Vladimir Putin used Holocaust Remembrance Day to assert that ‘neo-Nazis’ were active in Ukraine, as he continues to legitimize his murderous war in Ukraine.
On the day when the world recalls the incomprehensible atrocities that resulted in the deaths of six million Jews in German-occupied Europe, the Russian president reiterated his assertion.
While Auschwitz survivors came to mark the 78th anniversary of the liberation of the Nazi Germany death camp, the dictator has been barred from the memorial site for years.
Putin instead asserted that the neo-Nazi-organized ethnic cleansing in Ukraine justified his horrific invasion.
In Moscow, Russia, on 26 January 2023, Russian President Vladimir Putin met with Chief Rabbi of Russia Berl Lazar (right) and president of the Federation of Jewish Communities Alexander Boroda (center).
Survivors of the Nazi Germany death camp Auschwitz gathered to commemorate the 78th anniversary of its liberation.
“Forgetting the lessons of history leads to the repetition of terrible tragedies,” stated the Russian president.
Neo-Nazis in Ukraine are responsible for crimes against people, ethnic cleansing, and punitive actions. Against this wickedness, our warriors are valiantly fighting.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky commemorated the anniversary with a post on his official Telegram account that referenced the situation in his own nation.
He stated, “We know and remember that indifference kills alongside hatred.”
Together, indifference and hatred are always capable of producing evil. To save those whom hatred attempts to destroy, all those who respect life must act with commitment.
Representatives and Holocaust survivors met to the old concentration and extermination camp in the southern Polish city of Oswiecim. Auschwitz became a center of systematic murder of Jews, Poles, Soviet prisoners of war, Roma, and others targeted for extermination by Adolf Hitler and his subordinates during the German occupation of Poland during World War II.
Before it was liberated by Soviet troops on January 27, 1945, over 1,1 million people perished at the huge complex.
Today, the site, with its barracks, barbed wire, and gas chamber ruins, is one of the most recognizable emblems of evil in the world and a pilgrimage destination for millions.
Yet, it is only 300 kilometers (185 miles) from Ukraine, where Russian aggression is causing unfathomable death and ruin – a battle on the thoughts of many of those paying homage to the victims of 80 years ago.
In 2005, Vladimir Putin attended ceremonies commemorating the 60th anniversary of the camp’s liberation; however, he is welcome at the memorial site.
According to the Auschwitz-Birkenau state museum, due to Russia’s invasion on Ukraine, no Russian official was invited this year.
Bogdan Bartnikowski, a Pole who was 12 years old when he was taken to Auschwitz, said that the first images of refugees fleeing after Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine that he saw on television in February recalled horrific memories.
In a vast gathering of refugees, he was astonished to see a young girl holding her mother in one hand and a teddy bear in the other.
‘It was a literal knock to the head when, after almost 80 years, I unexpectedly witnessed what I had seen in a freight car while being taken to Auschwitz. A young girl sat next to me, clutching a doll to her bosom,’ Mr. Bartnikowski, who is now 91, recalled.
Mr. Bartnikowski was one of several Auschwitz survivors who spoke to journalists about their experiences on the eve of Friday’s commemorations.
Stefania Wernik, who was born at Auschwitz in November 1944, fewer than three months prior to its liberation, described the camp as “hell on earth.”
She claimed that she was so small at birth that the Nazis tattooed her number, 89136, on her thigh.
Ms. Wernik was cleansed with cold water, covered in rags, and subjected to medical testing.
Nevertheless, her mother had an abundance of milk, and they both lived.
Her mother went home after the war and was reunited with her husband, and “the entire village came to look at us and exclaimed that it was a miracle.”
Ms. Wernik read a message urging future generations to stay watchful against pernicious beliefs.
She stated, “No more fascism, which leads to death, genocide, crimes, slaughter, and loss of human dignity.”
The Germans founded Auschwitz in 1940 for Polish captives; later, they extended the facility by constructing gas chambers and crematoriums where Jews from around Europe were slaughtered.
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz stated, “The suffering of six million innocently murdered Jews and the suffering of the survivors remain unforgotten.”
He stated on Twitter, “On Holocaust Memorial Day, we remember our historical duty so that Never Again will endure into the future.”
This year, the German parliament held a memorial for people persecuted on the basis of their sexual orientation.
The Nazis imprisoned and murdered tens of thousands of homosexual, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender persons.
Their fate was first acknowledged officially decades after the end of World War II.
On Friday, events were scheduled to commemorate International Holocaust Remembrance Day, an annual observance created by a 2005 United Nations resolution.
Approximately six million European Jews perished during the Holocaust, and millions more perished throughout the global war of 1939 to 1945.
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