WARSAW (RNS/ENI) A Polish archbishop has sided with a Catholic parish that erected a memorial to civilians who died at the hands of Soviet torpedoes during World War II, even though the victims were from neighboring Nazi Germany.

“I do not agree that this monument skirts over differences,” said Archbishop Jozef Zycinski of Lublin. “In times of war, all those who faced dramatic situations and died without knowing the fate of their loved ones were victims, irrespective of which side they found themselves on.”

The monument, in the northern port city of Gdynia, commemorated the loss of nearly 20,000 lives — including more than 5,000 children — when Soviet torpedoes took down three separate liners as the Red Army advanced in the final months of the war.

A total of 9,343 civilians were killed when the Gustloff was sunk after leaving Gdynia’s harbor on Jan. 30, 1945 in the greatest single loss of life in maritime history.

An additional 10,000 Germans died in February and April 1945 when the Goya and Steuben were sunk in similar submarine attacks.

The monument was erected on the 65th anniversary of the Gustloff attack inside the Church of Our Lady and St. Peter the Fisherman by the church’s Redemptorist priests.

With the wounds of the war still fresh, members of Poland’s opposition Law and Justice party had demanded the monument be dismantled, saying it showed a “lack of sensitivity” and “erased differences between victims and executioners.”

Zycinski told his archdiocese’s radio station that lawmakers are not entitled to “pose as supreme moral authorities,” and said he believed people who “died with suffering” merit “respect rather than ideology.”

The archbishop added that “remembering those who died is an aspect of our Christian culture.” Painful histories should not be glossed over or forgotten, he said. “We should speak about painful things, which is why I see this memorial as a sign of solidarity and a lesson in history.”