The 80th Anniversary Of Auschwitz’s Liberation Was Incomplete Without Russia

Western politicians can still hate Russia while their historians might continue to argue that the USSR’s goal in World War II was to eliminate the existential threat that the Nazis posed to it, not necessarily to liberate the death camps and occupied countries, without excluding Russia from Auschwitz-related events.

Russia wasn’t invited to participate in the ceremony commemorating the 80^th anniversary of Auschwitz’s liberation due to ongoing tensions with the West. The Auschwitz Museum Director also made it clear last September that Russian representatives weren’t welcome after declaring that “It is hard to imagine the presence of Russia, which clearly does not understand the value of freedom. Such [a] presence would be cynical.” The event also ignored the Red Army’s role in liberating the world’s most infamous death camp.

Russian Ambassador to Poland Sergey Andreev declined to attend for these reasons even though anyone was officially allowed to participate even without an invitation. In his words, “They published a message that there will be events - whoever wants, let them go. Theoretically, we can, of course, appear there, but attend an event at which no one will remember who liberated the Auschwitz concentration camp and Europe... We don't need it. We will mark this anniversary in our own circle and appropriately.”

Nevertheless, Putin still sent a message to the participants and guests of that ceremony, writing in part that “The citizens of Russia are the direct descendants and heirs of the victorious generation. We will steadfastly and resolutely oppose any attempts to alter the legal and moral judgment passed on the Nazi executioners and their collaborators.” He also reaffirmed his sacred pledge to “actively fight against the spread of anti-Semitism, Russophobia, and other forms of racist ideologies.”

Although BBC Russia Editor Steve Rosenberg just headlined a piece alleging that “Russia focuses on Soviet victims of WW2 as officials not invited to Auschwitz ceremony”, the reality is that Russia in general and Putin in particular have always drawn a lot of attention to the Nazis’ genocide of Jews. This was importantly recognized by Bibi, who invited Putin as his guest of honor to participate in January 2020’s “Remembering The Holocaust: Fighting Antisemitism Forum” in Jerusalem.

His successor Naftali Bennett then said in October 2021 that “I want to tell you on behalf of our country, the whole of our people that we regard you as a very close and true friend of the State of Israel.” This was due to the excellent relations that he helped cultivate between Russia and the Jewish State since 2000 as well as everything that he’d done to ensure widespread remembrance of the Holocaust. Far from being an anti-Semite like some have falsely claimed, Putin is a actually proud lifelong philo-Semite.

These facts should inoculate readers from the outright lies and deliberately misleading reporting about Russia’s commemoration of International Holocaust Remembrance Day that are meant to justify its exclusion from the latest event. Such gatherings will always be incomplete without Russia since it’s the successor state of the Soviet Union whose multiethnic and religiously diverse Red Army liberated Auschwitz, where Jews, Soviet POWs, Poles (the camp’s first prisoners), and others were genocided.

Western politicians can still hate Russia while their historians might continue to argue that the USSR’s goal in World War II was to eliminate the existential threat that the Nazis posed to it, not necessarily to liberate the death camps and occupied countries, without excluding Russia from Auschwitz-related events. Refusing to invite its representatives is disrespectful to the victims, survivors, and their descendants, and it also facilitates efforts to revise history by mitigating the Soviets’ leading role in defeating Hitler.