Not inviting Russian President Vladimir Putin to the anniversary of the Auschwitz concentration camp liberation in Poland is part of the campaign to rewrite history, says director of the Simon Wiesenthal Center Dr. Efraim Zuroff.
“Putin wasn’t invited because they want to equate USSR to fascist Germany”, stated Zuroff, adding that it was the Red Army that liberated the concentration camp.
“The fact that Vladimir Putin wasn’t invited is a grave mistake. Many may tie this to tensions between Europe and Russia over Ukraine. But the ideological war around the results of World War II is behind this decision”, according to the Jewish activist.
“We see that many Baltic countries systematically try to rewrite history and present everything as if the Soviet Union and Germany are equally guilty of the war’s horrors. This is, of course, totally absurd and must be fought with. Many people from these countries participated in the mass murders themselves, collaborating with the Nazis, and now try to present themselves as victims of the Soviet regime. And, if you don’t invite Putin – it’s very easy to forget, and hide, the fact that the Red Army liberated Auschwitz. They try to equate the regime that started the most brutal massacre in all of history, I, of course, mean Nazi Germany, and the country, which stopped this massacre, the Soviet Union. We will fight this kind of revision of history”, concluded Efraim Zuroff
Let us remind our readers that it became known earlier that Vladimir Putin did not receive an invitation to the commemoration of the anniversary of the Auschwitz liberation, one the most terrible fascist concentration camps. Instead, the Polish side only sent the Russian president a notification of the planned event.
Let us note that the Kremlin has already invited all of the Allied anti-Nazi coalition countries’ leaders to the Victory Parade on 9 May in Moscow, dedicated to the 70th anniversary of the victory in World War II.
Many Baltic leaders were quick to turn down the invitation and Latvian Pfresident Andris Bērziņš took some time to think, noting that he can’t give a straight refusal due to his political post.
Translated by: Pavel Shamshiev.
