In January 2020, the fifth conference of the World Holocaust Forum was held in Jerusalem. The conference marked the 75th anniversary of the liberation of the Auschwitz concentration and extermination camp, which became a symbol of the Holocaust, and International Holocaust Remembrance Day. The conference was attended by dozens of senior leaders from around the world, including Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.
In a speech at the Forum at a ceremony in Yad Vashem, President Putin said that "the final solution to the Jewish problem is one of the blackest pillars of modern history. This crime also had collaborators: Nazi aides, who were often more cruel than the Nazis themselves. Not only the Nazis but their aides from other countries throughout Europe worked in the concentration camps." Already in these words Putin hinted at Ukraine, which in the Russian narrative is perceived as the leading collaborator with Nazi Germany. Putin added that "it is the Soviet people who put an end to the malicious plans of the Nazis....It defended both the homeland and brought liberation to Europe. We paid such a heavy toll" (during the war some 27 million Russians, civilians, and soldiers paid with their lives). In contrast, President Zelensky chose not to attend the event at Yad Vashem, and as a Jew, visited the Western Wall at the time. He claims that he thereby allowed additional Holocaust survivors to attend, but in fact complained that Putin was chosen to speak at the ceremony and he himself did not get a proper stage to speak from.
This occurrence was only symbolic, certainly in light of the recent escalation of tensions between Russia and Ukraine. The rivalry between them is manifested in conflicting strategic interests – political, security, and territorial – intertwined with opposing interpretations and narratives about the history and relationship between countries.
Russia blames Ukraine and other East European countries, especially those that chose to join the European Union and NATO, of rewriting history and not recognizing Russia's significant role, when as the Soviet Union, it saved the world from the Third Reich in the Great Patriotic War and paid the heaviest price. This is also the background to Russia's political and security claims and the demand to recognize its special status as a leading world power even today, despite the dissolution of the Soviet Union.
In the context of the bloody war in Ukraine, Russia is waving the freedom flag, whereby Kyiv must be liberated from the nationalists, who are allegedly neo-Nazis and responsible for the "genocide" in the eastern parts of the country, inhabited by a large Russian minority. This follows Russia blaming Ukraine's leadership since the 2014 crisis and Russia's takeover of the Crimean Peninsula for relying on ultra-nationalist, antisemitic, and neo-Nazi forces – descendants of Ukrainian collaborators with Nazi Germany.
The Ukrainian side is also not innocent of using the Holocaust to justify the expectation of impartial support from Israel. Referring to Kyiv’s disappointment with Israel's restrictions on the acceptance of refugees from his country, Ukrainian Ambassador to Israel Ivan Kornichuk said that "we believe you all remember World War II, when Ukrainians helped save Jews." However, the Ambassador forgot to point out that apart from a few Righteous Among the Nations, many Ukrainians persecuted Jews in the Holocaust, betrayed them to the Nazis, and even murdered them with their own hands. And in response to a Russian attack on March 1 against the Kyiv communications tower, during which the area with the monument commemorating the murder of 33,771 Jews in September 1941 by Nazi Germany in Babi Yar was damaged, Zelensky said: "What is the point of saying 'never again' for 80 years, if the world continues to be silent when a bomb falls on the same Babi Yar site? History repeats itself".
The Holocaust was an unprecedented historical event. Hopefully such a systematic genocide, stemming from racism and abysmal hatred, will not happen again. In order to preserve the unique status of the Holocaust, one must back away from and deter any political use of it, other than emphasizing it as a warning sign. The same goes for Israeli politicians' use of Holocaust motifs. This is not the time for historical calculations, certainly not to justify Putin's aggressive moves or to come to settle accounts with the citizens of Ukraine, who today are victims, refugees, and persecuted people, even though some are descendants of collaborators with Nazi Germany in the murder of the Jewish people.
In January 2020, the fifth conference of the World Holocaust Forum was held in Jerusalem. The conference marked the 75th anniversary of the liberation of the Auschwitz concentration and extermination camp, which became a symbol of the Holocaust, and International Holocaust Remembrance Day. The conference was attended by dozens of senior leaders from around the world, including Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.
In a speech at the Forum at a ceremony in Yad Vashem, President Putin said that "the final solution to the Jewish problem is one of the blackest pillars of modern history. This crime also had collaborators: Nazi aides, who were often more cruel than the Nazis themselves. Not only the Nazis but their aides from other countries throughout Europe worked in the concentration camps." Already in these words Putin hinted at Ukraine, which in the Russian narrative is perceived as the leading collaborator with Nazi Germany. Putin added that "it is the Soviet people who put an end to the malicious plans of the Nazis....It defended both the homeland and brought liberation to Europe. We paid such a heavy toll" (during the war some 27 million Russians, civilians, and soldiers paid with their lives). In contrast, President Zelensky chose not to attend the event at Yad Vashem, and as a Jew, visited the Western Wall at the time. He claims that he thereby allowed additional Holocaust survivors to attend, but in fact complained that Putin was chosen to speak at the ceremony and he himself did not get a proper stage to speak from.
This occurrence was only symbolic, certainly in light of the recent escalation of tensions between Russia and Ukraine. The rivalry between them is manifested in conflicting strategic interests – political, security, and territorial – intertwined with opposing interpretations and narratives about the history and relationship between countries.
Russia blames Ukraine and other East European countries, especially those that chose to join the European Union and NATO, of rewriting history and not recognizing Russia's significant role, when as the Soviet Union, it saved the world from the Third Reich in the Great Patriotic War and paid the heaviest price. This is also the background to Russia's political and security claims and the demand to recognize its special status as a leading world power even today, despite the dissolution of the Soviet Union.
In the context of the bloody war in Ukraine, Russia is waving the freedom flag, whereby Kyiv must be liberated from the nationalists, who are allegedly neo-Nazis and responsible for the "genocide" in the eastern parts of the country, inhabited by a large Russian minority. This follows Russia blaming Ukraine's leadership since the 2014 crisis and Russia's takeover of the Crimean Peninsula for relying on ultra-nationalist, antisemitic, and neo-Nazi forces – descendants of Ukrainian collaborators with Nazi Germany.
The Ukrainian side is also not innocent of using the Holocaust to justify the expectation of impartial support from Israel. Referring to Kyiv’s disappointment with Israel's restrictions on the acceptance of refugees from his country, Ukrainian Ambassador to Israel Ivan Kornichuk said that "we believe you all remember World War II, when Ukrainians helped save Jews." However, the Ambassador forgot to point out that apart from a few Righteous Among the Nations, many Ukrainians persecuted Jews in the Holocaust, betrayed them to the Nazis, and even murdered them with their own hands. And in response to a Russian attack on March 1 against the Kyiv communications tower, during which the area with the monument commemorating the murder of 33,771 Jews in September 1941 by Nazi Germany in Babi Yar was damaged, Zelensky said: "What is the point of saying 'never again' for 80 years, if the world continues to be silent when a bomb falls on the same Babi Yar site? History repeats itself".
The Holocaust was an unprecedented historical event. Hopefully such a systematic genocide, stemming from racism and abysmal hatred, will not happen again. In order to preserve the unique status of the Holocaust, one must back away from and deter any political use of it, other than emphasizing it as a warning sign. The same goes for Israeli politicians' use of Holocaust motifs. This is not the time for historical calculations, certainly not to justify Putin's aggressive moves or to come to settle accounts with the citizens of Ukraine, who today are victims, refugees, and persecuted people, even though some are descendants of collaborators with Nazi Germany in the murder of the Jewish people.