Russia's largest publishing house withdraws historical book revealing how the Red Army raped women in Warsaw ghetto from sale

The Russian largest publishing house Eksmo, following a complaint form pro-war activists, has withdrawn the book "Irena's Children: A True Story of Courage" by Canadian writer Tilar J. Mazzeo from sale. It is dedicated to the Polish Resistance activist Irena Sendlerowa, who saved 2,500 Jewish children from the Warsaw ghetto.

It also describes stories of how Red Army soldiers raped women. This case was first reported by the so-called opposition newspaper Novaya Gazeta Europe.

It is noted that on January 9, the Telegram channel of one of Russian war supporters published a post calling on the "relevant authorities" to pay attention to Eksmo and bookstores that sell the revealing book. They were displeased to read about Red Army soldiers raping women in Krakow after the retreat of the Nazi soldiers.

"Later, locals told her that it was 1945, at the end of the war, when the Red Army was driving back the retreating Germans. The arrival of the Red Army brought no joy in Poland. Few women—from schoolgirl to most ancient babcia—escaped being raped by Soviet soldiers that winter in Kraków. And few Germans who encountered Soviet troops ever made their way back across the border. Across Poland, there were hundreds of nameless massacres like this one," Tilar writes in her book.

Russian propagandists stated that the writer is spreading "deliberately false information." And the very next day, the publishing house issued a press release announcing the withdrawal of the book from sale, thanking its readers for their comments.

"At present, the book Irena's Children: A True Story of Courage has been withdrawn from sale. An internal disciplinary proceeding is underway in the Elsmo group," they said.

The ASTRA Telegram channel writes that this is not the first time that Eksmo has withdrawn books from sale or sent them "for assessment" after complaints. In April 2024, the publishing house withdrew Brandon Taylor's book Real Life, about a black gay student, from sale as well.

As reported, in 2022, the Russian online book library Litres summed up the results of the year and named the most popular work. It turned out to be George Orwell's dystopian novel 1984, which was banned in the USSR and the distribution of which is punishable in modern Russia on a par with the spread of "fakes about the Russian army."

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