Jens Asbjørn Bøgen
Zelenskyy is even the grandson of a Holocaust-survivor.
Vladimir Putin has, on several occations, justfied his war on Ukraine by calling it a peacekeeping mission to “denazifi” the old Soviet Republic.
Russia even has a national holiday to mark the victory over Nazi-Germany called “Victory day” on May 9th each year.
The thing is, that the Ukrainian President, Volodomyr Zelenskyy, is actually Jewish. He is even the grandson of a Holocaust-survivor.
Many will probably say, that Putin has simply lost his mind, Nazi-claims or not, but to understand Putins continued focus on fighting against Nazism, we need to understand Russian history.
The Pogroms
In 1881, Russian Tsar Alexander II was assassinated. Following the assassination, sporadic episodes of violence against Jews occured in what is now considered the South of Russia. These episodes are called Pogroms.
According to PBS, after the Russian Revolution in 1917, an estimated 100,000 Jews was killed in attacks perpetrated by soldiers fighting to restore a united Russia. Jews were also killed by armies of the newly formed Ukranian and Polish states.
Ukranian collaboration with Nazis in WW2
During WW2, German soldiers killed an estimated 1,5 million Jews in the areas that are now Ukraine. These killings often happened in collaboration with Ukrainian militas and local auxiliary police.
The lingering trauma of WW2 that still exists in Russia is part of the reason, Putin is using denazification as justification for his war.
“Factually wrong”
Shortly after the Russian invasion of Ukraine, an open letter written by scholars of genozide and Nazism from all over the World made it clear that Putins rhetoric is both “factually wrong, morally repugnant and deeply offensive”.
It’s a well-known tactic to use an “Us vs. Them” rhetoric. It creates a sense of unity within the population as well as giving the population a common enemy to blame for whatever is wrong.
That being said, Ukraine has actually been criticized by some Jewish groups efter the pro-Western revolution of 2014.
The main point of critizism was that Ukraine now allowed independence fighters, who at one point sided with Nazi Germany, to be honored as national heroes.
Sources: PBS, Holocaust Encyclopedia
