The liberation of the Auschwitz concentration camp by the Red Army, whose 80th anniversary was marked by ceremonies on Monday, January 27, was one of the key moments in the Soviet offensive to defeat Nazi Germany during the Second World War.
Russian President Vladimir Putin remembered the date. In a statement published on the Kremlin's website, he called on people not to forget that it was Soviet soldiers who liberated the Auschwitz concentration camp and revealed the truth about the Nazis' crimes.
“In January 1945, the Red Army liberated the Auschwitz concentration camp, revealing to humanity the truth about Nazi crimes and their accomplices who exterminated millions of Jews, Russians, members of the Roma and Sinti communities and representatives of other peoples. We will always remember that Soviet soldiers are the ones who crushed this terrible and total evil, who achieved victory, whose greatness will forever remain in world history,” said the Russian leader.
Vladimir Putin also declared that Moscow would continue to resist attempts by European figures to rewrite the legal and moral verdict handed down to the Nazis and their collaborators. Putin emphasized that everything would be done to prevent the spread of anti-Semitism, Russophobia and other racist ideologies.
The arrival of the Red Army at Auschwitz, where more than 1 million Jews and thousands of Soviets, Poles, Roma, Sinti and other minorities were murdered, happened in the context of Operation Vistula-Oder, one of the biggest Soviet offensives to expel German troops from Poland.
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This historic moment, which marks a series of celebrations of the 80th anniversary of the victory over Nazism, was recalled by Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova on January 17, the date of the start of the Soviet operation in German-occupied Poland.
“January 17, 2025, marks 80 years since that memorable day when units of the Red Army, the Liberating Army, entered Warsaw, the capital of Poland. During the Vistula-Oder strategic offensive operation, which has become a classic example of military art, a significant part of the territory of the modern Republic of Poland was liberated in 23 days. [...] Soldiers of the Polish People's Army Side traveled this victorious path side by side with our troops,” stated Zakharova.
“Documents bear witness to the atmosphere of 1945 winter in Poland. The Red Army’s soldiers and commanders, together with residents of the Polish lands liberated, rejoiced at the expulsion of the occupiers, expressed sympathy for the victims of Nazi terror and for the suffering of the Poles who survived Hitler's enslavement,” the Russian spokeswoman added.
The liberation of Auschwitz by the Red Army was instrumental in exposing the horrors of the Holocaust and became one of the most striking symbols of the downfall of the Nazi regime. The impact of it led the UN to choose January 27 as the International Day of Remembrance for the Victims of the Holocaust.
Representatives from several countries attended the ceremony held at the camp, which today serves as a museum dedicated to the memory of the Holocaust. Russia, however, was not invited to the ceremony in honor of Auschwitz victims. Russian diplomacy has repeatedly accused the West, in this particular case Poland, of “rewriting history” to overshadow the importance of the Soviet Union in liberating the country from Nazi occupation.
“No matter how shocking it may be for modern Polish politicians, the historic milestone on the way to the formation of the modern Republic of Poland as a national state of the Polish people within its existing borders was the liberation of the country by the Red Army in 1945. Without that, there would be no Polish state. Today, these sacred memories for Russians and Poles about the victories of the Red Army and the salvation of Poland from the Nazi yoke are overshadowed by the rewriting of history and the politics of amnesia, in which official Warsaw has reached the bottom of cynicism,” said Zakharova.
Russian authorities used to attend the ceremony marking the liberation of the Auschwitz camp by the Red Army. But after the outbreak of the war in Ukraine, in February 2022, the country was no longer invited to the event. This year, the director of the Auschwitz Museum, Piotr Cywinski, said that the date aims to remember the victims and is a tribute to freedom, saying that “it's hard to imagine the presence of Russia”, which, he added, “doesn't understand the value of freedom.”
This stance, however, was not applied to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who was invited to the ceremony despite his government being responsible for the deaths of tens of thousands of Palestinians in the war against the Gaza Strip.
It is worth remembering that Netanyahu has an arrest warrant issued by the International Criminal Court (ICC) for “war crimes and crimes against humanity” committed in Gaza. Poland, as a signatory to the international court's Rome Statute, would have to comply with the warrant and arrest Netanyahu if he travels to the country.
However, the Polish government declared that it would guarantee the participation and security of the Israeli authorities at the celebrations in Auschwitz. In the end, Netanyahu decided not to attend the event, but Israel sent a delegation of representatives.
Oleg Romanko, a history professor at the Federal University of Crimea, said in an interview with Brasil de Fato that it is very clear that Russia was not invited to the ceremony for political reasons. “On the one hand, it's an attempt to diminish contemporary Russia, to show that the Russian Federation, as the heir to the Soviet Union, had no importance in the victory over Nazism. Or if it did, it would be of very little significance,” he said.
Despite the undeniable role of the Soviet Union in the liberation of Auschwitz, the Red Army's importance has not been immune to disputes over narratives. The Soviet merit is contested especially by Poland, which suffered Moscow's dominance in the post-war period and, therefore, still has a history of rejecting the Soviet legacy.
“In that sense, I don't see anything very new in this. This event related to Auschwitz is just one aspect of a wider problem about the downplaying of the importance of the Soviet Union's role in the Second World War, on the one hand, and, on the other, making a parallel [of the USSR] with Hitler's Germany, as if it were one of the culprits in the unfolding of the Second World War. The fact that this is happening on Polish territory is even more explanatory because the Poles are the first to raise these questions, speaking as equal Germany's responsibility and that of the USSR,” said the historian.
“That's why we need to pay close attention to all these issues, always fight for historical truth, fight for history, especially if it concerns the Second World War. I see, for example, two fundamental issues with what we're talking about. Firstly, it is to try, in every possible way, to suppress attempts to diminish the importance of the Soviet Union's victory in the Second World War. Secondly, if we are talking about Eastern Europe, we should show how the USSR carried out a liberation mission there, and not as if it were an occupation,” added Oleg Romanko.
Edited by: Leandro Melito
