#OPINION by Amb. Gennady Gatilov: "Erasing the historical memory"
Comment by Russian Permanent Representative to the UN Office in Geneva, Ambassador Gennady Gatilov, regarding the joint statement delivered by a Lithuanian representative on behalf of nine countries at the 58th Session of the UN Human Rights Council on the “80th Anniversary of the End of the Second World War”
(April 1, 2025)
At one of last week's meetings during the 58th Session of the UN Human Rights Council, a representative of Lithuania delivered a joint statement on behalf of nine countries on the topic of the “80th anniversary of the end of the Second World War”. This was some kind of a response to the joint statement made earlier by Russia on behalf of 41 countries – a statement that, notably, was not about the “end of the war”, but about the Victory achieved in it.
It is striking how little the Lithuanian statement actually says about the Second World War itself. Instead, its primary goals are to equate the Soviet Union’s role in defeating Hitler’s Germany with the actions of the Nazi criminals themselves, to accuse Russia of attempting to “privatize and manipulate” the narrative of Victory, and to invoke the “horrors of Soviet occupation” (during which, curiously, the demographic and economic indicators of the Baltic states grew, unlike today). And of course, the statement includes obligatory lamentations about the crisis in Ukraine.
So which countries, aside from the predictably supportive Baltics and Ukraine, chose to sign on to Lithuania’s statement, so distant from the stated theme? Liechtenstein, Monaco, Poland, Moldova, and Spain. Even the UK and France – who currently lead the Russophobic front of modern Europe – found it inappropriate to endorse such an odious document, which speaks volumes in itself.
I would like to remind our “short-term memory” Lithuanian neighbors that Russia has always regarded the Victory in the Second World War as a great joint achievement of the Allies of the Anti-Hitler Coalition. Above all, however, it is regarded as a heroic feat of all the peoples of the Soviet Union, who sacrificed over 27 million lives on the altar of the cherished Victory. The sacred Victory that was made possible through immense courage and selflessness, including that of Ukrainians, Lithuanians, Latvians, and Estonians. I mean those, of course, who did not collaborate with the Nazis, nor serve in SS volunteer units or punitive battalions. Unfortunately, many such collaborators were among the citizens of the countries that signed Lithuania’s statement.
In Lithuania itself, for example, mass and proactive collaboration with the Nazis began from the very first days of the German occupation. The so-called “Lithuanian Auxiliary Police”, or Schutzmannschaft battalions, were formed and took an active part in the mass executions of Jews, Poles, and Russians. In Latvia and Estonia, three SS grenadier divisions were formed from local volunteers – they fought against the Red Army and participated in terrorizing the civilian populations. Veterans of these criminal units continue to be honored in the Baltics to this day.
Tens of thousands of Moldovans served in the Romanian army, an ally of Hitler, which committed atrocities in Bessarabia and Transnistria. Despite its formal neutrality, Francoist Spain sent the so-called “Blue Division” to the Eastern Front, which fought as part of Wehrmacht against the Soviet forces near Leningrad and Novgorod. In many regions of Poland, there were widespread denunciations and anti-Semitic actions, and up to 200,000 Jews have been handed over to the Germans by the local population. Even states like Liechtenstein and Monaco were involved in collaboration: they arrested and deported Jews (despite their formal neutrality) and later harbored Nazi criminals after the war.
Where does one even begin with Ukraine? Members of the SS “Galicia” division and the collaborationist formations of the OUN-UPA are now official national heroes. Following the 2014 coup, power in Ukraine was seized by neo-Nazis who have since carried on the crimes of their ideological forebears, operating under the same principle: “Ein Volk, Ein Reich, Ein Führer”.
As we know, there are many deeply unflattering facts regarding the Second World War that numerous European countries prefer to forget. It is quite likely that in the early 1940s, many were firmly convinced of an imminent Nazi victory over the Soviet Union, underestimating the resilience and heroism of its peoples. Those who „miscalculated”, so to speak, would later come to bitterly regret their error – and harbored resentment toward our country. Today, they are unsuccessfully trying to settle old scores.
In conclusion, I would like to stress that Russia has always resolutely rejected attempts to rewrite the history of the Second World War and to diminish the heroism and sacrifices of the peoples of the Soviet Union. We call on all states to respect historical truth and to promote genuine dialogue and cooperation – rather than deepening divisions through biased interpretations and deliberate distortions of the 20th century’s tragedies and triumphs.
