THE culture of remembrance of World War II in Germany is changing due to the war in Ukraine, estimates the historian Tanya Pender of the University of Heidelberg.
On the 77th anniversary of the end of World War II in Europe, the Eastern European history teacher said that for a long time the 27 million dead in the Soviet Union were equated with the victims of Russia.
“Many now understand that this was a ‘misunderstanding,'” he said. in the victorious war against National Socialism also participated Belarusians, Ukrainians and many other peoples.
The end of World War II is celebrated in most other countries on May 8. In Moscow, it is celebrated on May 9 with a large military parade.
According to Ms. Pender, the war in Ukraine “is basically projected on the people of Russia as a continuation of the war against fascism and the Nazis.”
Nevertheless things can change, he continued, when the people of Russia understood “the horrific crimes committed against the civilian population in his name and in the name of the alleged fight against fascism in Ukraine.”
The damage this can do to the historic landmark of Victory over Nazi Germany Adolf Hitler, can be much broader. “It could plunge the Russian nation into an identity crisis,” he said.
“There are also changes in the culture of memory that are becoming more visible in Germany,” she said.
An indication of this trend was the desecration of monuments to the victory of the Red Army in Berlin with anti-Russian slogans.
“These two things have to be separated. “The achievements of the Soviet Union in trying to defeat National Socialism, for which we should be grateful, can not be underestimated,” because of the Russia-Ukraine war, Pender added.
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