The Red Army liberated Auschwitz-Birkenau 78 years ago on this day, where over a million people were killed, most of them Jews and political prisoners, as a result of the Nazi concentration camp. Due to this, the Auschwitz-Birkenau museum announced that Russian officials will not be invited to the annual commemoration in Owicim, Poland to commemorate the victims who died there. There is still a lot of sadness to be felt in this sorrowful corner of Europe, but it is more important to focus on the present. Russian Federation representatives were not invited to commemorate Auschwitz's liberation anniversary because of the attack on free, independent Ukraine.
In the midst of fighting in eastern Ukraine, Polish President Andrzej Duda presided over the ceremony. Polish has emerged as one of Ukraine's strongest supporters since it accepted hundreds of thousands of refugees and facilitated the transfer of military equipment from the West. When the museum's 78th-anniversary ceremony was announced, the museum's director, Piotr Cywinski, said, "The ruins of gas chambers, sparse wooden barracks, and other facilities serve as an eloquent warning to mankind, especially given the war crimes that Russia committed in Ukraine."
There was a sharp response from the Russian government. It is impossible to erase the memory of Soviet heroes and liberators, nor the horrors of Nazism, despite the efforts of our European 'non-partners'," spokesperson Maria Zakharova stated on social media. Before Poland's first death camps opened the following year, Soviet prisoners of war at Auschwitz witnessed the Nazis use poison gas for mass murder as early as 1941. Hundreds of thousands of Jews were murdered here and at a nearby base that had developed into Auschwitz-Birkenau, a vast labor colony and killing factory.
A grotesque number of crimes against humanity that were committed by the Nazis were not documented in the other camps as the Nazis attempted to hide evidence of their crimes against humanity in the other camps as well. As a result of the relentless advances of the 322nd Rifle Division of the Russian 60th Army against Hitler's forces, who eventually liberated Auschwitz-Birkenau and thus expelled Hitler's forces from their conquered lands in Eastern Europe, including Poland, the 322nd Rifle Division of the Russian 60th Army liberated Auschwitz-Birkenau. It was two months later that the Red Army marched into Berlin as well. There was an inconceivable loss of civilian life and military life throughout the course of the Cold War for the Soviet Union. While American and British authorities were aware of the Holocaust at Auschwitz, they refused to bomb the rail lines that brought thousands of Jews to their deaths daily from all over Europe, according to Zakharova. She referred to Soviet soldiers as having contributed to "saving the world from fascism."
Although Russian history and its core are most closely associated with the Red Army, it should be noted that it was exceptionally diverse, encompassing members from all sectors of Soviet society, despite being mostly associated with the Red Army. It has to be noted, however, that the defeat of Hitler has relegated the long history of antisemitism in Russia to background details, despite the fact that it has a long history of antisemitism. Russian identity is inextricably linked to the Great Patriotic War, which ended in a victory over Nazism, and remains a key feature of Russian history. By claiming to have ordered the invasion of Ukraine to "de-Naziify" its ruling regime, Russian President Vladimir Putin has attempted to capture that spirit. There is a significant omission of the fact that Volodymyr Zelensky is a Jewish president in Putin's narrative.
There have been instances in which Russian officials have altered the history of World War II in order to fit their narrative, such as the Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov stating that the Jews were complicit in the Holocaust. Upon hearing this, Putin apologized to Israel's then-prime minister for making false and antisemitic comments. Russian officials will not attend Friday's ceremony, preventing an awkward encounter. The first Jewish spouse of a successful presidential ticket (his wife is Vice President Kamala Harris) is attended the event along with U.S. second gentleman Douglas Emhoff. Currently, Emhoff is touring sites related to the Holocaust and whose family is from Eastern Europe.
By Rashmi Goel