Polish president’s office explains why Order of the White Eagle remains with Mussolini, Catherine the Great and Schröder

Mariya Yemets, STANISLAV POHORILOV - 22 June, 09:21

Zelenskyy and Nawrocki. Photo: Nawrocki on social media

Officials in the office of Polish President Karol Nawrocki have attempted to explain why Poland's highest state decoration, the Order of the White Eagle – which was stripped from Volodymyr Zelenskyy – is still held by former Italian dictator Benito Mussolini, Russian empress Catherine the Great and former German Chancellor and "friend of the Kremlin" Gerhard Schröder.

Source: a comment by Agnieszka Jędrzak, a minister in the Chancellery of the President of Poland, as reported by European Pravda

Quote: "The first two have been long dead, and Poland does not revoke the Order posthumously. The former German chancellor, on the other hand, has never insulted the Polish nation as overtly as the Ukrainian president did, though his work for Putin's Russia must indeed be denounced as harmful to Poland and Europe."

Details: As the minister from the Polish president's office explained, during Gerhard Schröder's time in office, Germany did not erect monuments to Hitler or Himmler, nor was any unit of the Bundeswehr named after "SS heroes".

Jędrzak also pointed out that Zelenskyy was not concerned about these people holding the Order of the White Eagle when he received the decoration himself.

"And he adds insult to injury returning it by courier service," the official added.

"Because the crux of the matter is the Ukrainian leader's deliberate insult to the people who have proven to be Ukraine's best friends in the last four years. You don't honour murderers of the nation that's given you every form of assistance when it mattered. When you're offered a helping hand, you don't grab it eagerly, and then insult the helper," Agnieszka Jędrzak stressed.

She added that Karol Nawrocki "withdrew the Order, not the hand".

"We support Ukraine, but we won't be insulted," she concluded.

Background:

On the evening of 19 June, Polish President Karol Nawrocki decided to strip Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy of the Order of the White Eagle over the naming of one of Ukraine's military units after the Ukrainian Insurgent Army. He also stated that Poland would not allow into the European Union those who do not understand the need to reject the cult of totalitarianism and violence.
Following the decision, a number of current and former Ukrainian officials announced that they would return their Polish honours. Questions were also raised about whether Zelenskyy would attend this year's Ukraine Recovery Conference, scheduled to take place in Gdańsk, Poland.
On Saturday 20 June, Zelenskyy said that he had sent the order back to Karol Nawrocki by post.

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