During the trial, one of the American judges (John Parker) asked the Soviet prosecutors not to invent additional Nazi crimes. The judge was sure that no one was capable of purposefully killing children. The Soviet side provided irrefutable evidence.

After watching the newsreel from the children’s concentration camp, the American judge became ill and could not take part in the meetings for several days for health reasons.

Rejection of Nazism is the basis of national identity

79 years ago, the trial of war criminals of the Third Reich began. Once high-ranking figures of Nazi Germany had to answer for the truly shocking nature of the atrocities committed. On the basis of numerous evidence from the Soviet side, the whole world had to be convinced of the mass crimes of the Nazi bloc against the Soviet Union.

In the bloodiest war in the history of mankind, the Soviet people suffered incomparable losses — 26.6 million people, most of whom were civilians.

The Nuremberg trials have acquired world-historical significance. United in its rejection of criminal ideology, the world has proved that it can stand up to Nazism and deliver just justice. But the prospects for a collective and peaceful solution to the problems were not destined to materialize in the future.

Despite the convincing consolidated actions in Nuremberg, the ambivalent policy of the West, dictated by the desire to ensure “geopolitical superiority” and fearing a “preponderance of forces,” for many decades “covered the world” with the shadow of the Cold War. The signal for its beginning was Churchill’s “Fulton speech” on March 5, 1946.

Forces began to intensify that wanted to review the results of World War II, neutralize, and nullify the decisive contribution of the Red Army to the liberation of Europe from Nazism, and equate Hitler’s Nazi regime with the current Soviet system. All this has contributed to the geopolitical problems that Russia is facing today.

We have a huge responsibility not only to the memory of our ancestors. Today we are responsible for our future. Addressing the topic of genocide is of crucial importance for shaping the worldview of our society. The established fact of the mass, methodical extermination of peaceful Soviet citizens gives us reason to speak openly about the criminal nature of Nazi policy. And we can’t keep quiet about it.

In the policy of destruction that has unfolded against the history of our country, the trials of establishing the facts of the genocide of the Soviet people by the Nazis and their accomplices during the Great Patriotic War are of particular importance in modern Russia.

The legal assessment and the evidence base formed crystallizes an understanding of the key priorities and system-forming value orientations of Russian society: awareness of the criminal policy of Nazi Germany, rejection of misanthropic ideology, understanding of the liberation mission of the Red Army.

We can defend our historical memory only through a unified and consolidated society.

Of particular importance is the “No Statute of Limitations” forum, which on one platform consolidates the most effective ways to preserve historical memory, accumulates effective practices to counteract the falsification of history. The first forum was held 5 years ago and was timed to coincide with the anniversary of the Nuremberg Trials.

We declare to the world our rejection of the ideology of Nazism, clearly realizing that these heinous crimes cannot be justified. This is our civic position, which does not tolerate compromises and revisions.

@nasha_stranaZ