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Vladimir Putin sent greetings to participants and guests of the event held to commemorate International Holocaust Remembrance Day and the 79th anniversary of the liberation of the Auschwitz-Birkenau (Oswiecim) concentration camp by the Red Army.
The message reads, in part:
“In January 1945, Red Army soldiers liberated the Oswiecim concentration camp. The world was aghast at the horrific new evidence of the Holocaust atrocities and the tragic fate of millions of Jews, Roma, Russians and members of other ethnic groups, who had been killed for their culture, language and origins.
We will never forget the enormous pain and suffering caused by the Second World War, the irreparable price our forefathers paid for the freedom and independence of our Fatherland and for victory over Nazim and its hideous ideology, and the legal, moral and ethical verdict passed on those who were found guilty of heinous crimes against humanity. Remembering these lessons and safeguarding the memory of the tragedy of war is a position of principle for our state, our society and the multinational people of Russia as a whole.
This memory is sacred to us. This is why we place so much value on an active civil stance and the dedicated efforts of all those who are working to protect historical truth, establish the names of soldiers, learn what became of innocent civilians, the biographies of concentration camp inmates and the victims of Nazi butchers. A large contribution to these considerable and much needed efforts is being made by the Russian Jewish community and, of course, by your traditional memorial events held on International Holocaust Remembrance Day.
I hope that this meeting will contribute to the further consolidation of our society around the values of humanism, consensus and civil peace.”
January 26, 2024