Letter from Poland.

After seeing the riots before the Euro2012 football game between Russia and Poland (1-1) on tuesday I was simply wondering: “where does all this hostility between these nations come from?” I knew it had to do with the former Soviet Union but the BBC that night did a great job of explaining us that both nations indeed had a controversial history with each other. Russia annexed most of Poland in the 19th Century and ruled it for more than 100 years. The Soviet Union dominated it during World War II and during the Cold War. The Euro2012 game itself was also played on Russia Day. This day marks Russia’s declaration of sovereignty in 1990. A key episode in the demise of the Soviet Union. Polish media highlighted fears during match day that some Russian fans may carry Soviet flags and symbols. A highly sensitive issue for the many Poles who deplored communist rule. I wasn’t satisfied enough and asked my Polish colleague Tommy Zee at work for more. He referred me, weirdly enough, to a 2010 Dutch TV Documentary called A letter from Poland. The documentary deals about the Polish Air Force Tu-154 plane crash. The 2010 Polish Air Force Tu-154 crash occurred on 10 April 2010, when a Tupolev Tu-154M aircraft of the Polish Air Force crashed near the city of Smolensk, Russia, killing all 96 people on board. These included the Polish president Lech Kaczyński and his wife, former president Ryszard Kaczorowski and other senior military officers and relatives of victims of the Katyn massacre. They were en route from Warsaw to attend an event marking the 70th anniversary of the massacre. The Katyn massacre was a mass execution of Polish nationals carried out by the People’s Commissariat for Internal Affairs (NKVD), the Soviet secret police, in April and May 1940. The massacre was prompted by the chief of the Soviet security and secret police apparatus Lavrentiy Beria’s proposal to execute all members of the Polish Officer Corps, dated 5 March 1940. This official document was approved and signed by the Soviet Politburo, including its leader, Joseph Stalin. The number of victims is estimated at about 22,000. Click here for a documentary about the massacre. Till today the Polish population believes that the Russian secret police is behind the plane crash. Enough I think for the Polish people to still have some grudge against the Russian regime I would say…. Over and Out.