Shouting "Soviets go home" and "Down with communism," Poles staged legal rallies and demonstrations in several major cities marking the 50th anniversary of the Soviet invasion of Poland.
In the capital, some 1,000 people attended a ceremony Sunday at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier at which speakers and veterans of World War II hailed the bravery of Polish fighters against the Soviets.The demonstrations marked the first time Polish citizens have been allowed to publicly commemorate the World War II invasion by Moscow.
In the northwestern seaport of Szczecin, 13,000 people congregated in two peaceful rallies.
Elsewhere, flowers were laid on the tombs of victims executed for their political views and on the symbolic tomb of Polish officers in Powazki Cemetery in Warsaw. Some 15,000 Polish officers disappeared and are believed to have been executed in the Soviet Union during the war.
As part of a non-aggression pact between Adolf Hitler and Josef Stalin, the Soviet Union attacked Poland from the East with more than 1 million troops on Sept. 17, 1939, 17 days after Hitler unleashed World War II with Germany's attack on Poland. In June 1941, Germany turned on Moscow, and the Soviet Union eventually teamed up with the victorious allies.
Previously, the events had been ignored or the details falsified because the communist leaderships in both countries denied historical fact and refused to admit that one "fraternal ally" had attacked another.