{"id":675948,"date":"2026-01-05T18:19:13","date_gmt":"2026-01-05T18:19:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/675948\/"},"modified":"2026-01-05T18:19:13","modified_gmt":"2026-01-05T18:19:13","slug":"russia-to-mark-soviet-genocide-by-nazis-holocaust-not-mentioned","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/675948\/","title":{"rendered":"Russia to mark \u2018Soviet genocide\u2019 by Nazis, Holocaust not mentioned"},"content":{"rendered":"

The law, which took effect January 1, emphasizes Nazi responsibility for the destruction of Soviet civilians<\/a> but does not refer directly to the systematic extermination of Jews as part of the Holocaust.<\/p>\n

April 19 was chosen to mark a decree issued by the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet on April 19, 1943, considered the first official document to acknowledge the Nazis\u2019 deliberate policy of mass murder against civilians in territories occupied from the Soviet Union. Russian lawmakers say the date symbolizes historical recognition of these crimes and is intended to combat historical denial.<\/p>\n

The decision has drawn sharp criticism in Israel and among Jewish communities worldwide, as April 19, 1943, is the day the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising began, widely regarded as the central symbol of Jewish resistance during the Holocaust. Israel\u2019s Holocaust Remembrance Day also falls in April each year, closely tied to the date of the uprising. In 2026, it will be observed on April 14.<\/p>\n

Critics of the Russian move, including Alex Tenzer, the son of Holocaust survivors, say the law is a cynical distortion of history. They argue it ignores the unique nature of the Jewish genocide and promotes the concept of a \u201cSoviet genocide\u201d to advance a political agenda.<\/p>\n

Tenzer noted that until April 1943, the Soviet Union had not formally recognized mass extermination on its territory. He also pointed to Russia\u2019s ongoing demands for additional compensation from Germany for the siege of Leningrad, while Jewish Holocaust victims have received reparations for decades.<\/p>\n

Russia\u2019s Victory Day parade marking the defeat of Nazi Germany<\/p>\n

(Video: Reuters)<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

In recent years, Russia has pushed for legal recognition of Nazi crimes as genocide against the \u201cSoviet people,\u201d including demands that Germany recognize the Leningrad blockade as genocide and expand compensation. Germany already pays reparations to Jewish Holocaust victims, including Jewish survivors of the Leningrad siege, but Russia argues compensation should be extended to all survivors.<\/p>\n

Many historians and officials view the new law as an effort to downplay the Holocaust of European Jewry, particularly amid Russia\u2019s war in Ukraine and heightened tensions with the West. In Israel and internationally, critics have called for a clear distinction between remembrance of World War II victims and the Holocaust as a unique act of genocide.<\/p>\n

Russia annually marks Victory Day on May 9, one of the most significant dates in its state calendar, commemorating the defeat of Nazi Germany according to the Soviet timeline. The day is marked by official ceremonies, large military parades and speeches emphasizing the Soviet Union\u2019s role in defeating Nazism.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The law, which took effect January 1, emphasizes Nazi responsibility for the destruction of Soviet civilians but does…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":675949,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7655],"tags":[332],"class_list":{"0":"post-675948","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-russia","8":"tag-russia"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115843875788111007","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/675948","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=675948"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/675948\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/675949"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=675948"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=675948"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=675948"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}