The Public Chamber of the Russian Federation held a preliminary reading of the draft law “On perpetuating the memory of the victims of the genocide of the Soviet people during the Great Patriotic War.” Photo: Vyacheslav Prokofiev/TASS
The Public Chamber of the Russian Federation held a preliminary reading of the draft law “On perpetuating the memory of the victims of the genocide of the Soviet people during the Great Patriotic War of 1941-1945.” Representatives of the National Center for Historical Memory of the President of the Russian Federation took part in the debate.
Historians and archivists have collected numerous documents devoted to the investigation of Nazi crimes against the population of the USSR during the Great Patriotic War. We are talking about the deliberate and mass extermination of people. There are many similar facts, but for the first time the concept of “genocide of the Soviet people” is introduced.
This concept includes the actions of Nazi Germany and its accomplices aimed at the complete or partial destruction of national, ethnic and racial groups that inhabited the territory of the USSR during the Great Patriotic War. Namely:
– murders of members of these groups,
– cause serious damage to your health,
– forced obstruction of motherhood,
– forced transfer of children,
— forced relocation or other creation of living conditions designed to lead to the physical destruction of members of these groups.
To date, court decisions have been adopted recognizing the crimes of the Nazis and their accomplices as genocide of the Soviet people in the territory of 23 regions of Russia.
These decisions provide the legal basis for the creation of monuments in memory of the victims of Nazi crimes.
“By preserving the memory of the victims of the Soviet people during the Great Patriotic War, we are not only defending historical truth, but also our historical sovereignty,” said Elena Malysheva, director of the National Center for Historical Memory. – On the territory of the RSFSR alone there were at least 454 places of forced detention and extermination of civilians and prisoners of war. But when it came to their commemoration, it turned out that it was not known who was responsible for this.
According to Malysheva, the law will create a legal basis for this activity and will determine those responsible and the limits of their powers.
– Today, all the conditions have been created for calling events and actions by their proper names, for speaking of Nazi crimes as genocide. Court decisions recognizing acts of genocide against Soviet citizens create clear legal grounds for the adoption of the law, he said.
