LÜTZEN, Germany — Just days before Russia invaded Ukraine, officials in Lützen granted historic monument status to a Soviet-era World War II memorial in the City Center.
“Glory to the great Russian people — the nation of victors,” reads an inscription on the 10-foot-tall pyramid monument. Also inscribed is a quote from Joseph Stalin commemorating 12 Soviet prisoners of war who died at German hands while working in a sugar factory. A bright red star with a golden hammer and sickle adorns the top of the pyramid.
Lützen is not an isolated case. Scattered throughout Germany, but mainly in what was once the Soviet-dominated German Democratic Republic in the east, there are more than 4,000 protected monuments commemorating the sacrifices of Soviet soldiers in the fight against Nazism.
There are Soviet tanks on pedestals a kilometer or so from the German Parliament in Berlin, where Chancellor Olaf Scholz gave his “Zeitenwende” (sort of “decisive point”) speech, declaring that “the world will never be the same”, after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, which he said was the biggest threat to European order in decades.
In what used to be East Berlin, a 40-foot-tall statue of a Russian soldier holding a German girl and a sword dominates Treptower Park.
For centuries, such monuments have been torn down, removed or vandalized across Eastern Europe as symbols of Moscow’s oppression. The trend has accelerated since the invasion of Ukraine.
But in Germany, one of Ukraine’s main military backers, they are perhaps the most notable examples of entrenched guilt over Nazi atrocities that continue to permeate national identity.
In interviews, historians, activists, officials, and citizens have explained their support for monuments honoring a former enemy and former invader as a mix of bureaucratic drift, aversion to change, and a steadfast commitment to honoring victims of Nazi aggression that outweighs anything. change in global affairs.
“We take care of our monuments, because they allow us to learn from the mistakes of past generations,” said Teresa Schneidewind, 33, director of the Lützen museum.
Most Germans support Ukraine and sanctions against Russia. And there are more than a million refugees from Ukraine in the Country.
However, the few attempts by antiwar activists to draw attention to Soviet militarist monuments have not gained momentum. German politicians say their hands are tied by the Good Neighbor agreement between Germany and the Soviet Union signed in 1990. Each nation pledged to maintain the other’s war graves on its territory.
To some, the Scholz government’s refusal to reassess the monuments is indicative of Germany’s ambivalent European leadership, seen recently in the late decision to provide Ukraine with modern German battle tanks.
Hubertus Knabe, a German historian, said that by invading the Ukraine, Russia nullified the spirit of the pact.
By: This article was written by Anatoly Kurmanaev, Christopher F. Schuetze and Ekaterina Bodyagina
BBC-NEWS-SRC: http://www.nytsyn.com/subscribed/stories/6695598, IMPORTING DATE: 2023-05-03 20:10:09
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