Poland's top diplomat has reacted with outrage to Russian President Vladimir Putin's claim that Nazi leader Adolf Hitler was "forced" to initiate World War II with the 1939 invasion of Poland.
During Putin's controversial interview with conservative U.S. pundit Tucker Carlson, which was released online Thursday, the Russian president argued that Poland was to blame for Hitler's decision to invade, claiming the Warsaw "went too far" by balking at the annexation of part of its territory.
Polish Foreign Minister Radosław Sikorski suggested in a post to X, formerly Twitter, on Friday that Putin was "paranoid" and called it "shocking" that Carlson "enabled" the Russian president by giving him a platform to spread his false claims and rhetoric.
Sikorski said that it was "not the first time" that "dictator" Putin had made the claim about World War II, while also noting that Hitler was joined in invading Poland by the Soviet Union, which was an ally to Nazi Germany for nearly the first two years of the war.
"It's not the first time the Russian dictator V. Putin blames [Poland], invaded by the USSR on 17.09.1939, for the outbreak of the #WWII," Sikorski wrote. "We are used to paranoid justifications for Russia's invasion of [Ukraine] in 2022. What's shocking is that this time they are enabled by an [American] journalist."
It's not the first time the Russian dictator V. Putin blames 🇵🇱, invaded by the USSR on 17.09.1939, for the outbreak of the #WWII.
— Radek Sikorski (@radeksikorski) February 9, 2024
We are used to paranoid justifications for Russia's invasion of 🇺🇦 in 2022.
What’s shocking is that this time they are enabled by an 🇺🇸 journalist.
Newsweek reached out for comment to Putin's office via email on Friday.
According to a verified translation of Putin's remarks during the Carlson interview, the Russian president claimed that Poland "forced" Hitler to invade by being "uncooperative" with Nazi demands to take territories including Polish city Gdańsk, then known as Danzig.
"[Poland] rejected Hitler's demands," Putin said. "Since [Poland] did not give up the Danzig corridor, the Poles nevertheless forced him. They got carried away and forced Hitler to start the Second World War against them first."
"Why did the war start on September 1, 1939 precisely against Poland?" he continued. "Because it turned out to be uncooperative. Hitler had no choice but to implement his plans, starting specifically with Poland."
Putin's claim that Hitler had "no choice" but to invade Poland is not supported by historical evidence.
According to The National WWII Museum, Hitler set the stage for the invasion by making "it look as if the Poles had provoked the hostilities and the SS obliged by staging numerous false-flag operations and 'Polish provocations' against Germans."
The Russian president's 2022 annexation of parts of Ukraine prompted some to draw parallels with Hitler's actions during the early days of World War II.
Notably, Hitler justified Germany's ambitions to take Gdańsk/Danzig by citing the large number of pro-Nazi German speakers in the city at the time, a similar argument to Putin's claims about Russian speakers in Ukraine's Donbas region.
Putin claims that what Russia euphemistically refers to as its "special military operation" is part of an effort to "denazify" Ukraine, whose president, Volodymyr Zelensky, is Jewish.
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Aila Slisco is a Newsweek night reporter based in New York. Her focus is on reporting national politics, where she ... Read more
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