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Poland had a large underground Home Army under the command of a government-in- exile that never collaborated with the Germans, and remembrance ceremonies traditionally focus on those soldiers.
Polish President Andrzej Duda pictured in Sydney during his state visit to Australia in August 2018. His government has sought to appeal to right-wing voters.Credit:AP
Although historians say the Holy Cross Mountains Brigade collaborated with the Nazis, a representative of the veterans, Jan Jozef Kasprzyk, sought to deny such a link.
Kasprzyk described the claims of collaboration as a product of post-war communist propaganda meant to smear the unit's legacy.
The official rehabilitation of the brigade began when Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki honoured its members at a cemetery in Munich in February 2018.
Morawiecki asserted at a news conference the same day that there were some "Jewish perpetrators" of the Holocaust.
Polish officials and war veterans pay tribute to a World War II-era underground force that collaborated with the Nazi towards the end of World War II.Credit:AP
The anniversary observances in Warsaw on Sunday were criticised by the children of Polish resistance fighters. Some wrote a letter to Duda saying, "Our fathers fought against the Nazis because they understood their duty toward their homeland. Any cooperation with the occupiers was unimaginable to them."
Poland's chief rabbi rejected an invitation to attend the remembrance ceremony, calling it "a personal insult."
Opponents of the commemorations held a protest during which people held banners that read: "No! to collaboration" and "Collaborating with the enemy is treason."