Soviet war monuments in Poland/Estonia

How do you look at your soviet war monuments in Poland?

so after all Sovets were "lesser evil

that's absolutely not true Grzegorz, I'd say Russians were more evil

Germans were trying to exterminate poles/jews. If i remember correctly, poles were to be worked to death by 1975.

Russians were just suppressing poles/jews, they did not have an extermination policy. Therefore they were "less evil."

Germans were trying to exterminate poles/jews. If i remember correctly, poles were to be worked to death by 1975. Russians were just suppressing poles/jews, they did not have an extermination policy. Therefore they were "less evil."

"In 1939, during the Russian invasion of Poland, some 14,500 Polish officers were captured and interned in three P.O.W. camps in the Soviet Union. The next time the world heard of these prisoners was a news broadcast on April 13, 1943, from Radio Berlin. It stated that the German Army had discovered mass graves at Katyn, 18 kilometres north-west of Smolensk, near the village of Gneizdovo and containing the bodies of Polish officers. Eight graves were opened and 4,253 bodies exhumed. All were dressed in Polish uniforms, with badges of rank and medals intact. No watches or rings were found on the corpses. It was established that the bodies were of Polish officers from the camp at Kozielsk, situated in the grounds of a former Monastery, near Orel. Two other camps, at Starobielsk (3,910 men) and at Ostashkov (6,500 men) were wound up and closed in the first days of April, 1940. Whatever happened to these 10,000 odd officers has never been established. They were never seen alive again. From evidence obtained after the war, all prisoners of Kozielsk camp were shot by Stalin's NKVD.
On April 13, 1990, fifty years after the massacre, the USSR for the first time admitted its responsibility for the murders."

Estonia tried to implement a policy that Russians had to learn Estonian (and pass exams) to gain Estonian (EU) citizenship

What next chuck out anyone who can't speak the host country's language, If the Uk did that we would say goodbye to a lot of Polish People!

And yes in the Uk you can get citizenship without speaking English - whether thats right or wrong, i'm not sure.

The Russians living in Estonia are in a difficult situation. They have lived there for generations. I dont think they are entitled to Russian passports.

Don't forget that 25% of Estonias population is Russian.
There has been growing unease between the two communities in recent years. Estonia tried to implement a policy that Russians had to learn Estonian (and pass exams) to gain Estonian (EU) citizenship - unlike Latvia.
In my experience, Estonians and Russians seem to co-exist quite happily.
I remember being surprised on my first vivits to Poland that there are no reminders of Soviet influence. In fact my wife said that through the years of communism it was quite possible to never see any Russians at all.
I had assumed that there must have been ruskies on every corner keeping control. But it seems that it was Polish security and Police enforcing communist rule - is this a fair comment?

I understand why the Estonians don't like the Russians (My mother is from Karelia in Eastern Finland, so I know what Russians are capable of!)

Don't forget that 25% of Estonias population is Russian.
There has been growing unease between the two communities in recent years. Estonia tried to implement a policy that Russians had to learn Estonian (and pass exams) to gain Estonian (EU) citizenship - unlike Latvia.
In my experience, Estonians and Russians seem to co-exist quite happily.
I remember being surprised on my first vivits to Poland that there are no reminders of Soviet influence. In fact my wife said that through the years of communism it was quite possible to never see any Russians at all.
I had assumed that there must have been ruskies on every corner keeping control. But "it seems that it was Polish security and Police enforcing communist rule - is this a fair comment?

And yes in the Uk you can get citizenship without speaking English - whether thats right or wrong, i'm not sure

But it seems that it was Polish security and Police enforcing communist rule - is this a fair comment?

Sure there were some Estonian nazi units - doesn't mean that all estonians were nazis

Quoting: jan72
Sure there were some Estonian nazi units - doesn't mean that all estonians were nazis


Estonians formed SS units - we Poles did not.

On the first anniversary of the German capture of Tallinn, the Estonian capitol, the formation of an Estonian legion under the name of Estnische SS-Legion, a formation of three battalions, was initiated. The formation was to be placed under the control of Heinrich Himmler's Waffen-SS.

Estonians formed SS units

We were on the Soviet side.

Here are some of the facts:

Estonia tried to implement a policy that Russians had to learn Estonian (and pass exams) to gain Estonian (EU) citizenship

Yes this is right but Estonians on the whole were not Nazist. There was anti-German resistance even if it wasn´t as strong as anti-Soviet.

I'm glad they've done the right thing.

Quoting: Crow
I'm glad they've done the right thing.


For me this is **** not the right thing.