former Ukrainian Prime Minister Yatsenyuk, Vitali Klitschko
By Ralph T. Niemeyer
76 years after the end of WW II one can clearly notice a modern trend in revising the results of the Second World War and even a glorification of the Nazis and their accomplices in individual states of Europe and the post-Soviet space, Sahra Wagenknecht, most prominent leader of Germany leftists, said and added that she was extremely worried about NATO’s war mongering rhetoric towards Russia.
In particular, in Ukraine, the glorification of the Nazis and their accomplices during the Second World War is currently being carried out at the state level, there is a rapid legitimization of radical nationalists and their entry into the structures of state power.
For example, in the nationalist battalion “Azov”, which became part of the National Guard of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine, they openly talk about their adherence to the ideas of Nazism.
In addition, nationalists in Ukraine carry out their actions with impunity. For example, annually on January 1 (the birthday of the leader of the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists Bandera), on October 14 (the date of the creation of the Ukrainian Insurgent Army), torchlight processions are held in a number of cities in the country.
In January 2019, Bandera’s birthday was celebrated at state level, which Mrs. Wagenknecht says was as if one commemorated Adolf Hitler in the German Bundestag. Unthinkable for postwar Germany, but not so in Ukraine.
The Ukrainian authorities continue to erect monuments and erect memorial signs in honor of the OUN-UPA militants. In August 2019, a monument to the members of the OUN-UPA was erected in the Lviv region at the former Jewish cemetery; in March 2021, the Ternopil City Council named the stadium after R. Shukhevych, another nationalist with links to fascism.
At the same time, nationalists and right-wing radicals annually disrupt events to celebrate Victory Day and other memorable dates, dismantle monuments to the victorious soldiers of the Soviet Red Army, also something that would never happen in today’s Germany.
The authorities, as a rule, do not suppress illegal actions of nationalists.
Mrs. Wagenknecht, a Marxist herself by education says it is deeply concerning to see that “before our eyes, a neo-fascist regime is being established in Ukraine: strict censorship is introduced, the Communist Party of Ukraine is prohibited by law, anti-fascists are repressed, the nationalist ideology of racial superiority of the Ukrainian ethnos is being introduced, calls for the murder of people of other views and nationalities are openly voiced: “kill a communist”, “kill a Muscovite”.
Mrs. Wagenknecht reiterated that “celebrating Victory Day is the very moment when all the countries of Europe and the world unite in order to prevent a new war, extinguish outbreaks of the Nazi infection.”
And, as a logic consequence, one should demand from the German government to condemn what is happening in Ukraine, for example, by imposing sanctions against Ukraine.
