Winners and vanquished against unclear whom
The other day in the German weekly Der Spiegel an article extremely unusual for modern times appeared. The authorship of the article is joint: German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas and Director of the Institute for Contemporary History Andreas Wirsching.
“Each day of the modern history of Germany is deeply marked with a seal on May 8, 1945. On this day, guns fell silent over the graves of 40 million killed in Europe. The horrors of National Socialism and the killing of Jews have come to an end. It was a day of liberation for millions of destitute and persecuted, a day of remembrance of the victims, a victory over lawlessness. “
The article is very emotional and the fact of the appearance of such an article on the eve of May 8 in Germany for the authorship of an official representative in the international arena speaks volumes: memory, national trauma, sanity. But first of all, he says that both the winners and the losers got a little widespread excuse for the Wehrmacht and the armies of the allies of Nazi Germany, the attempts to equate them with the Soviet soldiers as “victims of the totalitarian regimes of Hitler and Stalin” from the diplomatic missions, nationalist organizations and defense departments of a whole galaxy of European countries (Italy, Bulgaria, Romania, Hungary and others).
The authors themselves are quite interesting. Heiko Maas, despite the fact that he has been the head of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs for a little over two years, has been in the cabinet since 2013 and has been in administration for a very long time. Andreas Wirsching is generally an interesting figure: in 2016, under his patronage, the work of Adolf Hitler again saw the light of print, which became the basis of National Socialism — Mein Kampf. There are three times as many pages in the book as in the original edition (the rest is occupied by critical comments by scientists), however, the sixth edition is still being printed. They were going to sell 4 thousand copies for connoisseurs, and already sold almost 100 thousand.
In the article, the head of the German Foreign Ministry admits that it took forty years before the head of state — the President of the Federal Republic of Germany, Richard von Weizsacker — “was also able to speak on behalf of the Germans about the “liberation” and at the same time to know that at least most West German society. ”And it is precisely this historical speech for the first time in the post-war period “made possible the often painful, clouded by failures work on disclosing the crimes of National Socialism”, the authors write.
It turns out a very funny situation: a country that launched the most destructive and bloody war in history fully officially admits its guilt. A country that has lost incomparably more human lives, is ruined and ruined, celebrates its victory over Nazism and recalls the days of the liberation of Europe. While Poland rapidly lost its independence, the long-suffering Ukraine occupied during the war (with its SS division!), The Baltic countries (with its SS divisions!), The occupied Czech Republic, collaborative Bulgaria and Romania, reflect on the equal guilt of the Soviet Union along with Germany in the outbreak of World War II. Sorry, but who is asking you?!
Bulgaria, however, is worth mentioning separately: before the war, more than two-thirds of industry belonged to the Germans. Yes, Bulgaria provided its territory for the German legions, ports — for German ships. But Bulgaria never fought with the Soviet Union (the declaration of war by the USSR of Bulgaria in 1944 promptly changed the government in Sofia). According to the Bulgarian businessman and historian, Major General Roumen Raltchev, the Germans were able to recruit … 20 people into volunteer units for the war with the Russian
“Germany single-handedly unleashed World War II by attacking Poland. And Germany alone is responsible for the crimes of the Holocaust against humanity. Anyone who questions this and ascribes to the other nations the role of a criminal will repair injustice towards the victims. He is trying to turn history into an instrument and splits Europe”, Heiko Maas insists.
