An article by political scientist Vladimir Kornilov for RIA Novosti on June 22, 2026, and translated by us for our Telegram channel “Beorn And The Shieldmaiden”.
June 22nd. The Day of eternal remembrance, the day of national mourning, and at the same time, the day as a symbol of the indomitability of our people. The day when each of us remembers our ancestors who died in the Great Patriotic War. And as you know, “there is no family in Russia without own hero to be remembered…”
Since the collective historical memory of that war and the Great Victory over a Europe united by Nazism is the core of our state, Europeans will always fight against our monuments. It is enough to recall what was done in recent years with monuments to Soviet soldiers-liberators in the Baltic States, Poland, the Czech Republic and Ukraine after the victory of Nazi ideology there.
Admittedly, Germany has stayed away from these trends for a long time. First of all, in connection with the publicly recognised collective guilt of the Germans for the crimes of the Second World War. But as anti-Russian hysteria escalates, the process of liberation from these self-restrictions is rapidly gaining momentum there.
At the very beginning of the SMO, the then German Chancellor Olaf Scholz made a speech in which he repeatedly made references to the history of the Great Patriotic War. And some media interpreted the speech precisely as “Germany’s rejection of historical guilt towards Russia.” Note that Berlin has repeatedly officially announced that its sense of historical guilt over the Holocaust determines its policy towards Israel. And recent statements by the Luftwaffe commander about his readiness to bomb St. Petersburg and Kaliningrad indicate that the shackles of collective responsibility towards Russia and the Russian people have finally been thrown off.
The Germans have not yet encroached on monuments to Soviet soldiers, being limited by their laws and international obligations to preserve graves. But a different kind of encroachment began there. So, recently, a heated debate has unfolded in Germany around the monument to the Soviet Soldier-liberator in Berlin’s Treptow Park. Moreover, these debates were started by Ukrainian activists who did not like the Soviet symbols and the fact that the memorial complex was covered with Stalin’s quotations.
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