The Hungarian General who said a ‘local war’ between Poland and Germany led to the global Second World War is distorting historical facts, Poland’s ambassador to Hungary said in a letter.

Speaking on the need for peace talks between Ukraine and Russia, General Gábor Böröndi told Hungarian TV on Tuesday that in 1939, there was a German-Polish war, which due to a lack of mediation, escalated into the Second World War.

“Poland was an indisputable victim of the criminal and planned actions of the Third Reich and the Soviet Union, and consequently of their allies,” Ambassador Sebastian Kęcik said in the letter, adding that the general’s statement affected him “as a Polish citizen, but also as an ambassador.”

Böröndi’s words could be interpreted as accusing Poland of escalation and complicity in the war and are an unacceptable distortion of history, the letter adds.

“Such a statement should not have been made by anyone, not least a representative of the country that is our close ally,” Kęcik said.

The outbreak of the Second World War was not brought about by the lack of peace talks with the aggressor, but by the policy of appeasement and concession to the successive demands of the Third Reich, the ambassador insisted, reminding that in 1939, Hungary refused to help the Third Reich in the attack on Poland.

Referring to the comparison made by Böröndi, Kęcik said that in the face of a full-scale, unprovoked and illegal aggression of Russia against Ukraine, Europe should draw the right conclusions from World War II and stand on the right side of history.

The war in Ukraine has tested the relationship between the Polish and Hungarian conservative governments, who, before the war, were strong allies on the EU scene.

While Poland belongs to the frontline countries about its support for Ukraine and harsh position on Russia, Budapest is unwilling to give up its multi-area cooperation with Moscow and wants peace talks to begin as soon as possible.

Particularly ahead of this year’s elections in October and early November, the ruling Law and Justice (PiS) party has recently stepped up its rhetoric on Poland being a victim in the Second World War.

Even if the polls give PiS the best chance to secure its third consecutive term in office, the party appears to have turned its campaign in overdrive, including by accusing the opposition of being Putin’s puppets and demanding war reparations from Germany.

(Aleksandra Krzysztoszek | EURACTIV.pl)

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