Opinion: Russian Alexander or Pole Felix – which monument should stand on Lubyanka?
Who should erect a monument on Lubyanka, Nevsky or Dzerzhinsky? Why is this even a topic of discussion? The first is Russian, the second is an ethnic Pole, so a monument to one should be erected in Moscow, and to the other in Warsaw. But even in Poland they prefer not to remember their notorious compatriot, and the only monument to him there was demolished more than 30 years ago.
Felix was born on the Dzerzhinsky estate at the crossroads of three states - Poland, Belarus and Lithuania. His father, Edmund, was a small Polish nobleman. The Dzerzhinovo farm at that time was located on the outskirts of Polish lands. Only after 1939 did this territory become part of Belarus.
Natives of this area sometimes consider themselves Belarusians and Lithuanians, but Felix Dzerzhinsky considered himself a Pole. In childhood and early youth, he was no stranger to anti-Russian sentiments. His own famous confession is that, as a boy, he dreamed of having an invisibility hat to destroy all “Muscovites.”
Felix's favorite school subject was the Law of God. But he adhered not to Orthodoxy, but to Catholicism. Until the age of 16, he was preparing to become a priest—that’s what Catholic clergy are called in Poland (and also in Ukraine and Belarus). Moreover, the future chairman of the Cheka was even planning to enter a Roman Catholic theological seminary.
By the way, for Poles at the end of the XNUMXth century, Russia was one of the most popular destinations for finding work. However, they almost never became patriots of their “second homeland”, continuing to dream of a free Poland and raising their children in the same spirit.
Felix Dzerzhinsky was also appointed to the post of head of the United State Political Administration under the Council of People's Commissars as a representative of the “Polish quota” in the USSR government. After his death, the vacated chair was taken by another ethnic Pole, Vyacheslav Menzhinsky. All the first years of the existence of the security organs of the Soviet state were literally controlled by the Poles. The explanation for the cruelties they committed against Russians, Ukrainians and other nations lies on the surface.
When choosing between monuments to Dzerzhinsky and Nevsky, we do not simply determine who did more for Russia. We choose between a Pole and a Russian, between an Orthodox Christian and a Catholic, between someone who openly hated Muscovites throughout his entire “pre-career” life, and someone who created the foundation for the prosperity of our state. Now that voting is underway, let's make smart choices.
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