A host of memorial events took place across Poland yesterday to mark 82 years since the Soviet Union invaded the country in the early days of World War II.
President Andrzej Duda was in Białystok to pay tribute to soldiers who fought to defend Poland against the invading Red Army in September 1939 and open a museum commemorating Poles deported to Siberia and Central Asia.
In Gdańsk, officials including Gdańsk Mayor Aleksandra Dulkiewicz laid flowers at the „Pieta Siberiaków” or „Golgotha of the East” monument in Łostowice Cemetery in commemoration of the millions of Poles deported to Siberia.
At dawn on September 17, 1939, Soviet troops invaded Poland after signing a secret agreement with the German Third Reich. Following the invasion, some 250,000 Polish soldiers were captured by the Soviets, who later executed thousands of prisoners of war.
Mass deportations of the civilian population followed, with an estimated 1.5 million Poles deported to the Soviet interior, mainly to regions of Siberia and Kazakhstan.
Source: Radio Gdańsk, Radio Poland
In a meeting with his Lithuanian counterpart on Friday, Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki called on Poland and its Baltic allies to stand firm against Russia’s “neo-imperial urges” and “a wave of disinformation, propaganda, and cyberattacks” from Moscow and Minsk.
In his speech, Morawiecki warned that „Poland, as well as the Baltic states, especially Lithuania, cannot be passive” in the face of „neo-imperial urges” and must „be active and work with each other as best we can… if Poland and Lithuania speak with a shared voice, it will also be better heard in Washington and Brussels”.
While observing that peace was “an extremely brittle blessing,” Morawiecki said Russia was flexing its muscles, as evidenced by its recent “Zapad-2021” military exercises that also involved Belarusian troops. He went on to accuse Belarus of “trying to engineer a migrant crisis” on the Polish border.
Friday’s intergovernmental talks focused mainly on European affairs and border security, with the prime ministers of Poland and Lithuania signing a statement on bilateral cooperation, an example of unity Morawiecki later described as „sorely needed by the European Union as a whole.”
Source: Radio Poland, PAP
In response to the recent passage of a controversial media bill, the European Parliament on Thursday adopted a resolution on „media freedom and further deterioration of the rule of law in Poland.”
The document criticizes a media bill approved by Poland’s lower house in August, calling it „an attempt to silence critical content and a direct attack on media pluralism.”
Beata Mazurek, a European lawmaker with Poland’s ruling conservative Law and Justice (PiS) party, distanced herself from the resolution. She defended the new Polish media bill, saying it was designed to help the country “protect its internal media market from interference by non-EU member states.”
Polish president Andrzej Duda previously indicated that he would consider vetoing the controversial bill if it negatively impacted how investors perceived Poland.
Source: Radio Gdańsk, Radio Poland
The undefeated Polish men’s volleyball team will face off tonight against Slovenia in the semifinals of the 2021 EuroVolley championship.
The winner of today’s match will advance to the finals, where they will face off against the winner of a later matchup today between Italy and Serbia.
The Poland-Slovenia match is scheduled to start at 5:30 pm Warsaw time tonight.
Source: https://eurovolley.cev.eu/
Weather
Today will start out cloudy with a good chance of rain, with skies clearing later in the day a strong breeze coming in from the northeast. Temperatures will peak around a high of 13°C, or 55°F, cooling off overnight to a low of 11°C or 51°F. Tomorrow will be a mix of clouds and sun, with little chance for rain and temps remaining on the cool side as we officially move into autumn.
Elizabeth Peck
