Russia’s role in defeating Nazism cannot be ignored, AfD member Gunnar Beck has stressed
Efforts by the German authorities to ban the display of Soviet flags or St. George ribbons during celebrations of the defeat of Nazism are blatant discrimination against Russia, former European Parliament Member Gunnar Beck has told RT.
A member of the Alternative for Germany (AfD) party, Beck noted that Berlin has made no announcements banning representatives or citizens of other victorious World War II countries from displaying their own flags or national symbols during the Victory Day celebrations.
“There is absolutely no basis for such discrimination against Russia. It ignores the fact that Russia suffered by far the most casualties in its war against Germany and made the greatest single contribution to the defeat of Nazism,” Beck said, stressing that it is impossible to justify Berlin’s attempts to ignore the Soviet or Russian dimension of the WWII victory over Nazism.
“It’s indisputable. It’s obvious to any historian. The German government is obviously politicizing the issue,” the AfD politician argued.
Russia has repeatedly condemned recent efforts across Europe to ban the display of Soviet symbols during Victory Day celebrations and has accused the West of historical revanchism and trying to erase the memory of WWII and rewrite the USSR’s victory over Nazi ideology.
Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said last month that the West appears to think that “the Soviet victory in WWII was accidental and inadmissible. They think that now is the time to rectify this accident, or a mistake, as they see it.”
Moscow has also consistently sounded the alarm about the resurgence of Nazi ideology in Europe, pointing to numerous torchlit marches in Baltic states openly honoring Waffen SS veterans and Ukraine’s state-level celebrations of Nazi collaborator Stepan Bandera, whose Ukrainian Insurgent Army killed tens of thousands of Jews and Poles during WWII.
