How Poles idealize their exiled ancestors and vilify Tsarist Russia

2024 Author: Seth Attwood | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 15:55

The diaspora policy of Poland in relation to ethnic Poles in the former USSR is the desire to nurture in them a resentment and anger towards Russia. As a derivative of this, to whip up protest moods in them, to form a pro-Western liberal stratum.

In the eyes of Polish diplomats, the ideal ethnic Pole in Russia is a pointless screw in the hands of Navalny; in Belarus - a no-brainer participant in anti-Lukashenka actions; in Ukraine - the same senseless fanatic of "Euromaidan".

Warsaw needs ethnic Poles in the former USSR only in two qualities: as an anti-government element and as potential immigrants to Poland, which is struggling with demographic problems.

Over the past fifteen years, Poland has not slowed down its pace in researching the history of exiled Poles in Siberia during tsarist times. It is noteworthy that Siberia for the Poles in Poland is not a geographical concept. Siberia is the sum of the suffering suffered by the Poles in their struggle for independence. This is the official version.

All exiled Poles are called Siberians in Poland, even if they were exiled to Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan or somewhere near Kostroma. All who were in tsarist exile were Siberians. And Warsaw undertook to revive and cherish the memory of them not only in Poland, but also in the Polish diaspora in Russia.

For God's sake, everyone has the right to honor the memory of their ancestors. But closer observation reveals one psycho-ideological feature of such a cult: in the Polish media and publications of the Polish diaspora in Russia, materials by Russian authors with Polish roots increasingly appear, overly idealizing their exiled ancestors and overly exaggerating colors in the image of tsarist Russia.

The realities of that era in exiled Siberia differed from the pictures painted by Polish propaganda. The Polish exiles took a long and painful way to the place of exile (some were in shackles, since the exiled Polish criminals walked along with the political ones), where cold and winter reigned for 6-8 months a year. It's true. But it is not true that the tsarist government did nothing but rot the Poles in the Siberian mines.

Vice versa, many Poles were in a privileged position … Among the Polish convicts there were many gentry, and they easily found a common language with the Russian nobles. Some even became owners of private enterprises or mines and refused to return to Poland. Poles often entered the houses of the local aristocracy, worked as teachers of French, Latin, German for the children of nobles, for which they received a table and shelter.

Poles were often hired as doctors, small and medium-sized officials, etc. Poles opened their own shops, some were allowed to live in spacious huts and have servants. Even Polish historians admit this.

It's funny to read articles in Polish editions about the cruel torments of some gentry in harsh Siberia, and immediately see a photograph of his Siberian house, in which he endured these sufferings: a good-quality hut in several rooms, albeit not luxuriant, but not a poor setting. Most of the Russian Siberians lived in much worse conditions!

But Russian authors from the Polish diaspora practically do not write about this. But they sing praises to the exiled Poles, completely ignoring the historical context of that era. The tsarist government exiled Poles to Siberia not for innocent pranks, but for participating in the "Euromaidans" of that time … And these "Euromaidans" were accompanied by the same things that accompanied the "Euromaidans" in Ukraine - murders, robberies, violence.

Dreaming of capturing all of Western Russia (Belarus and Little Russia) in order to build the Rzeczpospolita "from sea to sea", the Polish rebels perpetrated terrible atrocities in the territories under their control.

The killing of Orthodox priests was commonplace. Execution of "enemies of the people"(yes, this term was already used by the Polish rebels, long before Stalin) by hanging or shot from around the corner - too.

If the Poles wanted the revival of the Polish state within its ethnic borders, their aspirations might have found more understanding both in the echelons of power and among Russian subjects. But The rebels were eager to rule in the area from the Baltic to the Black Sea!AND ended up in Siberiafor their misdeeds.

“Tobolsk is covered with snow. Siberian night spreads in darkness. And in the church there are organ sounds, and Poles are sleeping in the cemetery. You stood as one army for the freedom of the Polish fatherland. From various classes of the army, you in Siberia have become like brothers. " This is "The Ballad of Exiled Poles" by a Russian author from the Polish diaspora, published in the Russian-language version of the "New Poland" magazine. The Polish media are fond of such works.

Will the author have the courage to devote a poem to the victims of this "one rati"? Orthodox priests, peasants, soldiers killed by the rebels? Poles killed by rebels for refusing to join the rebellion? Or to the kind Russian people who forgave everything to the exiled Poles and extended a helping hand, remembering mutual assistance - a characteristic feature of the Siberian character?

The exiles themselves wrote about the help of the Siberians. Some admitted that without this help they might not have survived.

Russia has given so much to Russian Poles … There is no such abundance of Russian cultural organizations in Poland as there are Polish ones in Russia. In Poland, monuments to the Red Army are being demolished, and in Russia, the Polish diaspora is throwing memorial stones in full at Polish cemeteries. Because Polish Russophobia makes itself felt. Russians do not have polonophobia. There is only a misunderstanding Why should the Poles in Poland and the Poles in Russia cultivate hostility towards Russia and the Russians and give birth to new claims against them?