Polish President Andrzej Duda will not take part in Israel's commemoration of the 75th anniversary of the liberation of the Auschwitz death camp, which was located in Poland, and instead send his Israel ambassador to the event, the country's deputy foreign minister said at a briefing on Tuesday
WARSAW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 21st January, 2020) Polish President Andrzej Duda will not take part in Israel's commemoration of the 75th anniversary of the liberation of the Auschwitz death camp, which was located in Poland, and instead send his Israel ambassador to the event, the country's deputy foreign minister said at a briefing on Tuesday.
Jerusalem is gearing up to host the largest World Holocaust Forum, which will be attended by as many as 45 heads of state and other leaders. The presidents of Russia, Germany, Israel and France are among the world leaders who will deliver speeches. According to Minister Szymon Szynkowski vel Sek, Duda's main protestation is not being listed among the speakers, so Poland will be represented at the ambassadorial level instead.
"In this situation, the president of Poland has decided not to accept the invitation [to take part in the World Holocaust Forum]; Poland will be represented by Ambassador Marek Magerowski," the deputy foreign minister said.
The decision comes amid a growing rift between Poland and Moscow over the legacy of the Second World War. Szynkowski vel Sek has accused the Russian leadership of planning to "promote their version of history" at the high-profile forum in Jerusalem. He also said that Warsaw had been waging a campaign to equate Soviet liberators with Nazi Germany, arguing that both sides were responsible of unspeakable atrocities during the war.
In December, Russian President Vladimir Putin stated that Russian military archives contained documented proof of extensive Polish collaboration with Nazi soldiers throughout the war.
As the nation-successor of the Soviet Union, the liberator of Auschwitz and the main player in defeating Nazi Germany, Russia and Putin in particular are likely to take center stage at the commemoration. The liberation of the Nazi death camp in occupied Poland on January 23, 1945 was a harbinger of the eventual taking of Berlin, which Russia plans to commemorate in a grand ceremony on May 9.
Auschwitz was the epicenter of Nazi Germany's project to eliminate Jewish people and other minorities, with the camp alone responsible for over one million deaths. Six million Jews are said to have perished in the events of the Holocaust.
