Varifrank: Radek Sikorski: A personally shattering experience

Radek Sikorski: A personally shattering experience

"Polish defence minister, Radek Sikorsky showed this map at an emotional press conference. In a historic break with the past, Poland's newly elected government threw open its top secret Warsaw Pact military archives - including a 1979 map revealing the Soviet bloc's vision of a seven-day atomic holocaust between Nato and Warsaw Pact forces.

The map dates from a time when the balance of power was radically different from now. In Washington the vacillating Jimmy Carter was suffering a series of defeats - the Iranian revolution and the subsequent seizure of the United States embassy in Teheran. Britain was at a low ebb, racked by strikes, and just putting its faith in Margaret Thatcher.

The Kremlin, however, was stretching its muscles - preparing for its ill-fated takeover of Afghanistan.

The decision to unveil the Warsaw Pact documents is one of the first moves of Poland's new conservative government. Mr Sikorsky described it as an attempt to draw a line under the country's Communist past, and "educate" the Polish public about the old regime.

He did not deny that the opening of the archives will be seen as a provocation in Moscow. Russian-Polish relations have sharply deteriorated recently, amid rows over a planned oil pipeline, and Polish support for democratic revolutions in Russia's backyard, first in Ukraine, and now Belarus.

Mr Sikorsky, a former dissident who studied at Oxford University, said: "These are documents that are crucial for educating the public, and showing how Poland was kept as an unwilling ally of the Soviet Union. This government wants to end the post-Communist period.

"It's important for citizens to know who was a hero, and who was a villain. It is important for the civic health of society to make these things public."

I'll be spending some time this weekend with several posts in the area of "what might have been", but this piece is an example of two things. First, how rapidly history has been re-written by the left and second, the impact that the re-writing is having on our current world view.

Posted @ November 26, 2005 12:02 PM | Current Affairs

I'm curious as to which aspects of history you are thinking of when you link the re-writing of history and this news piece.
I'm not disputing that the re-write is always happening. I'm wondering if you are thinking of specific examples beyond the meme of "The USSR was never really a threat".

Seeing as I've been reminded of and discovered certain pieces of history from your writing, I was just wondering if (ok, I'm hoping) there is more to learn.

Posted by: Thomas at December 2, 2005 03:45 PM