Berlin's decision not to hold commemorative events on the 80th anniversary of Nazi Germany's attack on the USSR is shameful, Dietmar Bartsch, co-leader of The Left in German Bundestag and one of the party's top candidates in the upcoming parliamentary elections, told Sputnik on Monday
BERLIN (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 21st June, 2021) Berlin's decision not to hold commemorative events on the 80th anniversary of Nazi Germany's attack on the USSR is shameful, Dietmar Bartsch, co-leader of The Left in German Bundestag and one of the party's top candidates in the upcoming parliamentary elections, told Sputnik on Monday.
"The German-Russian Museum Berlin-Karlshorst is undoubtedly doing a commendable job. It occupies the building where the Nazi generals signed the unconditional surrender of the Nazi Reich on May 8, 1945. This museum is funded by the federal government. However, if it is used as an excuse for the rich Federal Republic of Germany to not hold commemorative events related to the 80th anniversary of Germany's attack, I can only call it shameful," Bartsch said.
Bartsch stressed that Hitler's attack on the Soviet Union was "one of the greatest crimes in history," which defied all preexisting laws of civilization and cost the USSR 27 million lives. He added that honoring the memory of the victims is "par for the course" with him.
"I met with the veterans and blockade survivors. Of course, it has formed my image of Russia, the former Soviet republics and the Soviet Union, together with the [Soviet] films I saw in my youth ... To me, it is unforgivable that neither the German Bundestag nor the federal government could decide on an official commemoration of the 80th anniversary of the German attack. The requests from my faction were rejected for unconvincing reasons. It is a manifestation of arrogance and oblivion of history," he stated.
It was reported earlier that neither the German Bundestag, nor the German government plan any official events to mark the 80th anniversary of the beginning of the Great Patriotic War against Nazi Germany and its allies. Only The Left party announced a commemorative event with the participation of the Russian State Duma lawmakers in the parliamentary complex in Berlin on Monday.
On June 18, the German-Russian Museum Berlin-Karlshorst opened an exhibition dedicated to the Soviet prisoners of war in WWII. The event was timed to coincide with the 80th anniversary of the attack of Nazi Germany on the USSR on June 22. German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier and several other top European diplomats attended the opening.
