Soviet War Memorial in Berlin - Tx0h, CC BY-SA 3.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0>, via Wikimedia Commons
The International Federation of Resistance Fighters – Association of Anti-Fascists (FIR) has issued a statement condemning efforts on the part of many European governments to erase the central, critical role played by the Soviet Union and the Red Army in liberating the continent from fascism. This was achieved at a staggering, almost unbelievable cost in terms of suffering and lives paid by all the peoples of the former USSR.
Some European governments, especially in Germany, have been using the war in Ukraine as an excuse for this shameful behaviour, even though, of course, that war has nothing at all to do with World War II or the USSR.
Police in Berlin even attempted to breakup and prevent a commemoration of the Soviet victory on May 9. See: German police attempt to break up commemorations of Soviet victory in WWII (theleftchapter.com)
Statement:
In commemoration of May 8, 1945, the day of liberation from fascism and war, we demand from politicians in all European countries: stop tolerating and supporting the wars in Ukraine, the Middle East and other parts of the world! The people need peace talks now!” Of course, we are also concerned about the impending advance of the extreme right in the upcoming elections to the European Parliament, but May 8 must also send a clear message for peace in these warlike times. A politically broad-based German peace initiative formulates on the occasion of May 8: “Peace in Europe is not possible without Russia. We are committed to a European security architecture that takes equal account of everyone’s security interests, in which conflicts are resolved peacefully in the spirit of Immanuel Kant and weapons become superfluous. Our planet is too vulnerable and the development of weapons of mass destruction too dangerous for another major war to be even a remote possibility.” We agree with this.
May 8/9 is also a date to remember the great achievements of all parts of the anti-Hitler coalition, the partisans and national liberation movements, the men and women of the anti-fascist resistance struggle and the troops of the Allied forces, of which the Red Army undoubtedly bore the brunt. It should be the political duty of all governments in Europe and civil society to honor this, just as French President Macron, the Belgium King and Russian President Putin did.
However, it is not only since the war in Ukraine that we have seen political leaders in many European countries increasingly withdrawing from responsibility for this commemoration. They celebrate January 27 as a day of remembrance for all victims of fascist persecution without remembering that this day of remembrance is inextricably linked to the liberation of the Auschwitz extermination camp by the Soviet army. A few years ago, one could even hear that Auschwitz was liberated by Ukraine, because it was the units of the second Ukrainian Front that reached Auschwitz.
When it comes to hiding the role of the Red Army, there are clearly no moral boundaries in today’s ideologically charged situation.
Two examples from Germany. On the occasion of the liberation celebrations in the concentration camps, in which thousands of Soviet prisoners were of course incarcerated and – as in the Buchenwald concentration camp – liquidated by mass murder, there was a directive, apparently initiated by the office of the Minister of State for Culture, that no representatives of the Russian Federation and Belarus have to be invited to such commemorative events. Are these states no longer allowed to appropriately commemorate the victims of fascist persecution from their countries?
The German government announced that it was not planning any events to mark the day of liberation. The chancellor and ministers would also not take part in events organized by others to mark the occasion. The instruction to German government agencies to avoid any official contact with these commemorative events on May 9, when the consular missions of the Russian Federation commemorate the Soviet victims of the “Great Patriotic War”, is embarrassing. This was allegedly necessary because such commemorations only served to “justify the Russian war of aggression”. The Berlin Senate went one step further. On May 8 and 9, 2024, it banned the singing or playing of Soviet military songs, the display of any uniforms as well as Russian and Soviet flags and symbols at all Soviet memorials in Berlin. This ban was enforced with a large police presence. This is a way to eliminate the commemoration of the 27 million victims of the Soviet Union during the war of extermination from 1941 to 1945 as well as the liberation by the Soviet army.
The FIR and its member organizations will never forget the outstanding role of the Soviet army in the military defeat of Nazism. We remember and commemorate the national partisan and liberation movements. Nevertheless, we do not forget the important role of the Allied forces, whose main burden on the land was played by the Red Army.
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