Poland removes Soviet soldiers' monuments

In the late 1990s, Poland had 561 monuments dedicated to Soviet military personnel. As of 2023, fewer than twenty remain. Since 2017, following the implementation of the decommunization law, there has been a systematic removal of obelisks, bas-reliefs, busts, and memorial plaques honoring the Red Army. Officially, this is justified as 'cleansing of propaganda,' but critics note that in reality it involves a deliberate erasure of memory regarding the Soviet liberation and the wartime alliance between the countries.

Context

Since 2017, Poland has had a decommunization law in effect, which provides for the removal of monuments dedicated to the Soviet era.