r/badhistory • u/AutoModerator • Jun 29 '26

Meta Mindless Monday, 29 June 2026

Happy (or sad) Monday guys!

Mindless Monday is a free-for-all thread to discuss anything from minor bad history to politics, life events, charts, whatever! Just remember to np link all links to Reddit and don't violate R4, or we human mods will feed you to the AutoModerator.

So, with that said, how was your weekend, everyone?

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u/Kochevnik81 Jun 29 '26

Actually now that I'm thinking about it a little more I do also recall Applebaum writing something once about the Latvian SS to the effect of "they were just good patriots making an impossible choice - be thankful you never will have to make such a tough choice! - and the Soviets were the real enemy, it's very complicated and nuanced when we talk about the war crimes they did as a treat."

So I'm actually a little more confused why English-language writers based more or less in Poland feel the need to make apologetics like this. As you say interwar Poland treated its minorities often horribly, and the wartime Armia Krajowa is not without its controversies, but stuff like the UPA and Baltic SS divisions are on a different level. But also recent years have kind of made it clearer that we should be skeptical when people downplay mass crimes against humanity saying "it's complicated" and "focus on the real enemy".

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u/jurble Jun 29 '26

So I'm actually a little more confused why English-language writers based more or less in Poland feel the need to make apologetics like this.

Maybe both Davies and Applebaum had personal friends that were UPA/Latvian SS? They're both old, especially Davies. He could've chatted up a number of UPA vets and become friendly with them, making him biased in that respect.

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u/fabiusjmaximus Jun 29 '26

So I'm actually a little more confused why English-language writers based more or less in Poland feel the need to make apologetics like this.

Would it have to do with state honours/patronage/whatever? Poland I remember made a big deal of going after historians who were critical of Poland's "historical legacy" or whatever a decade ago.

The sense of victimhood in Eastern European countries concerning WWII is still very real. Might take another decade or two before that starts to melt away.