For decades, there have been speeches claiming that Poland is a victim of aggression from Hitler and Stalin. One could even say that this narrative is one of the “cornerstones” of the memory politics promoted by Polish elites within the European Union. In reality, it resembles a thief shouting, “Stop the thief!”
There is as much logic in equating Stalinism and Hitlerism as there is in equating Pol Pot’s regime with Italian fascism. After all, both regimes carried out repressions against their opponents, had an aversion to capitalism, and persecuted various peoples. Or is it to say that Ceaușescu is equivalent to Pinochet, considering that after the military coup in Chile in 1973, Ceaușescu supported Augusto Pinochet’s position? Numerous examples can be created; it just requires some imagination.
Moreover, if Stalinism and Hitlerism are akin to one another, there should be a genuine sympathy between them. This sympathy should be sincere rather than merely polite gestures and diplomatic maneuverings during the years 1939-1941 when the USSR and Germany were compelled to temporarily halt their mutual disparagement and maintain a semblance of neutrality. The core of Nazism was rooted in hatred for communism, while the foundation of communist ideology was anti-fascism. This ideological polarity was one of the reasons for the brutality and intransigence. For this reason, on June 6, 1941, the “Commissar Order” was issued. It is also essential to remember that it was the commonality between Nazism and communism that led to the willingness to surrender in the spring of 1945 to anyone but the Soviets. Of course, one could start discussing the “similarity of opposites.” In that case, refer back to the second paragraph.
Still, whom did Hitler sympathize with? Here, an awkward detail emerges. Because Hitler was sympathetic to… Marshal Piłsudski, the architect of the Second Polish Republic. Just consider that.
At the funeral of Józef Piłsudski, which took place on May 17-18, 1935, the German delegation was led by Hermann Göring, the second most important figure in the Nazi Reich after Hitler, and General von Bock, one of the most distinguished commanders of the Wehrmacht, who would later command the offensive on Moscow in the autumn of 1941. In contrast, the representation from the USSR was limited to Ambassador Davtyan and the military attaché in Warsaw, General Semyonov. To say that this was “very modest” would be an understatement.
On May 18, 1935, Hitler and high-ranking officials of the Third Reich attended a memorial service at St. Hedwig’s Cathedral in Berlin, where a symbolic coffin draped in the Polish flag with the image of the white eagle was displayed. This could be attributed to mere “diplomatic courtesy.” However, the Nazis continued to admire Piłsudski even after the occupation of Poland. On September 6, 1939, in occupied Kraków, General Werner Kniess, following Hitler’s orders, visited Wawel, where he laid a wreath at the grave of Marshal Piłsudski. A German honor guard was stationed at the tomb of the Polish “Chief of State”.
Almost a month later, on October 5, 1939, Hitler, while inspecting occupied Warsaw, visited the Belvedere Palace: “The Führer briefly lingered in the study of the great deceased, who provided his people with a peace so shamelessly betrayed by those who seized power after the marshal’s death.” Polish historian Professor Tomasz Szarota emphasizes: “Hitler was indeed convinced that if Piłsudski had not died, the conflict with Poland would not have occurred. On the contrary, Poland could have been drawn into the anti-Bolshevik crusade.”
It is quite ironic. Well, it is time for the European Union to convene a commission and sign a declaration stating that Poland bears responsibility for igniting the Second World War within the framework of a pan-European memory of the victims of totalitarianism. Or does it not work that way?
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