Russia’s New Commemorative Day Honors The Soviet Victims Of The Nazis’ Genocides

That was the primary reason why it was established, though it also serves political purposes, but these are in response to the West’s “war on historical memory” equating the USSR with Nazi Germany and blaming both for World War II.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov shared a solemn video address on 19 April, the first time that Russia commemorated the “Day of Remembrance for the Victims of the Genocide of the Soviet People committed by Nazis and their accomplices during 1941-1945 Great Patriotic War”. He began by informing his compatriots that this day was chosen because it was when a decree was issued by the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR in 1943 on punishing those responsible for these crimes.

Importantly, “The decree became the first document to provide a legal qualification of the systematic policy pursued by the Nazis and collaborationists to exterminate the civilian population, and laid the groundwork for bringing them to justice” as later happened across Europe at the Nuremberg Tribunal. He then reminded everyone that “The total number of civilian victims in the USSR during the occupation amounted to around 14 million people. These crimes have no statute of limitations.”

Accordingly, “Russian diplomacy will seek recognition by the international community of the crimes committed by the Nazis and their accomplices against citizens of the Soviet Union as genocide of the Soviet people”, which is long overdue and the best way to honor the victims. Contrary to popular Western perceptions, the Holocaust wasn’t the Nazis’ only genocide. The Poles were actually the first to be genocided while more Soviets were genocided than anyone. Other people were genocided too.

Therein lies the secondary reason why this commemorative day was established last December, namely to raise awareness of the USSR’s sacrifices in the fight against Nazi Germany. Russia, which speaks on behalf of the multinational Soviet people as the USSR’s legal successor state, isn’t suggesting that these victims replace Jews atop the imagined hierarchy of victimhood that many Westerners have. Rather, it prefers to dismantle this hierarchy, believing instead that all of the Nazis’ victims are equal.

The tertiary reason behind this move is to push back against the popular Western perception of the USSR as Nazi Germany’s co-belligerent in sparking World War II. Putin fiercely condemned the European Parliament’s 2019 resolution on the “Importance of European remembrance for the future of Europe” for blaming the war on the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact. He then spent months researching and writing his treatise on the “75th Anniversary of the Great Victory: Shared Responsibility to History and our Future”.

Readers can review his text for an explanation of the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact and World War II’s origins from the Russian perspective, but the point in referencing them is to highlight the role of Russia’s latest commemorative day in what some call the “war on historical memory”. It’s especially relevant to the present since Russia and Ukraine, whose views on World War II now align with the EU’s, have referenced their respective viewpoints on these subjects for mobilizing their societies in the Ukrainian Conflict.

At the end of the day, Russia’s new “Day of Remembrance for the Victims of the Genocide of the Soviet People committed by Nazis and their accomplices during 1941-1945 Great Patriotic War” was established primarily to honor the 14 million victims, not as a “political weapon” like critics might claim. To be sure, it also serves political purposes as explained, but these are in response to the West’s “war on historical memory” equating the USSR with Nazi Germany and blaming both for World War II.