In the Borovichsky district of the Novgorod region, unknown individuals demolished memorials to Polish and other foreign prisoners of war who were held in an NKVD camp in the village of Egla in the 1940s.
The deceased prisoners were buried in 177 mass graves at the local cemetery. According to camp records, 465 people are buried there, including 306 Germans, 96 Poles, 32 Austrians, 30 Hungarians.
Near the cemetery, there was a memorial complex dedicated to the Polish prisoners of the camp, which was destroyed by unknown perpetrators. The plaques «In Memory of the Poles» and a cross have disappeared. Witnesses reported that several people arrived in a truck to take part in the demolition.
Local officials stated that a report had been filed with the police. However, according to residents, such an act could not have happened without the authorities’ approval.
The Polish Embassy in Moscow reminded that more than 600 Polish soldiers deported to the USSR in 1944–1945 were killed in the camp.
«It is hard not to notice that the destruction of the memorial complex almost coincided with the announcement by the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs regarding the closure of the Polish Consulate General in St. Petersburg. In every religion, cemeteries are sacred, inviolable places. Maria Zakharova, is this the ‘painful response’ you spoke of after the closure of the Russian consulate in Poznan?» the Polish diplomatic mission stated.
According to local residents, the destruction was not limited to Egla. In Ust-Brynkino, a memorial to German prisoners of war was demolished, and in the Bobrovskie mountains, two more monuments—to Hungarian prisoners and interned Poles—were also destroyed.
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