Resolution of the International Conference

“Legacy of World War II and the Holocaust”

Berlin, 15-17 December, 2009

 

In 2010 the world will mark the 65-year anniversary of the end of World War II, one of the most terrible tragedies in the history of mankind. In the occupied territories of the Third Reich the Nazis and their collaborators consistently pursued a policy of destruction, enslavement and forced assimilation of representatives of so-called “inferior races”. The first victims of Nazi genocide became the Jewish people; the Nazis murdered millions of Gypsies, Russian, Ukrainian, Belarusian and other peoples of the Soviet Union and European countries. Only the heroic efforts of the Red Army and the support of the anti-Hitler coalition allowed a stop to the Holocaust, and, as a result, millions of lives were saved.

We are representatives of 25 countries assembled from different nationalities and religions: academics, journalists, cultural figures, community and religious leaders, veterans of World War II, prisoners of ghetto and concentration camps pay tribute and honour to those who died fighting against fascism. We met in Berlin to exchange views and express attitudes as to the negative political developments unfolding around the theme of war.

In recent years the memory of World War II has underwent a distortion in speculative political purposes. The attempts to equate the Soviet Union and Nazi Germany, Holocaust denial, glorification of Nazi participation in genocide, neglect of the Red Army victories, unfounded accusations of Soviet soldiers and partisans in mythical crime – cannot fail to cause serious concern. Links to these can be established in the public denial of the Holocaust by leaders of Iran, supported by the officials of Tallinn in attempts to throw the responsibility initiating the Holocaust on the Soviet Union, raising to the rank of “heroes of Ukraine” the militants OUN and UIA, the prosecution of antifascist partisans (including Jews) in Lithuania and Latvia .

We can not be indifferent to attempts to obliterate the memory of victims of Nazi crimes and the glorification of their perpetrators. Our major concern is the growing gap between the real, terrible events of the war years, and the mundane representations of the nationals of most countries that participated in the Second World War, the Holocaust, the crimes of the Nazis and their accomplices. The public consciousness is penetrated by representations contrary to modern scientific knowledge – knowledge that relies on a broad base of documentary evidence and numerous studies. We were particularly concerned about the ideologies of neo-Nazism, aggressive nationalism, xenophobia and anti-Semitism among young people in Ukraine, Latvia, Estonia, Moldova, Romania, Sweden, Norway, Russia and other European countries.

 

 

 

We believe that:

-         Reviewing the outcome of the war opens the door to review decisions of the Nuremberg trials in 1946, and thus to the abandonment of those decisions that shaped the foundations of modern political morality and international law: the absence of a statute of limitations for crimes against humanity, the recognition of all criminal “SS” groups, recognizing the Nazis plans for the “final solution” of the Jewish question, the ban on Nazi organizations, etc.;

-         Attempts to revise the outcome of the Second World War, Holocaust denial, and the glorification of Nazi criminals and collaborators directly leads to the infusion of neo-Nazi, xenophobic and anti-Semitic attitudes in society;

-         States using, as an instrument of politics, dishonest tactics to stimulate development of national identity based on the themes of heroically support of Nazism, should abandon this practice, otherwise it they proclaim but one thing: they stand in solidarity with the side that lost the war, i.e., with Hitler's Germany. And, therefore, they should be subjected to claims from both the victorious countries as well as Jewish organizations, as the Jewish people were subject to massive destruction that included support from the military forces of the 14^th (Ukrainian), 15^th (Latvian), 19^th (Latvian), and 20^th (Estonian) divisions of the Waffen-SS auxiliary police, and militants of the OUN and UIA.

 

We welcome the efforts of governments of the Baltic States and Ukraine to perpetuate the memory of Holocaust victims – the citizens of their states – but also:

 

We condemn:

-         Holocaust denial, causes of historical distortion, and the mechanisms and consequences of this tragedy;

-         Downplaying the crucial role of the Soviet Union's victory over Nazi Germany;

-         Glorifying the Nazi criminals and their accomplices;

-         Speculative attempts of several countries and international organizations to equate Soviet and Nazi regimes.

 

We appeal to all Governments of the world to:

-         Legislatively declare the date of victory over Nazi Germany as a national holiday;

-         In anticipation of the 65^th anniversary of the victory, to undertake activities aimed at perpetuating the memory of World War II and the Holocaust;

-         Actively oppose attempts to review the outcome of World War II, Holocaust denial, and distortion of the causes, mechanisms and consequences of this tragedy, including the glorification of Nazi criminals and collaborators as an internal political purposes, and in the international arena;

-         Set, in accordance with UN General Assembly resolution on the International Day of the Holocaust, national days of remembrance to mark the liberation of Auschwitz by the Soviet army;

-         Promoting non-Nazism in the information space;

-         To perpetuate the extermination of the Holocaust and the Nazi genocide;

-         To oppose attempts to move the Bronze Soldier Monument.
 

We also call on:

 

the Government of Iran, demanding that they:

-         Dissociate themselves from, and stop carrying out, the activities aimed at Holocaust denial and the distortion of the causes, mechanisms and consequences of this tragedy;

 

the leaders, parliaments, Governments of Estonia, Lithuania, Latvia and Ukraine, demanding that they:

-         To stop glorification of Nazi criminals and their accomplices;

-         To stop unwarranted prosecution of antifascist partisans, including V. Kononov, Y. Arad, F. Brantsovsky and others;

-         Refuse to assign the title of “Hero of Ukraine” to R. Shukhevych and to S. Bender, as their involvement and participation in organizations perpetrating the mass extermination of Jews and other nationalities in the Ukraine is proven and documented;

 

 

International youth organizations to:

-         To actively combat the resurgence of Nazism, the glorification Nazi criminals and their collaborators and the distortion of the history of the Second World War;

-         Make every effort to perpetuate the memory of the fallen heroes of the anti-fascist, soldiers of the Red Army and other armies of the coalition, as well as victims of the Holocaust;

 

the Conference of NGOs in Council of Europe:

-         With a proposal to establish a permanent advisory council to monitor the revival of Nazism. This is to recognize the facts regarding the glorification of Nazi criminals and their associates transfer these for further analysis to the Interparliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe.

to intergovernmental international organizations - UN, Council of Europe, Venice Commission, European Union, OSCE, CIS and other international and public organizations in the world:

- And asked for his assessment and suggestions to the draft Law of Ukraine "On the prohibition of rehabilitation and glorification of the Nazi collaborators 1933-1945 " Prepared by the Member of the Supreme Rada of Ukraine Mr.Vadim Kolesnichenko ;

to the Simon Wiesenthal Center, the leadership of Yad Vashem and the State of Israel:

- Requesting help to community organizations and researchers to access materials on the causes, victims, executioners and righteous of the Holocaust;

to government, public and academic organizations of Eastern European countries call for full cooperation in the search of:

- People who saved Jews in Nazi-occupied territories,
- evidence of the crimes of the Nazis and their accomplices
- The facts of the heroic resistance of the Jews during the Second World War.

We emphasize the consistent policy of the State of Israel, Russia, the United States, the Republic of Belarus, the Federal Republic of Germany, aimed at preventing the falsification of the Second World War and the Holocaust denial.

Deserves special attention the unique experience of Belarus - the only CIS country where all schools studied a course on the history of the Great Patriotic War. Such efforts are certainly worthy of respect and imitation.

 

We urge the international community to carry on the memory of the millions victims of the Nazi death camps and ghettos, the mass execution of civilians, and the genocide of the Jewish people. Never can we forget the heroes of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising, Sobibor, Auschwitz, Sachsenhausen, and Treblinka. There is no statute of limitations for crimes the Nazis and their collaborators – those crimes that have become a shameful page in the history of the peoples of several European countries.

 

We appeal to the peoples of the world to keep the memory of the most terrible war in human history, and the memory of true heroes: the generals and officers, soldiers and partisans, underground fighters and organizers, and for everyone who gave their lives in the Great Victory over fascism!

 

REMEMBER!