfolding a map of the USSR and showing the area of the western border, said: “This is a front that the Germans must never cross. And this is the front on which the Soviet Armed Forces should be based ".
Such an answer did not suit the Soviet side at all. As Voroshilov rightly noted, we were going to defend our borders in any case, regardless of any treaties.
In order for the Red Army to take part in hostilities from the very first days of the war, and not passively wait for Germany to crush Poland and reach the borders of the Soviet Union, our troops had to pass through Polish territory. At the same time, the zones of their passage were strictly limited: the Vilna region (the so-called Vilensky corridor) and Galicia.
As the head of the French delegation, General Dumenc, emphasized in a telegram to the French Ministry of War on August 15, 1939: “I note the great importance that from the point of view of eliminating the fear of the Poles is the fact that the Russians very strictly limit the zones of entry[Soviet troops], taking an exclusively strategic point of view ".
However, the arrogant Poles did not want to hear about it. As Germany's Chargé d'Affaires in Great Britain, Theodor Cordt, reported in a telegram to the German Foreign Office on April 18, 1939:
“The adviser to the Polish embassy, whom I met today at one of the public events, said that both Poland and Romania constantly refuse to accept any offer of assistance from Soviet Russia. Germany, the adviser said, could be confident that Poland would never allow any Soviet Russian soldier, be it ground forces or air forces, to enter its territory.
This put an end to all speculation in which it was argued about the provision of airfields as a base for military air operations of Soviet Russia against Germany. The same is true for Romania. According to Mr. Yazhzhevsky, it is well known that the aviation of Soviet Russia does not have a sufficient range to attack Germany from bases located on the territory of Soviet Russia. Poland thus proves once again that it is the European barrier against Bolshevism. "
Attempts by Britain and France to achieve a change in Poland's position did not lead to anything. As Marshal Edward Rydz-Smigly stated on the evening of August 19: "Regardless of the consequences, not a single inch of Polish territory will ever be allowed to be occupied by Russian troops.".
On the same evening, Polish Foreign Minister Jozef Beck told the French Ambassador to Warsaw, Leon Noel:
“For us, this is a matter of principle: we do not have a military treaty with the USSR; we do not want to have it; I, however, said this to Potemkin. We will not allow that in any form it is possible to discuss the use of part of our territory by foreign troops ".
But perhaps, by making the passage of our troops through Polish territory as a mandatory condition, we simply wanted to disrupt the agreement? And in fact, this requirement was insignificant?
Let's imagine that the Moscow negotiations ended in success and a mutual assistance agreement between Britain, France and the USSR was nevertheless concluded. In this case, after the outbreak of World War II, three scenarios were possible:
1. Germany inflicts the main blow on the Western Front against England and France.
2. The main blow is directed against Poland and, possibly, Romania.
3. The main blow is delivered directly to the territory of the USSR through Finland, Estonia and Latvia.
These three options were outlined in the speech of the Chief of the General Staff of the Red Army B. M. Shaposhnikov at a meeting of three delegations on August 15.
Suppose that Germany's first blow is delivered on the Western Front. With Poland's permission to use its territory, the Soviet Union would be ready to immediately enter the war. Otherwise, we will not be able to help. It remains only to watch how Hitler smashes France. Let us recall the events of 1914. If immediately after the outbreak of World War I, the Russian army did not launch an offensive in East Prussia, forcing the German command to transfer two corps and a cavalry division from the Western Front,
the Germans would have had a very good chance of crushing the French army and thereby winning the war.
Let us now consider the second option - the German attack on Poland. With permission, our troops enter Polish territory and, together with the Polish army, repel a German attack. Otherwise, you will have to wait for Germany to defeat Poland and go directly to our borders. At the same time, as Voroshilov rightly noted:
“I don’t dispute the very opinion that Poland and Romania, if they don’t ask the USSR for help, can very quickly become provinces of aggressive Germany.
However, I must note here that [that] our meeting is a meeting of the military missions of three great states and the people representing the Armed Forces of these states should know the following: not in our interests, not in the interests of the Armed Forces of Great Britain, France and the Soviet Union, so that additional the forces of Poland and Romania would be destroyed.
But if they, Poland and Romania, do not ask for timely assistance from the Soviet Union, then, according to the admiral's concept, the Armed Forces of Poland and Romania will be destroyed. "
But besides the use of the Polish Armed Forces, there is another important argument that is not being spoken out loud. Better to fight on foreign territory. If we are not given such an opportunity, we will have to take battle on our own lines, and on the borders of 1939.
Finally, the third option, the least likely, but at the same time the most unpleasant for the USSR - if the Germans climb to us through the Baltic States and Finland. However, it is also impossible to call such a development of events absolutely impossible. Both in the Baltics, and even more so in Finland, pro-German sentiments were very strong. So these countries could well not only let German troops pass through their territory, but also take part in the campaign against the Soviet Union themselves.
In this case, the Poles will definitely not fight, since they do not have any obligations to the USSR. You will hardly expect help from England and France either. Thus, we are left alone with Germany. If, in response to a German attack, the Red Army strikes at Germany through Polish territory, then Warsaw will not get away from participation in the war.
And one can only agree with the opinion of Winston Churchill: "The demand of Marshal Voroshilov, according to which the Russian armies, if they were allies of Poland, would have to occupy Vilnius and Lvov, was a completely expedient military demand.".
To the above, it should be added that Poland not only did not want Soviet help, but until the last moment continued to plot dirty tricks against our country.
So, in the report of the 2nd (intelligence) department of the General Staff of the Polish Army, dated December 1938, it was emphasized: “The dismemberment of Russia is at the heart of the Polish policy in the East ... Therefore, our possible position will be reduced to the following formula: who will take part in the partition. Poland should not remain passive at this wonderful historical moment. The task is to prepare well in advance physically and spiritually ... The main goal is to weaken and defeat Russia ".
And here is an excerpt from the conversation of the adviser of the German Embassy in Poland, Rudolf von Shelia, with the newly appointed envoy of Poland to Iran J. Karsho-Sedlewski, held on December 28, 1938:
“The political perspective for the European East is clear. In a few years, Germany will fight the Soviet Union, and Poland will support, voluntarily or involuntarily, Germany in this war. It is better for Poland to definitely side with Germany before the conflict, since Poland's territorial interests in the West and Poland's political goals in the East, primarily in Ukraine, can only be ensured through a Polish-German agreement reached in advance.
He, Karsho-Sedlevsky, will subordinate his activities as Polish envoy to Tehran to the implementation of this great Eastern concept, since it is necessary in the end to convince and induce also the Persians and Afghans to play an active role in the future war against the Soviets. He will devote his activities to this task during the coming years in Tehran. "
From the recording of a conversation between German Foreign Minister Joachim von Ribbentrop and Polish Foreign Minister Jozef Beck, held on January 26, 1939 in Warsaw: "Mr. Beck did not hide the fact that Poland claims to Soviet Ukraine and access to the Black Sea".
From books by I. Pykhalov "The Great Slandered War"... Links in the same place.
© Piter Publishing House LLC, 2019
© Series "RAZVEDOPROS", 2019
© Dmitry GOBLIN Puchkov, 2019
© Igor Pykhalov, 2019
* * *
Foreword
Russia and Poland. Two peoples, close in blood and language. There are many Poles who served our country with dignity, and just good people. However, it so happened that for a long time of its existence, the Polish state was most often hostile to the Russian.
This is not very surprising. As world history testifies, conflicts between neighboring peoples can easily last for centuries. It is not so easy to figure out who is right in such a dispute, on whose side the historical truth is. The history of Russian-Polish relations is the subject of Igor Pykhalov's book.
Another thing is surprising. In this confrontation, the sympathies of the Russian "educated" public invariably turn out to be on the side of the western neighbor. If Poland unleashed a war against Russia and seized territory from it, this is normal. Its right to own what it captured is indisputable, and the fact of aggression is not at all condemned. If Russia suddenly rallied its strength and returned its own back, be it during the time of Catherine II or during the reign of Stalin, this is completely unacceptable. You have to repent for this, and the "victims" of the Russian occupiers, of course, have the right to revenge.
For more than two centuries now, a strange and incomprehensible inferiority complex has been intensively cultivated in our country. An offensive war, a war on foreign territory, a war as a result of which Russia receives any acquisitions, is considered something shameful, not corresponding to some lofty ideals. Ideals can be different. In tsarist times, they appealed to mercy and "Christian love for one's neighbor." At the time of Gorbachev, they referred to the "Leninist principles of foreign policy." Today "universal values" are in vogue.
Meanwhile, each state, each nation has its own interests, and others do not always like them. This is normal, and you shouldn't be ashamed of it.
Starting from the times of Kievan Rus, Igor Pykhalov goes step by step through the key moments of Russian-Polish relations up to the Second World War. Suddenly it turns out that we have nothing to be ashamed of.
Dmitry Goblin Puchkov
Preface by the author
What could be in common between the founders of Marxism and the Soviet dissidents of the Brezhnev era, who fled to the West in search of sausage and freedom? Do you think nothing? No matter how it is! There is a question in which the voices of the bearded leaders of the world proletariat merge in a single chorus with the voices of their kitchen detractors from among the anti-Soviet intelligentsia. We are talking about the historical guilt of Russia before Poland.
The reasons for the negative attitude of Marx and Engels towards our country are quite understandable and explainable. The authors of the "Communist Manifesto" all their lives dreamed of organizing a proletarian revolution at home. The Russian empire, on the other hand, sometimes did not allow to bring the matter even to the bourgeois one. It is clear that the mere mention of the Russian future classics of Marxism was simply shaking. In fact, you are going to raise the German proletariat against the exploiters, and then the Cossacks will come and look, and will instruct the rioters with whips, on which the revolution will end.
Thanks to the anti-national policy of Alexander I, who signed the "Act of the Holy Union" on September 14 (26), 1815, our country took upon itself the obligation to maintain the status quo in all European states, even when it contradicted its interests. Unfortunately, Nicholas I, who ascended the throne, continued to scrupulously fulfill the obligations of his older brother. It was through the efforts of the Russian troops that the Ottoman Empire, hostile to Russia, was saved from defeat by the rebellious Egyptians in 1833, and in 1849 only Russian bayonets helped our other enemy, the Austrian Emperor Franz Joseph, stay on the shaky throne. Subsequently, when in 1854 Russia, at war with England, France and Turkey, expected a blow in the back from Austria, Nikolai Pavlovich severely regretted for such a short-sighted policy: "The most stupid of the Russian sovereigns ... me, because I helped the Austrians to suppress the Hungarian rebellion", - the tsar confessed to his adjutant general Rzhevussky. Alas, what had been done could no longer be corrected.
Speaking on January 22, 1867 in London at a rally dedicated to the 4th anniversary of the Polish uprising, Karl Marx noted the enduring merits of the Poles in saving the West from hypothetical Russian intervention: "Again the Polish people, this immortal knight of Europe, forced the Mongol to retreat"... They meant the Polish unrest in Prussia in 1848, which allegedly forced Nicholas I to abandon plans for armed intervention.
The founder of the eternally living teaching ended his speech with a pretentious phrase:
"So, for Europe, there is only one alternative: either Muscovite-led Asian barbarism will fall like an avalanche on its head, or it must rebuild Poland, thus protecting itself from Asia with twenty million heroes in order to gain time to complete its social transformation."
Distinguished in the glorification of Polish nationalists and V. I. Lenin:
“While the masses of Russia and most of the Slavic countries were still sleeping deeply, while in these countries did not have independent, mass, democratic movements, gentry the liberation movement in Poland acquired a gigantic, paramount importance from the point of view of democracy, not only all-Russian, not only all-Slavic, but also all-European. "
In all fairness, it should be noted that, having headed Soviet Russia, Vladimir Ilyich radically changed his Polish policy. But another half century has passed, and now the magazine Continent, already published in Munich with CIA money, publishes an equally pretentious editorial:
“The first of September 1939 will forever remain in the history of mankind as the date of the beginning of the Second World War, and the 17th of the same month for the peoples of our country and Russia in particular is also the starting point of national guilt before the Polish people. On this day, two totalitarian regimes - East and West - with the cynical connivance of the free world, committed one of the gravest atrocities of the twentieth century - the Third robber and unjust Partition of the Polish state ...
Of course, the main responsibility for the evil done is borne by the political mafia, which at that time carried out a bloody dictatorship over the peoples of our country, but it is known: crimes are committed by people, the nation is responsible. Therefore, today, looking back into the past, we - Russian intellectuals, with a sense of bitterness and repentance, are obliged to take the blame for all the grave sins committed in the name of Russia towards Poland ...
But fully aware of our responsibility for the past, today we still proudly remember that throughout Poland's almost two-century struggle for freedom, the best people of Russia - from Herzen to Tolstoy - have always been on her side. "
As we can see, the ideas expressed by a handful of representatives of the small-town "Russian intelligentsia" who signed this opus (Iosif Brodsky, Andrei Volkonsky, Alexander Galich, Naum Korzhavin, Vladimir Maksimov, Viktor Nekrasov, Andrei Sinyavsky) and the croaking conscience of the nation that joined them in the person of Academician Sakharov as two drops of water are similar to the views of the leaders of the world proletariat. However, unlike Marx and Engels, who were not obliged to love Russia, these subjects were born and raised in a country, which was then long and diligently screwed up.
Spitting on one's homeland, adoring the Poles is a long-standing tradition of Russian education. When AI Herzen, who emigrated, in June 1853 founded the Free Russian Printing House in London, the second of the brochures printed there was an extensive opus under the pathetic title “The Poles Forgive Us!”
And this is not just a work off of money from Polish sponsors who financed the printing house. No, Alexander Ivanovich clearly puts his soul into the text. Here is what Herzen writes about the events of 1772-1795, when the Russian Empire did not receive a piece of Polish land proper:
“Rus was tearing away the living meat of Poland by a shred, tore off province by province, and like an irresistible disaster, like a dark cloud, moved closer and closer to her heart ... Because of Poland, Russia took the first black sin on her soul.”
But about the mutiny of 1830-1831:
"After the nineties, nothing was more valiant or poetic than this uprising ... The noble image of a Polish native, this knight of the cross of freedom, remained in the memory of the people."
“… We are to blame, we are offenders, our conscience gnawed at us, we were tormented by shame. Their Warsaw fell under our cores, and we did not know how to show her our sympathy, except hidden tears, careful whispering and timid silence. "
In conclusion, the London exile, awakened by the Decembrists, called on the Russian youth with all their might to help the Polish landowners return the selected estates:
"Unite with the Poles in a common struggle" for ours and their freedom, "and Russia's sin will be atoned for."
The founders of Marxism-Leninism, the spiritual father of the Narodnaya Volya terrorists, the dissidents of the Brezhnev era ... What an amazing kinship of souls! To paraphrase Mayakovsky, we can say:
There is no dearer to every Westerner
Relay races of Russophobic foolishness:
We say Marx, we mean Sakharov,
We say Engels, we mean Brodsky!
Today this relay continues successfully. Well-known liberal TV journalist Nikolai Svanidze writes:
“The entire history of this people over the past 200 years is the history of the struggle to live at least a little apart from Russia. “Two hundred years together” - the classic would say. The term is sufficient. And we got them great. It began with the partitions of Poland under Catherine, but those were the flowers. It continued under Nicholas I, when the Polish national uprising was suppressed, and our great poet, in a civil impulse, defined this as a “fraternal dispute between the Slavs”. The Poles did not quite agree with our great poet: they would like to see one of the brothers, the healthier one, not so painfully kick the other brother in the head during a fraternal dispute. Then there was a lot more, but the final chords of our brotherhood were especially successful: the division of Poland between Hitler and Stalin, deportations, Katyn, then the refusal to help the Warsaw Uprising and, finally, for dessert - the violent imposition of Soviet power, the inclusion of Poland as one of the provinces to the East European Empire ”.
And here are the revelations of director Stanislav Govorukhin on the air of the radio station "Echo of Moscow" on November 24, 2009 (program "Clinch: Russia and Poland"):
“Russia is a vindictive state. It would seem that it would be necessary to strengthen friendship with neighbors, but we have recently introduced a new holiday - November 4. Not a single person knew what it was, why, why. Then they explained that it turns out that the Poles were expelled from the Kremlin 400 years ago. Here is the rancor. And after that we want good relations between our states? "
Govorukhin's remarks turned out to be so odious that even the host of the program, liberal and Catholic Sergei Buntman, could not resist, who began to timidly object to the “patriotic Orthodox director”. However, Govorukhin, like a leaking black grouse, hears only himself, continuing to talk nonsense with inspiration:
« S. Govorukhin: The majority - I assure you - the majority to this day know that in mid-September 1939 the Red Army came to the aid of Poland and did not allow Hitler to capture half of the country, and thus, as it were, saved them. To whom will you explain now that the Poles fought with us - because there was an invasion. And those who did not go to war and succumbed to persuasion, like these several thousand officers, who were promised peace and freedom - they were shot at Katyn. Nobody knows anything, that's where all the trouble comes from. Nobody knows that when the uprising began in Warsaw in 1944, our troops stood on the other side of the river and waited for it to be suppressed.
S. Buntman: They say they couldn't. They went several kilometers to the west.
S. Govorukhin: But since the uprising was organized by London, so the troops of Marshal Rokossovsky were waiting for the uprising to be suppressed, then the troops would move. Of all our neighbors, of all the Poles, of course, Russia has most of all mocked the Poles over the past two centuries. Remember, there were also Polish tsars, Russian autocrats, remember the Polish uprisings, brutally and bloody suppressed, the partitions of Poland. I'm not even saying that even in 1920, when the Civil War ended, the Red Army suddenly poured into Warsaw.
S. Buntman: But before that, the Polish army went to Kiev, before the Red Army went to Warsaw, and Kiev was taken.
K. Zanussi(Polish director): Was taken, but not annexed to Poland. Of course, Poland's interest was in an independent Ukraine.
S. Govorukhin: But the most terrible evil, of course, that was caused was 1939, the Warsaw Uprising of 1944 and the fact that, of course, the Poles cannot be grateful to us for making them a country of people's democracy. "
What is happening is exactly what I said above. Any real or perceived offense ever inflicted on Poland by Russia is diligently blamed on us, while the hostile actions of the Poles against our country are demonstratively ignored. To repent for the partitions of Poland is the duty of a "Russian intellectual", to remember the Time of Troubles and the Polish occupiers in the Kremlin is a manifestation of rancor.
If you believe all these intellectual howls, it turns out that for hundreds of years our compatriots have only thought about how to offend poor and unhappy Poland as much as possible. From century to century, in any Russian-Polish conflict, Russia is deliberately wrong ( "We are to blame, we are offenders"), while Poland, by definition - "Right, long-suffering" .
Well, let's see how it really was.
Chapter 1
Dispute of the Slavs among themselves
Leave: this is a dispute between the Slavs,
Home, old dispute, already weighed by fate,
A question that you will not resolve.
For a long time now among themselves
These tribes are at enmity;
More than once leaned under a thunderstorm
Now theirs, then our side.A.S. Pushkin. Slanderers of Russia
The starting conditions for both Slavic powers were approximately equal. The Polish and Russian centralized states appeared on the historical scene almost simultaneously. Almost at the same time, they adopted Christianity: Poles Catholicism in 966, Russian Orthodoxy in 988.
Contrary to Pushkin's lines, relations between Poland and Kievan Rus were not distinguished by pronounced hostility. However, one should not go to the other extreme, as did Soviet historians, faithful to the principles of communist political correctness:
“A comprehensive and unbiased analysis of the surviving sources leaves no stone unturned from the legend of the eternal Polish-Russian antagonism created by bourgeois-nationalist historiography.
At the time in question, there was not even a hint of this. This is best convinced by the attitude of Russian chroniclers towards Boleslav the Brave, who have found enough objectivity and nobility in themselves to emphasize his intelligence and courage. "
Interestingly, the opposite opinion is expressed about the attitude of Russian chroniclers to the Polish ruler:
“The Polish king Boleslav I the Brave, who captured Kiev in 1018, is described with hostility. He allegedly even "could not be gray on horseback," because he has a "thick womb." In this womb, like an evil spirit, Russian warriors threatened to stick a "cane". "
“In the year 6526 (1018). Boleslav came to Yaroslav with Svyatopolk and the Poles. Yaroslav, having gathered Rus, and the Varangians, and Slovens, went against Boleslav and Svyatopolk and came to Volyn, and they stood on both sides of the Bug River. And Yaroslav had a breadwinner and a voivode named Buda, and he began to reproach Boleslav, saying: "We will pierce your fat belly with a stake." For Boleslav was great and heavy, so he could not sit on a horse, but he was smart. And Boleslav said to his squad: "If this reproach does not offend you, then I will perish alone." Sitting on a horse, he rode into the river, and his warriors followed him, Yaroslav did not have time to fight, and Boleslav Yaroslav won. And Yaroslav fled with four men to Novgorod. Boleslav entered Kiev with Svyatopolk. "
Personally, I don't see in this passage either praising or blaming Boleslav. The chronicler presents the events in a rather neutral way, noting both the mind of the Polish prince and his fat belly.
As for the relations between Poland and Russia, "Comprehensive and unbiased analysis of surviving sources" shows that they were moderately hostile, as it should be between strong neighbors of the era of early feudalism. When, after the death in 1015 of the great Kiev prince Vladimir Svyatoslavovich, civil strife began among his sons, the defeated Svyatopolk (went down in history as Svyatopolk the Damned) fled to his father-in-law, the ruler of Poland. Boleslav I the Brave came to the aid of his son-in-law. Together with the Polish army, there were 300 Germans, 500 Hungarians and 1000 Pechenegs. Having defeated the army of Yaroslav the Wise in a battle on the banks of the Western Bug on August 22, 1018, Boleslav and Svyatopolk occupied Kiev on September 14.
Entering Kiev, Boleslav struck with a sword at the Golden Gate. The result of this "feat" turned out to be quite predictable - the gate was not damaged, but a notch appeared on the sword. The sword received the proud name "Shcherbets" and has since been used in the coronation of Polish kings.
The sword of the Polish kings "Shcherbets"
In gratitude for the help provided, Svyatopolk gave his father-in-law "Cherven Grady" - Przemysl, Cherven and other cities on the left bank of the Western Bug, annexed to Russia in 981. In addition, Boleslav took out the Kiev treasury and drove away numerous full (about a thousand people), including Yaroslav's sister Predslava, whom he made his concubine.
From the point of view of Polish interests, Boleslav acted quite logically. The daughter's husband was elevated to the Kiev throne, but a strong eastern neighbor remains split: Svyatopolk rules in Kiev, Yaroslav holds Novgorod. But there is also their brother Mstislav, who reigns in Tmutarakan, but may well intervene in the struggle for power over Russia (which he did several years later), and their nephew Bryachislav Izyaslavich, who ruled the Polotsk principality. It seemed that Poland's eastern neighbors would face a long and bloody civil strife.
Unfortunately for Boleslav, these calculations did not come true. Svyatopolk could not resist without Polish support.
The very next year, Yaroslav the Wise, with the help of the Novgorodians, managed to return to Kiev. In 1019, at the battle on the Alta River, Svyatopolk was finally defeated. In 1021, Yaroslav made peace with Bryachislav, having previously defeated the latter in the battle on the Sudom River. Mstislav turned out to be a much more dangerous enemy, to whom Yaroslav lost the Battle of Listvitsa in 1023. However, Mstislav did not lay claim to the Kiev reign. As a result, the brothers made peace, dividing the Russian lands among themselves: the regions on the eastern side of the Dnieper went to Mstislav, and on the western side to Yaroslav.
Meanwhile, Boleslav I for many years unsuccessfully sought the royal title from the Pope and the German Emperor, but without waiting for official recognition, in 1025 he arbitrarily proclaimed himself king. However, the Polish monarch did not have to enjoy the high status for a long time - in the same year Boleslav died. The crown was inherited by his middle son Mieszko II. Expelled by the new Polish king, the elder brother Besprim and the younger Otto found refuge in Russia.
During his long reign, the warlike Boleslav managed to spoil relations with all neighbors. Continuing this policy, his son began a war against the German Empire in 1028, devastating the Saxon lands and taking away a large number of prisoners. In 1030 Mieszko again invaded the border imperial areas.
However, here Yaroslav intervened. In 1030, the Kiev prince recaptured the city of Belz in Volyn from the Poles. And the next year, a joint Russian-German strike took place. German Emperor Konrad II moved to Poland from the west, Yaroslav the Wise, together with his brother Mstislav - from the east. The brothers Meshko II, Besprim and Otton were also under the Russian princes.
As a result, Yaroslav returned the Cherven land under the rule of Kiev, the Russian troops drove away numerous full. The captured Poles were settled by Yaroslav on the Ros River. Mieszko II hastened to conclude peace with Germany, having ceded part of Lusatia to her, and then fled to Bohemia, which, taking advantage of the favorable situation, also took part in the partition of Poland, annexing Moravia, and later Silesia.
“So, the early feudal monarchy of Boleslav the Brave, which stepped far beyond the ethnographically Polish lands, turned out to be a rather ephemeral and short-lived formation. Taking advantage of the internal weakening of the Old Polish state, the Czech Republic and Russia easily regained the lands seized by the Polish feudal lords - Moravia and Cherven cities. In this case (1031) they opposed Poland as allies, coordinating their actions with the Empire. "
This episode from a thousand years ago could become one of the "pearls" of the collection "Grave sins committed by the name of Russia in relation to Poland" for which we must relentlessly repent. "Russian-German conspiracy", "stab in the back", "partition of Poland" - neither give nor take the "Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact" in the medieval version. Alas, the poor-minded and ignorant Russian liberal intelligentsia, who do not know the history of their country, are simply unaware of this "crime."
Erected with Russian and German help to the Polish throne, Besprim did not rule for long, and already in the next 1032 he was killed by conspirators. Mieszko II regained power, but was forced to give up the royal title, becoming just a prince. In 1034 he was also killed.
A time of turmoil has come in Poland. In 1037-1038, the country was shaken by a massive anti-feudal peasant uprising. Relying on the people's militia, the Pomeranian and Mazovian nobility managed to achieve the complete separation of Pomorie and Mazovia. The Czech prince Brzhetislav, who made a devastating campaign against Poland in 1038, hastened to take advantage of the situation.
In this situation, the son of Meshko II Kazimir turned for help first to Germany, and then to Russia. The union with the Kiev prince was sealed in 1039 by the marriage of Casimir to the sister of Yaroslav the Wise, Maria Dobronega. The date of birth of Dobronega is unknown, but since she is the daughter of Prince Vladimir, this happened no later than 1015, that is, at the time of the wedding, she was at least 24 years old. By the standards of that time, Yaroslav's sister was considered overdone, and besides, she was older than her husband. However, the Polish prince, who badly needed Russian help, was hardly worried about such trifles.
In connection with the marriage, Casimir returned 800 Russian prisoners from those stolen in 1018 by Boleslav I. According to the peace treaty with Yaroslav, the Cherven land, as well as Belz and Berestye, retreated to Russia.
Soon the Russian-Polish alliance was reinforced by another dynastic marriage: the second son of Yaroslav Izyaslav married Casimir's sister Gertrude. Apparently, this happened in 1043.
Fulfilling an allied duty, Yaroslav made a series of campaigns against Mazovia. The number of these campaigns - two (1041 and 1047), three (1041, 1043 and 1047) or four (1039, 1041, 1043 and 1047) - historians have not come to an agreement, but their result is known - Mazovian Prince Moislav was killed, and Mazovia was returned to the rule of Poland.
After the death of Yaroslav the Wise in 1054, the eldest of his surviving sons, Izyaslav, began to rule in Kiev. However, in 1068 he was overthrown by the rebellious Kievites. The Polotsk prince Vseslav, freed by them from prison, became the prince of Kiev. Izyaslav fled to Poland, where by that time Boleslav II, the son of Casimir by Maria Dobronega, ruled. Boleslav did not leave a relative without help, personally setting out with an army on a campaign against Kiev. Vseslav dodged the battle and fled. On May 2, 1069, Izyaslav again took the Kiev throne. Unlike in 1018, these events did not lead to territorial concessions to Poland.
In 1073, Izyaslav was again expelled from Kiev, now by his own brothers Svyatoslav and Vsevolod. Deprived of his power, the prince fled to Poland again. However, this time the Polish relative, in the language of modern "effective managers", "threw" Izyaslav - taking money from the fugitive prince, refused to help and ordered to leave his country.
As Pope Gregory VII complained about this in a letter to Boleslav II dated April 20, 1075: “By illegally appropriating the treasury of the Russian prince, you violated Christian virtue. I pray and conjure you in the name of God to give him everything that you or your people have taken, for the disobedient will not enter the kingdom of heaven if they do not return the stolen one ” .
Papal concern is quite understandable, given that Izyaslav promised to make Kievan Rus a vassal of the Roman throne in the event of his return to power.
However, Boleslav did not heed the call, and there was a good reason for this. By that time, he had already managed to conclude an agreement with Svyatoslav. In 1076, Russian troops, led by Svyatoslav's son Oleg and Vsevolod's son Vladimir Monomakh, helped the Poles in the war against the Czech prince Vratislav II.
The situation changed after the death of Svyatoslav on December 27, 1076. Immediately remembering about "Christian virtue", Boleslav set off on a campaign against Russia. However, the Polish troops did not reach Kiev. Izyaslav and Vsevolod managed to agree amicably, after which on July 15, 1077, Izyaslav took the Kiev throne for the third time.
Gradually, both countries plunged deeper and deeper into feudal fragmentation. In Russia, these processes began after the death of Yaroslav the Wise, in Poland - from the early 1080s, and especially after the death in 1138 of Boleslav III Wrymouth.
Russian and Polish princes willingly entered into alliances, backing them up with dynastic marriages. So, in 1103, the Kiev prince Svyatopolk Izyaslavich gave his daughter Sbyslav to the 17-year-old Polish prince Boleslav III Crooked-mouth who had just ascended the throne. Since the bride and groom were blood relatives to each other, the Bishop of Krakow Baldwin procured a special permission from Pope Paschal II in Rome, citing the need for "This marriage for the homeland".
The need was indeed present, since Boleslav III was at that time in a stubborn struggle for power with his older brother Zbigniew and desperately needed allies. In 1106 he “ with great haste he gathered his army and sent ambassadors to the Russian king [Svyatopolk] and the Hungarians for help. And if he could not do anything on his own and with their help, then by his delay he would have ruined the kingdom itself, and all hope for its restoration "... Despite the threat from the Polovtsy, Svyatopolk Izyaslavich sent an army to the aid of his son-in-law, led by his son Yaroslav.
After the death of Boleslav III, his son from Sbyslava Svyatopolkovna Vladislav II entered into an alliance with the Kiev prince Vsevolod Olgovich, sealed in 1141 by the marriage of the son of Vladislav II Boleslav Vysoky to Vsevolod's daughter Zvenislav.
The allies repeatedly came to each other's aid. So, in 1140, Vladislav II made a campaign against Volhynia against the enemies of Vsevolod. In 1142 he himself received Russian help against his brothers, the Mazovian prince Boleslav IV and the Great Poland prince Mieszko III. In 1144, Vladislav's army took part in Vsevolod's campaign against Galich.
In 1145, at the congress of Russian princes in Kiev, at the suggestion of Vsevolod, it was decided to help Vladislav in the fight against his brothers. The troops of Igor Olgovich, Svyatoslav Olgovich, as well as the Volyn army went on a campaign. As a result, the brothers of Vladislav were “forced into peace” and ceded four cities to him. As payment for their help, the Russians received the city of Vizna, and also hijacked a large number.
As you know, at this time there was a final break between Orthodoxy and Catholicism: in 1054 the Pope and the Patriarch of Constantinople anathematized each other. Naturally, all these Russian-Polish unions displeased the Orthodox clergy.
“Who is the daughter of a faithful prince to marry in another country, where unleavened bread is served ‹…› Unworthily, evil and unseemly for the faithful ", - wrote the Metropolitan of Kiev John II in the 1080s. Several decades later, in a lecture on the Christian and Latin Faith addressed to the Kiev prince Izyaslav Mstislavich, the Kiev-Pechora abbot Theodosius the Greek categorically demanded not to marry his daughters to Catholics and not to marry Catholics.
However, despite the efforts of the church hierarchs to quarrel kindred peoples, the Russian and Polish princes continued to willingly become related. So, the youngest son of Boleslav III, Casimir II the Just, who became the ruler of Poland in 1177, was married (since 1163) to the daughter of the Kiev prince Rostislav Mstislavich Elena. In 1178 he himself married his daughter to Vsevolod Svyatoslavich Chermny, the son of the Kiev prince Svyatoslav Vsevolodovich.
Close ties were observed not only at the princely level. So, among the Russian governors in the 60s – 70s of the XII century, we meet the Pole Vladislav Vratislavich.
Such were Russian-Polish relations in pre-Mongol times.
Russia and Poland. Two peoples, close in blood and language. There are many Poles who served our country with dignity, and just good people. However, it so happened that for a long time of its existence, the Polish state was most often hostile to the Russian.
This is not very surprising. As world history testifies, conflicts between neighboring peoples can easily last for centuries. It is not so easy to figure out who is right in such a dispute, on whose side the historical truth is. The history of Russian-Polish relations is the subject of Igor Pykhalov's book.
Another thing is surprising. In this confrontation, the sympathies of the Russian "educated" public invariably turn out to be on the side of the western neighbor. If Poland unleashed a war against Russia and seized territory from it, this is normal. Its right to own what it captured is indisputable, and the fact of aggression is not at all condemned. If Russia suddenly rallied its strength and returned its own back, be it during the time of Catherine II or during the reign of Stalin, this is completely unacceptable. You have to repent for this, and the "victims" of the Russian occupiers, of course, have the right to revenge.
For more than two centuries now, a strange and incomprehensible inferiority complex has been intensively cultivated in our country. An offensive war, a war on foreign territory, a war as a result of which Russia receives any acquisitions, is considered something shameful, not corresponding to some lofty ideals. Ideals can be different. In tsarist times, they appealed to mercy and "Christian love for one's neighbor." At the time of Gorbachev, they referred to the "Leninist principles of foreign policy." Today "universal values" are in vogue.
Meanwhile, each state, each nation has its own interests, and others do not always like them. This is normal, and you shouldn't be ashamed of it.
Starting from the times of Kievan Rus, Igor Pykhalov goes step by step through the key moments of Russian-Polish relations up to the Second World War. Suddenly it turns out that we have nothing to be ashamed of.
Distinguished in the glorification of Polish nationalists and V. I. Lenin:
“While the masses of Russia and most of the Slavic countries were still sleeping deeply, while in these countries did not have independent, mass, democratic movements, gentry the liberation movement in Poland acquired a gigantic, paramount importance from the point of view of democracy, not only all-Russian, not only all-Slavic, but also all-European. "
In all fairness, it should be noted that, having headed Soviet Russia, Vladimir Ilyich radically changed his Polish policy. But another half century has passed, and now the magazine Continent, already published in Munich with CIA money, publishes an equally pretentious editorial:
“The first of September 1939 will forever remain in the history of mankind as the date of the beginning of the Second World War, and the 17th of the same month for the peoples of our country and Russia in particular is also the starting point of national guilt before the Polish people. On this day, two totalitarian regimes - East and West - with the cynical connivance of the free world, committed one of the gravest atrocities of the twentieth century - the Third robber and unjust Partition of the Polish state ...
Of course, the main responsibility for the evil done is borne by the political mafia, which at that time carried out a bloody dictatorship over the peoples of our country, but it is known: crimes are committed by people, the nation is responsible. Therefore, today, looking back into the past, we - Russian intellectuals, with a sense of bitterness and repentance, are obliged to take the blame for all the grave sins committed in the name of Russia towards Poland ...
But fully aware of our responsibility for the past, today we still proudly remember that throughout Poland's almost two-century struggle for freedom, the best people of Russia - from Herzen to Tolstoy - have always been on her side. "
As we can see, the ideas expressed by a handful of representatives of the small-town "Russian intelligentsia" who signed this opus (Iosif Brodsky, Andrei Volkonsky, Alexander Galich, Naum Korzhavin, Vladimir Maksimov, Viktor Nekrasov, Andrei Sinyavsky) and the croaking conscience of the nation that joined them in the person of Academician Sakharov as two drops of water are similar to the views of the leaders of the world proletariat. However, unlike Marx and Engels, who were not obliged to love Russia, these subjects were born and raised in a country, which was then long and diligently screwed up.
