Are Russian - Polish Relations Still Testy Even With Movement Towards Reconciliation On The Katyn Massacre?

Polish director Andrzej Wajda's Oscar-nominated film Katyn was recently premiered on Russia's Kultura TV channel Photograph: PR

Shadow Of Katyn Still Haunts Poland's Relations With Russia -- The Guardian

Death of Lech Kaczynski comes as Moscow and Warsaw try to move on from Katyn, but massacre remains a source of conflict.

The death of Lech Kaczynski in a plane crash on his way to Katyn came at a time when Poland and Russia were taking tentative steps to move on from what happened there 70 years ago. The facts are no longer in dispute: in April 1940 Soviet secret police executed more than 20,000 Poles in a forest in western Russia. The victims included military officers, policemen and intellectuals, shot on Stalin's orders. Between 5,000 and 6,000 perished in the village of Katyn, near the border with Belarus, with the rest shot at two other camps. For almost 50 years the Soviet Union insisted it was the Nazis who had committed the murders – with Poland's communist leaders colluding in the lie.

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My Comment: My father (before he past away) commented to me on this issue when I brought it up to him in the mid 1980s (give or take a year). His opinion is important because he had a unique perspective on what was happening during this time (he was there), as well as understanding the antagonisms between Poland and what was then the Soviet union. To begin ..... his paternal grandparents were from Poland (hence the reason why I have a Polish last name), but everyone else in our family is Russian. My father served in the Soviet Army during the Second World War, and was on the front lines when they liberated Poland from the Nazis. He knew about the Katyn massacre, but he also knew about the atrocities that Poland committed on Russian POWs. As far as he was concerned .... there are no angels in this dispute. Both sides acted horribly, and as a result many people died.

But what was important to him was/is the need to move on. My father was a witness to the brutality and genocide that the Germans/Nazis committed during the Second World War .... but in the end he decided that instead of hating them it would be best to move on .... and move on he did. In regards to the Katyn massacre, he remarked to me 25 years ago that there will be a day of reconciliation and atonement for what had happened. My father is not alive today, but he would be praising Russian Prime Minister Putin's attempt to move on .... and my father would be telling the Poles to embrace it and to also move on.

The Poles experienced a political disaster two days ago when their President and many of their senior officials were killed in a plane crash. Russian PM Putin's commitment to find and disclose the truth of what has happened is a position that the Poles should embrace .... and I know that they will. Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin (R) embrace of his Polish counterpart Donald Tusk was also genuine .... and Polish PM Donald Tusk response was equally moving.

Russian - Polish history has not been a pretty one .... and in a strange way I am a product of that conflict. But even with this history I am proud to say that I am carrying my father's legacy .... I harbor no ill will or bad feelings towards any side .... the Katyn massacre was one of many many many massacres during this time .... but times have changed, and it is time that while we will always remember our history, we should also move on and face the future.