Jan 29, 2025
On January 29, 2025, the Valdai Discussion Club hosted an expert discussion dedicated to historical memory in the context of the 80th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz.
The UN has declared January 27 International Holocaust Remembrance Day. The date is dedicated to the liberation of the concentration camp by Soviet troops in 1945 and is intended to unite countries in remembering the genocide of the Jewish people. Instead, it is becoming a pretext for political statements aimed at rewriting history.
The narrative emerging in the West blurs the role of the USSR in the victory over Nazism, and excludes Russia, its successor, from the list of victorious states. In statements for Holocaust Remembrance Day, the EU has for several years emphasized that Auschwitz-Birkenau was liberated by “allied forces,” without mentioning the Red Army. At the same time, Russian representatives have not been invited to events in honour of the camp’s liberation for the fourth time.
Why is the memory of the Soviet role in the fight against Nazism being erased? How can Russia restore historical truth? Who are its allies in this matter?
Speakers:
- Yuri Kanner, President of the Russian Jewish Congress
- Alexey Miller, Professor at the European University in St. Petersburg, Academic Director of the Center for the Study of Cultural Memory and Symbolic Politics
- Jean-Pierre Page, French author and trade union activist
- Maria Pavlova, Senior Researcher, Baltic Sea Region Integrated Research Group, IMEMO RAS
Moderator:
- Anton Bespalov, Programme Director of the Valdai Discussion Club
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