Lukashenko: Belarus got over its pain for friendship with Poland, but they took it for weakness

MINSK, 17 September (BelTA) – For the sake of friendship with Poland, Belarus got over its pain, but they took it for weakness, Belarusian President Aleksandr Lukashenko said at the patriotic forum "We are Belarusians!" dedicated to the Day of People's Unity in Minsk on 17 September, BelTA has learned.

"Until recently, we almost did not bring up the dramatic events of that time, the period of dismemberment of Belarus! Everything slipped into the shadow of the global tragedy of the Great Patriotic War. World War II. That terrible human slaughter overshadowed everything. It was not customary to remember that time in the name of Soviet-Polish friendship, which, as it was thought then, would be eternal," the head of state said.

Aleksandr Lukashenko stressed that Belarusians did not throw accusations at their neighbor, but always remembered how schools, faith, land, natural resources were taken away from them; how ancestors died without medical care; how Poland humiliated and destroyed morally and physically all those who remained devoted to their culture, faith, language and traditions.

"Can we forget how they fired cannons at Belarusian villages, how Belarusian children were beaten with rods in Polish schools, how Belarusians, Russians, Ukrainians were tortured in the Polish concentration camp in Bereza-Kartuska? This all happened. But for the sake of friendship with the Polish people, we got over this pain. But Poland took it for weakness. But we have learned the lesson," Aleksandr Lukashenko said. “Time has shown that our neighbor did not appreciate our noble desire to live in peace. I'm not talking about the Polish people. I'm talking about the elites - politicians who have been seeking revenge all these years."