No products in the cart.

Russia puts World War Two focus on Soviet victims

Steve Rosenberg

BBC Russia Editor

BBC Memorial in St. Petersburg for Soviet victims of Nazis during World War II BBC

The memorial in St. Petersburg to “Soviet civilians who have been a victim of Nazi genocide”

On the edge of ST Petersburg, a dramatic memorial stands more than 40 meters. At the top is the mother’s personality with her children.

Below below, which appear in bronze, real stories about human suffering.

At the bottom of some steps, the eternal flame is burned surrounded by the names of Nazi concentration and genocide.

Auschwitz, Swipdor, Pelzik, Trblenka …

Horrible words synonymous with Holocaust.

However, this is not a memorial for the Holocaust in this way. Its official title is “the memorial of Soviet civilians who have been a victim of Nazi collective genocide.”

I listen to a tour guide telling a group of school children about Treblinka-2. There is the killing of up to 900,000 Jews.

“Treblinka-2 was a death camp where a large number of people were killed in the gas rooms,” she says, without specifying that most of the victims were Jews.

Russian President Vladimir Putin revealed the memorial last year on January 27: A date with a double historical importance of Russia. On this day in 1944, the Soviet forces broke the siege of Leningrad for about 900 days. Exactly one year later, the Red Army entered the doors of the Auschwitz.

Getty Images Vladimir Putin (in the photo next to former French President Jacques Cherc) attended the 2005 party in Poland to celebrate the sixtieth anniversary of Auschwitz Gety pictures

Vladimir Putin, who was filmed next to former French President Jacques Cherc, attended the 2005 party in Poland to celebrate the 60th anniversary of the Auschwitz. This year is not invited.

Because of the liberation of the Red Army of Ashwsheshitz, it was announced on January 27 later on the day of the Holocaust anniversary.

But when the memorial of Soviet civilians opened, Vladimir Putin did not talk about the Holocaust, but rather about “the genocide of the Soviet people.”

He said that the goal of the Nazis was “the seizure of the rich natural resources and regions in our country, as well as the extermination of the majority of its citizens.”

It is not that Russia was silent on the Holocaust. In the period leading up to the eighties of the liberation of Auschwitz, there were many events related to the country.

In a letter to celebrate the eighty anniversary, President Putin wrote: “In January 1945, the Red Army liberated the Auschwitz camp and revealed to humanity the truth of the crimes of the Nazis and their partners who concluded millions of Jews, Russians, Rome and other nationalities.”

But in Russia today, there is a clear shift in focusing, away from the Holocaust to how the Soviet people as a whole, including the Russian people, are exposed in World War II. More than 27 million Soviet citizens were killed in what is known here as the Great Patriotic War.

Getty photos of the Russian army doctor examine one of Auschwitz's survivors in the camp Gety pictures

The Soviet army doctor examines one of the survivors of Auschwitz after the liberation of the Red Army in January 1945

This change in the focus was not noticed by anyone.

“No one argues that there are millions of victims during World War II,” the Israeli ambassador to Moscow Simon Halbene told me.

“But an industrial plan for killing and eliminating it, erasing from the face of the earth a race: was against the Jewish people. I think it is very important to remember that the Holocaust was designed as a collective genocide for the Jewish people.”

“Not because of [the Russian authorities] She does not want to talk about the Holocaust or the Jews, ”the historian and researcher Konstantin suggested Bakhaliuk.

“The idea revolves around presenting the Russians as victims, to feel that we are victims: the victims of Western powers, and the victims in history. This is the basic idea of ​​this narration.”

Konstantin lives and works abroad. In the homeland, he was declared a “foreign agent”, and is often used as a sign often to punish the critics of the Russian authorities.

He argues that Russia’s novel as a victim has become particularly strong since the start of Russia’s war in Ukraine.

“If you are a victim, you cannot take responsibility,” says Bakhaliuk.

The memorial in St. Petersburg for the Soviet victims of the Nazis during World War II

When Putin opened the memorial last year, he focused on the 27 meters of Soviet citizens who were killed during the war

In the Soviet Union, there was nothing but a little public debate about the Holocaust, and the systematic killing of European Jews was by Hitler.

At the mass execution sites of the Jews by the Nazis, in the Soviet lands, there were a few landmarks or paintings that indicate the Jewish victims.

This began to change after the fall of communism. Russian officials began proudly talking about their historic role in defeating Hitler and saving the Jewish people from genocide.

Twenty years ago, President Putin was invited to Poland to participate in the events that define the sixtieth anniversary of Auschwitz.

He spoke at Krakow on January 27, 2005. He noticed:

“The Nazis chose Poland as a site of the planned genocide of people, above all, from the Jews … We see the Holocaust not only as a national tragedy for the Jewish people but as a continent for all humanity.”

“It is our duty to remember the Holocaust,” he added.

Since then, Russia’s relations with Poland, Europe and the West in general have grown increasingly, especially after Russia has invaded Ukraine in 2022.

Russian officials were not invited to Poland on the eighty anniversary of the liberation of the Auschwitz camp.

“This is the memory of editing. We remember the victims, but we also celebrate freedom,” wrote the director of the Auschwitz Museum Pioter Siinke last September. “It is difficult to imagine the presence of Russia, which is clearly not understanding the value of freedom.”

The decision not to extend an invitation to Moscow by one of the most influential Jewish leaders in Russia.

“The failure of Russia to invite abusive the anniversary of the editors and their contribution to defeating fascism,” Rabbi Alexander Booda, President of the Jewish Communities Union in Russia told a press conference in Moscow.

“It is a very bad sign because the memory is important and there are common values ​​that helped defeat fascism. Despite its differences, the countries of the anti -Hitler coalition, the various political systems and ideologies that managed to unite … for a common victory.”

At the same time, the Jewish groups here do what they can to remind the Russians in the past so that it is never repeated.

“The right wing is everywhere. The number of Holocaust’s evils is increasing,” says Anna Bukchichskaya, Executive Director of the Russian Jewish Conference.

“That is why it is extremely important to allow people to know the events that occurred more than 80 years ago.”

The memorial in St. Petersburg for the Soviet victims of the Nazis during World War II

https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/1024/branded_news/b717/live/753c3be0-dbb5-11ef-a834-bb7f469ea2b6.jpg

2025-01-27 06:15:00

Add comment

Enjoy this post? Join our newsletter

[mc4wp_form id=574]

Don’t forget to share it

Related Articles