A stone plaque in the Berznyk cemetery, which includes graves of Lithuanian soldiers, reads: "As it is impossible to immortalize the 1920 heroic deed of the Polish troops in Belarus and Lithuania, soil from the battlefields of Druskininkai, Grodno, Lida, Wasiliszki, Vawkavysk, Slonim and Baranawitschy is brought here."
Algirdas Vaicekauskas, chairman of the Lithuanian Society in Poland, says the new memorials were built in August and September.
"It is yet another step aimed at humiliating the Lithuanian national minority," Vaicekauskas told BNS on Friday. In his opinion, the inscription of the Lithuanian resort of Druskininkai and cities in Belarus means territorial claims.
The cemetery earlier featured monuments accusing Lithuanian soldiers of Bolshevik collaboration in 1920. There is also the Paneriai memorial, accusing Lithuanians of collaborating with the Nazis in the massacre of the Poles.
"They are built next to where we live and they are targetted against the Lithuanian national minority. The actions have a purpose. Someone issues permits - it is not a one-time campaign of one individual. There is a plan to this," Vaicekauskas told BNS.
According to information provided by the Lithuanian Embassy in Poland, about 15,000 people of Lithuanian descent reside in Poland, mainly in Sejny and Punsk.
In an unrelated incident this summer, Lithuanian signs were tainted with red and white paint – colors of the Polish national flag – in Punsk.
