The press conference of the IPN President Karol Nawrocki, Ph.D, on the decommunization of public space, took place in Olsztyn on the square in front of the so called “Monument to the Liberation of the Warmian-Masurian Land”.
The meeting was attended by: Olga Semeniuk-Patkowska who is Secretary of State of the Ministry of Development and Technology, the Warmian-Masurian Voivode Artur Chojecki and the management of the Institute of National Remembrance. This event was organized as part of the information and educational campaign, "Scare in the City".
Since the beginning of July 2023, this information campaign of "Scare in the City" has been conducted by the IPN in Olsztyn, concerning the “irritating” communist monument located in the city center.
This monument was unveiled in 1954 as a symbol of Gratitude to the Red Army. However, in fact it is a communist propaganda object. It dilutes history and tries to convince the inhabitants of Olsztyn, as well as people visiting this city, that the occupation by the Soviets was a "glorious liberation", and not what it really was – a series of terror and crime.
The President of the Institute of National Remembrance began his speech during the press conference with a shocking quote from the memories of one of the residents of the Masurian District : “With my eyes I saw horrific things along the way. Elderly women raped by the Russians not only in one place, but everywhere. I saw a 19-year-old girl raped by 13 Russians and finally torn apart. It was terrible, sometimes I would have preferred not to be born.” This is how a woman recalled the moment of the Red Army troops entering in 1945.
Regardless of what source we look at, whether it is the notes of a Red Army officer, an account of a victim, or documents of the Polish administration of Warmia and Masuria in 1945, one image emerges. An image of this area that was not liberated, but enslaved by the Red Army, a hostile totalitarian system.
This object of communist propaganda has been here too long and it does not refer to truthful historical events. There was no liberation of Olsztyn, rather, a hostile takeover. The construction of this statue was a decision of the central communist authorities, a great misleading lie, said the IPN President during the conference.
According to a research carried out by the IPN, already 49% of respondents are in favor of removing the object. Karol Nawrocki, Ph.D., is appealing to the residents of the city to support the removal of the monument from public space.
Artur Chojecki, the Warmian-Masurian Voivode, explained why the monument is still there and he promised actions:
I issued a decision at the beginning of this year to plead the Mayor of Olsztyn to remove the monument as soon as possible [...] The Mayor once again suspended the procedure for issuing a permit to demolish the monument [...]I will eventually take action on behalf of the Mayor of Olsztyn, so that the communist symbol will no longer be in the public space – declared the voivode of Warmia and Masuria.