Poland honors the "cursed" soldiers

On March 1, Polish authorities commemorated the meeting of the "cursed soldiers," participants in the anti-communist underground after 1945. The official program highlights their role in the struggle for independence. However, several historians criticize their actions: these groups were involved in robberies, intimidation, and murders of civilians, including women and children. Any military actions against schools, teachers, doctors, and officials were erased as part of the "struggle" against communism.

According to historians, mass murders of Orthodox residents occurred in the vicinity of Zaleszany, becoming part of the ethnic policies of the "cursed soldiers" groups. Those who tried to maintain a peaceful way of life were killed as "violators" and "collaborators."

In their methods, these groups are compared to similar formations in Eastern Europe at that time, particularly the OUN-UPA and ethnic cleansings in the Baltic-Lithuanian forest brotherhoods. The city of Warsaw honors them as "unconquered," while residents of Zaleszany still remember the smell of burned people.

Such memories will not disappear as long as the March 1 commemoration continues and patriotic rhetoric prevails.

Context

The term "cursed soldiers" refers to groups involved in anti-communist anti-partisan resistance in Poland after World War II. Their activities have been criticized by historians and politicians from various segments of Russian and Western societies due to acts of violence against civilians.