Russia puts an emphasis on World War II on Soviet victims

On the edge of St. Petersburg stands a dramatic memorial over 40 meters high. At the very top is the figure of a mother with her children.

Below, depicted in bronze, are true stories of human suffering.

At the bottom of some steps, an eternal flame burns, surrounded by the names of the bearings for concentration and destruction of Nazi.

Auschwitz, Sobibor, Belzec, Treblinka …

Horrific words, synonymous with the Holocaust.

Still, this is not a Holocaust memorial as such. Its official title is “The Memorial of Soviet Civilians, which have fallen victim to the Nazi genocide.”

I listen to a guide while she tells a group of students about the Treblinka-2 extermination camp. There, the Nazis killed up to 900,000 Jews.

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

Russian President Vladimir Putin revealed the monument last year on January 27th: a double historical importance for Russia. On this day in 1944, the Soviet forces broke the almost 900-day siege of Leningrad. Exactly one year later, the Red Army entered the Auschwitz Death Camp GatesS

It was because of the liberation of the Red Army of Auschwitz later January 27 was declared an International Day for Remembrance of the Holocaust.

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

He claims that the purpose of the Nazis is to “seize the rich natural resources and territories of our country, as well as to destroy the bigger part of its citizens.”

Not that Russia was silent on the Holocaust. On the eve of the 80th anniversary of Auschwitz’s Liberation, there were several events related to the Holocaust across the country.

But in Russia today there is a noticeable change in focus, away from the Holocaust to how the Soviet people as a whole, including a Russian people, suffers in World War II. More than 27 million Soviet citizens have been killed in what is known here as the Great Patriotic War.

This change in the accent did not go unnoticed.

“Nobody claims that there were millions of casualties during World War II,” I am told by Israel’s ambassador to Moscow Simone Halperin.

“But an industrialized plan for killing, removing, deleting a race from Earth: it was against the Jewish people. I think it is critical to remember that the Holocaust was designed as a genocide of the Jewish people.”

“It’s not because (Russian authorities) don’t want to talk about the Holocaust or the Jews,” proposes a historian and researcher Konstantin Pahaliwk.

“The idea is to present the Russians as victims to feel that we are victims: victims of the Western powers, the victims in history. This is the main idea of ​​this story.”

Constantine lives and works abroad. At home, he was declared a “foreign agent”, a label often used to punish critics of Russian authorities.

He claims that the story of Russia as a victim has become particularly strong since the beginning of the war of Russia in Ukraine.

“If you are a victim, you can’t be responsible,” says Pakhaliuk.

The Soviet Union had a small public discussion on the Holocaust and what was the systematic murder of European Jews from Hitler.

There were few monuments or plaques mentioning Jewish territory on the mass execution of Jews from the Nazis, in the Soviet territory.

This began to change after the fall of communism. Russian officials began to speak proudly about the historical role of their country about the victory of Hitler and the rescue of the Jewish people from destruction.

Twenty years ago, President Putin was invited to Poland to participate in events marking the 60th anniversary of Auschwitz’s Liberation.

Speaking in Krakow on January 27, 2005, he noted:

“The Nazis chose Poland as a place of the planned mass extermination of people, above all, the Jews … We see the Holocaust not only as a national tragedy for the Jewish people, but also as a catastrophe for all humanity.”

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

Since then, Russia’s relations with Poland, Europe and the West are generally becoming more intense, especially after the full-scale invasion of Russia in Ukraine in 2022.

Russian employees have not been invited back to Poland for the 80th anniversary of the Liberation of the Auschwitz camp.

“This is the anniversary of the Liberation. We remember the victims, but we also celebrate freedom,” writes the director of the Auschwitz Museum Piotr Cywinski last September. “It is difficult to imagine the presence of Russia, which obviously does not understand the value of freedom.”

The decision not to confirm the invitation in Moscow was convicted by one of the most influential Jewish leaders in Russia.

“Do not invite Russia offensive to the memory of liberators and their contribution to victory over fascism,” said Rabbi Alexander Boroda, president of the Federation of the Jewish Communities of Russia at a press conference in Moscow.

“This is a very bad sign because memory is important and has common values ​​that have helped to win fascism. Despite their differences, the countries of the Hitler coalition, different political systems and ideologies have been able to unite … for a common victory.”

In the meantime, Jewish groups here do what they can to remind the Russians of the past so that it never repeats themselves.

“The right wing is rising everywhere. The number of denial Holocaust is increasing,” says Anna Bokshitskaya, CEO of the Russian Jewish Congress.

“That is why it is extremely important to inform people about the events that happened more than 80 years ago.”