VERONA, 21 October (BelTA)- The ‘vaccine' for the Nazi virus and hateful ideology made 75 years ago is losing its power, Russian Ambassador to Italy Sergey Razov said as he addressed the international conference "Who actually won World War II" in Verona on 21 October, BelTA learned.
According to the diplomat, the war has become a distant history for many new generations. “This ignorance, misunderstanding and indifference are being used by dishonest politicians. There are a lot of examples of that,” he said.
“Attempts to openly and brazenly distort history, the history that was the axiom for the older generation are outrageous," the Russian ambassador said. “What was black for us, they are trying to present as white and vice versa. It is our civic duty to defend what our grandfathers and fathers fought for.”
Ambassador Sergey Razov stated: sometimes it comes to the point when they are trying to blame the Soviet Union, the main winner of the war, for starting the war. “In this regard, I would like to cite a few historical facts that are widely known but are less obvious for the younger generation,” the diplomat continued. “The Generalplan Ost, the Nazi Master Plan for the East of 1940, provided for the physical extermination or deportation of up to 85% of Poles and Lithuanians, 50% of Estonians, 70% of Latvians. The Jewish population of these countries was subject to total annihilation. The Generalplan Ost (used by the Nuremberg Trials to unmask the Nazi crimes) called, I would quote, “for the complete extermination of the Russian people”. There was also a kind of a memo for German soldiers, which called on every soldier of the Reich to kill a hundred Russians, without making any distinction between men, women and children. From the very start the Wehrmacht aided and abetted war crimes and punitive operations on the territory of the Soviet Union.
The Russian ambassador also drew attention to many fictions and discussions, especially in the Western media, around the USSR-Germany Nonaggression Pact of 23 August 1939, which they are trying to present as a trigger, a signal for the beginning of the great war in Europe. “It is well known from the archive documents that the exact date for the start of World War II - 1 September 1939 - was approved by the Third Reich in April 1939 with the directive ‘On the unified preparation of the armed forces for the war in 1939-1940'. Therefore, the presence or absence of any agreement with the Soviet Union, I mean the pact of 23 August 1939, did not change Germany's military plans, already approved by Hitler,” Sergey Razov said.
“The historical truth is important for future generations. Only true historians and scientists can give an unbiased assessment of the past events,” the Russian ambassador said.
President of the association Conoscere Eurasia, head of the Italian bank Intesa Professor Antonio Fallico also spoke about the attempts to rewrite the history. “A lot of people have been recently trying to rewrite the history. Undoubtedly, this is done by short-sighted politicians who are not historians. It is undeniable that the USSR made a decisive contribution to the victory in World War II. For every British or American soldier killed fighting the Nazis, 80 Soviet people died doing the same,” he stressed.
The International Scientific Conference was part of a series of events dedicated to the 75th anniversary of Victory, timed to the annual Eurasian Economic Forum in Verona. According to Antonio Fallico, this year the organizers could not ignore this significant date. He is convinced that the victory over fascism remains the most important event for the whole mankind.
The Eurasian Economic Forum in Verona is organized by the non-for-profit association Conoscere Eurasia, the Roscongress Foundation and St. Petersburg International Economic Forum. BelTA is an information partner of the Verona forum.
