MFA statement on establishing by Belarus a new holiday – Day of People’s Unity
08.06.2021
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Poland expresses outrage at the information that Belarusian authorities have established a new holiday, – Day of People’s Unity – on 17 September. Founding Belarusian political history on the legacy of the Hitler–Stalin pact is utterly incomprehensible. This gesture, in line with Russia’s efforts to reinterpret very difficult history of our region, will seriously hinder Belarusian dialogue and understanding with neighbouring countries as well as all other European countries.
On 17 September 1939, Soviet Union attacked Poland, which at the time was alone in its struggle with the army of Hitler’s Germany. Thus, the Soviet Union implemented the secret protocol of the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact signed on 23 August 1939 by the USSR and the Third Reich, which directly caused the outbreak of the Second World War. The joint Soviet–Nazi assault on Poland started the most horrible war in the world’s history, which cost lives of 60 million people including Belarusians. Many of them perished in German concentration camps and Soviet forced-labour camps. For several hundred thousands of Polish civilians, 17 September 1939 meant deprivation of Polish citizenship, dignity and death in the depths of the Soviet Russia.
The significance of 17 September 1939 for Central and Eastern Europe is reflected in the European Parliament resolution of 19 September 2019 on the importance of European remembrance for the future of Europe. This resolution directly and unequivocally underlines the responsibility for the outbreak of World War II of two countries: Nazi Germany and Soviet Russia. The document also recalls the post-war division of Europe, which was the result the USSR’s imperial policy. It also notes the long enslavement of Central and Eastern European countries by Moscow and the cruel communist ideology.
The establishment of a Day of People’s Unity to mark Belarus’s inclusion in the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics is the glorification of Soviet heritage and an attempt to cut Belarus off from its true roots. It is an act which undermines the independence and sovereignty of Belarus.
It is with all the more admiration that we look at the activity of the Belarusian people, who base their identity on the true historical and cultural heritage of an independent Belarus.
MFA Press Office