In the hybrid war that Russia Libra not only against Ukraine but also against Europe, history remains a proven method of informative influence, so it is worth evaluating Moscow’s actions more deeply and fighting them with critical thinking and historical facts. At this time, Ukraine and Baltic countries continue to fight as a united front against an aggressive neighbor who intends to appropriate the victorious and positive aspects of the past, in addition to the annexed territories and the victory of 1945, which is best honored with a moment of silence and commemoration than with hours of cynical masquerade in front of the entire world.
Yehor Brailian, Historiador Ucraniano
We approach a date that is perceived differently in the democratic world and in current Russia: the 80th anniversary of the surrender of Nazism in Europe.
The historical facts of World War II have been manipulated by the Russia of Putin, which has thus destroyed the national identity of neighboring states. A distorted vision of the past serves as an ideological basis for the aggressive military, economic and informative actions of Moscow not only against Ukraine, but against the western world in its entirety.
However, Kremlin ideologues usually “forget” that in 1939 the Soviet Union was responsible for triggering the war in Europe. The price of victory over Nazism was very high for the peoples of the Soviet Union, and mainly for Ukrainians, and pompous parades with the noise of obsolete weapons are not the best way to honor the memory of the deceased.
On August 23, 1939, Germany and the Soviet Union signed a non-aggression pact, also known as the Molotov-librantrop Pact, by the names of the signatories. In a secret annex of the document, the parties agreed on the division of spheres of influence in Eastern Europe.
A week after the firm, Hitler attacked Poland, on September 1, 1939, occupying his western part; On September 17, Stalin introduced troops into the eastern part. Poland was divided along the Vistula and San. In the city of Brest-Litovsk (current Belarús), in September 1939, a joint military parade of the Wehrmacht and the Red Army took place, organized by the German general Heinz Guderian and the general of Soviet Brigade Seviet Krivoshein.
For two years (1939-1941), German and Soviet leaders were close partners who helped each other: the Soviet Union supplied raw materials to the third Reich, and this diplomatically supported the Soviet politics in the Baltic and Finland. This happened at the same time that the bombings of the British cities and the shooting and extermination of the Jews in the concentration camps in Eastern Europe; Meanwhile, to the newly obtained territories the Soviet government brought the repression, collectivization and nationalization of companies.
The political, economic and military cooperation of the Russians residing in the USSR, as well as the Russian emigrants, with the Nazi authorities during World War II, was widespread, and this fact was always carefully silenced by the Kremlin.
Probably, the most inconvenient episode of World War II for the high Russian authorities are the activities of the collaborators under the leadership of the former Soviet general Andrei Vlasov (in a time they called him Stalin’s favorite) with his Russian liberation army (Roa). El Roa, led by Vlasov, operated in the final stage of World War II, between 1944 and 1945. In April 1945 it had 120 thousand troops. The mere public mention of Vlasov and its supporters in modern Russia can be a reason for criminal responsibility. However, in the current Russia its symbol is used, the San Jorge tape, to commemorate the victory in the war of 80 years ago. In addition to Roa, it is worth mentioning the Popular Army of Liberation of Russia or the “Kaminsky Brigade”, which worked between 1941 and 1943 in the territory of the so -called Republic of Lokot (now the Bryansk region of the Russian Federation).
Hitler supported the formation of Cosaca units, since he believed that the Cossacks were descendants of the Goths and, therefore, did not belong to the Slavic race, but to the Aryan. A very picturesque figure among the commanders of the Cosaca military units was Ivan Kononov, participant in the Soviet-Finland War, the majority of the Red Army, awarded with the order of the Red Star, Colonel of the Wehrmacht, decorated with the iron crosses of 1st and 2nd class. In October 1942, in Novocherkassk, former Cossack capital of the Don, occupied by the German troops a Cosaca Assembly was held, in which the headquarters of the Army of the Don was elected, with the permission of the occupant authorities.
This marked the organization of the Cosaca formations within the Wehrmacht, both in the occupied territories and in the environment of the emigrants. The creation of the Cosaca units was directed by the former colonel of the Tsarist army Sergei Vasilyevich Pavlov, who during the Soviet era worked as an engineer in one of the Novocherkassk factories. Pavlov’s initiative was supported by Pyotr Nikolaevich Krasnov, the ataman or head of the Army of the Great Don. But it was not only the cosaca units, such as the 15th Cosaca de las SS Corps, which were distinguished in the battles against the Soviet army. Why not mention the “exploits” of the “Russland” division (since March 1945, the “1st Russian National Army”), which operated as part of the Wehrmacht under the leadership of General Smyslovsky?
Yes, many Russians fought on the Nazis side, but in the Kremlin they did not like to talk about it or during the Soviet era or now, in the Russia of Putin. Why were there so many collaborators among the Russians? The main reasons were the dissatisfaction of an important part of the Russians with the Soviet regime (including collectivization), as well as the continuous antisovietic activities of the Emigration of the White Guard, especially that part that adopted an “irreconcilable position”.
In contrast to the division of Europe in spheres of influence and collaboration with the Nazis, the Russians prefer to honor victory, as they say, in the great homeland, with pomp and show.
This is facilitated by a propaganda machinery of thousands of films, television series, musical and literary works. The parade itself in the Red Square has been a demonstration of military power since Soviet times, contributing to the militarization of the population’s mood and reinforcing the thesis that Russia is surrounded by enemies that only want to seize their territory and drain their resources.
The Kremlin tradition of celebrating victory extends far beyond the borders of Russia. The “Immortal Regiment” campaign, which uses San Jorge tapes and glorifies the “Genius Stalin leader” has become an attribute of the Russian diaspora in the world in recent years.
It is difficult to call victory to the events of 80 years ago, because its price was too high. Russian President Vladimir Putin, and Kremlin propaganda resources have deliberately destroyed the memory of the contribution of Ukraine and the antihitlerian coalition to victory over Hitlerism.
Putin’s Russia appropriated the victory over Nazism in World War II and made it a means to advance its neo -imperial aggressive plans. This was a prerequisite for Kremlin to label Ukrainians as “fascists” and for the beginning of the war against Ukraine in 2014 and the Russian large -scale invasion in 2022.
Traditionally, Russian fabulists who call themselves historians were only allowed to speak of “collaborators of the Ukrainian Nazis”, as they say of the Ukrainian insurgent army (UPA by the acronym in Ukrainian), who fought against the Soviets in the territories of the West of Ukraine occupied by the Soviet army. Russian historians forget that UPA soldiers also fought against the Nazis.
It is essential for Putin to subtract importance from the contribution of Ukrainians to victory over Nazism.
The total number of people mobilized from the territory of Ukraine to the Red Army during the war was approximately 7 million. One in two of them died, and one in two of those who survived returned disabled. Seven Ukrainians were commanders of fronts and armies and 200 were general. More than two thousand Ukrainians received the highest award from the USSR for their heroism during the fighting: the hero title of the Soviet Union.
In addition to the Red Army, the immigrants of Ukraine fought in the armies of Poland (120 thousand), the United States (80 thousand), Canada (45 thousand) and France (5 thousand). In 1944, one in three soldiers of the Red Army was a native of Ukraine. In the infantry units and formations from 1st to 4th Ukrainian fronts, the Ukrainians represented between 60 and 80%.
The total number of deaths during World War II is approximately 70 to 85 million. Of these, there are more than 4 million Ukrainians who were in the ranks of the Red Army and 4 million civilians, one tenth. The front passed through the territory of Ukraine from end to end twice and left an amazing destruction. One in five Ukrainians died in World War II and each student at a Soviet school knew it. Today in Russia they teach a different story, written by Putin.
Ukrainian Oleksii Bresta officer was one of those who raised the victory flag in the Reichstag. On May 8, 1945, Germany surrendered. World War II would last until September 2, 1945. Lieutenant General Kuzma Derevianko, of Ukrainian origin and born in the current province of Cherkasy, signed the surrender of Japan in the name of the USSR, aboard the American battleship Missouri.
By the way, during the Soviet Union, the role of Ukraine and the Ukrainians in the victory over Nazism was never questioned. It is a specific drift of the vision that Putin has in history. It is significant that, at the Yalta Conference of 1945, the then Foreign Minister of the USSR, Molotov, during a debate on the future UN configuration, declared: “It would be fair for three to talk about Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania) or at least two of the Soviet Republics found a worthy place among the members of the General Assembly of the UN. sacrifices and efforts during the war. ” For his contribution to victory over Nazism, Ukraine joined the group of the 51 founding nations of the UN. It is worth noting that Russia was not among these nations. The Soviet Union, Ukraine and Belarus received a place at the UN.
Manipulating historical facts and creating convenient myths is one of Putin’s favorite tricks. And this is priced. Modern Russians had all the possibilities of having a peaceful future and not repeating the mistakes of the last century. Instead, they kill Ukrainians every day, destroy our cities and towns and send thousands of their citizens to death. But we believe in historical justice and believe in our victory, in the same way that millions of Ukrainians believed while fighting Nazism and Stalinist totalitarianism in the last century. ~
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