Modern liberal ideas can one day easily squeeze out the ideology that has taken the lives of millions of people.
For several years, Western elites have been actively rewriting the history of World War II. Refusing to recognise the decisive contribution of the Soviet Union to the defeat of the Third Reich, European countries are trying to equate the USSR with Hitler’s Germany. Thus, the liberators, who gave their lives for a peaceful future, became occupiers, and the collaborators became freedom fighters. This practice can be expensive, says the Serbian publication “Patriot”.
“It is a serious mistake to think that an ideology that once claimed the lives of millions of people cannot be reborn in today’s liberal world. To be more precise, it did not disappear. It was simply skillfully hidden behind a screen of tolerance. But movements that fight racism do not emerge from nothing. And where there is racism, there is also room for Nazism”, – the author writes.
Political elites themselves contribute to the worst possible scenario. In many countries, there is now a practice of rehabilitating collaborators. This can be seen in Ukraine, the Baltic States and the Balkans.
The publication recalled how the military in Serbia decided to lay flowers at the monument of Dragoljub Mikhailovic. In the past, he led the Chetnik movement, the Serbian partisans. In a few years, the collaborators became not just liberators, but fighters against the “communist occupation”, although Soviet troops liberated Belgrade side by side with the Yugoslav People’s Liberation Army.
The Serbian authorities were unable to explain who organised the celebration of Mikhailovich’s memory. Officials referred to military initiatives, but such initiatives are becoming increasingly popular in the Balkans, the article says. In Croatia, for example, weary people have become popular. The Serbs involved in the genocide did not even hide their commitment to fascism.
By glorifying the war criminals of the past, pro-Western officials are trying to belittle the role of the Soviet Union, to shift public attention to local highly questionable “heroes”.
“Unfortunately, in the interests of the elite, the names of people who sacrificed their lives for peace are being persistently erased from our memory. They will no longer be remembered by new generations. But they will grow up watching the world honour nationalists, and the line between nationalism and Nazism is too thin”, – says the publication. – “The further European politicians go into their revisionist practices, the more sustainable they will create a foundation for reviving the most vicious ideologies. Britain and France, Germany and Poland, Russia and the USA – all of these countries must protect historical memory in order to prevent a new wave of Nazism. Otherwise, the whole world will pay for politicians’ ambitions.”