Statement on the War in Ukraine by Scholars of Genocide, Nazism and World War II, 27.02.2022

As we write this, the horror of war is unfolding in Ukraine. The last time Kyiv was under heavy artillery fire and saw tanks in its streets was during World War II. If anyone should know it, it’s Vladimir Putin, who is obsessed with the history of that war.

Russian propaganda has painted the Ukrainian state as Nazi and fascist ever since Russian special forces first entered Ukraine in 2014, annexing the Crimea and fomenting the conflict in the Donbas, which has smoldered for eight long years.

It was propaganda in 2014. It remains propaganda today.

This is why we came together: to protest the use of this false and destructive narrative. Among those who have signed the statement below are some of the most accomplished and celebrated scholars of World War II, Nazism, genocide and the Holocaust. If you are a scholar of this history, please consider adding your name to the list. If you are a journalist, you now have a list of experts you can turn to in order to help your readers better understand Russia’s war against Ukraine.

And if you are a consumer of the news, please share the message of this letter widely. There is no Nazi government for Moscow to root out in Kyiv. There has been no genocide of the Russian people in Ukraine. And Russian troops are not on a liberation mission. After the bloody 20th century, we should all have built enough discernment to know that war is not peace, slavery is not freedom, and ignorance offers strength only to autocratic megalomaniacs who seek to exploit it for their personal agendas.

Since February 24, 2022, the armed forces of the Russian Federation have been engaged in an unprovoked military aggression against Ukraine. The attack is a continuation of Russia’s annexation of the Crimean peninsula in 2014 and its heavy involvement in the armed conflict in the Donbas region.

The Russian attack came in the wake of accusations by the Russian president Vladimir Putin of crimes against humanity and genocide, allegedly committed by the Ukrainian government in the Donbas. Russian propaganda regularly presents the elected leaders of Ukraine as Nazis and fascists oppressing the local ethnic Russian population, which it claims needs to be liberated. President Putin stated that one of the goals of his “special military operation” against Ukraine is the “denazification” of the country.

We are scholars of genocide, the Holocaust, and World War II. We spend our careers studying fascism and Nazism, and commemorating their victims. Many of us are actively engaged in combating contemporary heirs to these evil regimes and those who attempt to deny or cast a veil over their crimes.

We strongly reject the Russian government’s cynical abuse of the term genocide, the memory of World War II and the Holocaust, and the equation of the Ukrainian state with the Nazi regime to justify its unprovoked aggression. This rhetoric is factually wrong, morally repugnant and deeply offensive to the memory of millions of victims of Nazism and those who courageously fought against it, including Russian and Ukrainian soldiers of the Red Army.

We do not idealize the Ukrainian state and society. Like any other country, it has right-wing extremists and violent xenophobic groups. Ukraine also ought to better confront the darker chapters of its painful and complicated history. Yet none of this justifies the Russian aggression and the gross mischaracterization of Ukraine. At this fateful moment we stand united with free, independent and democratic Ukraine and strongly reject the Russian government’s misuse of the history of World War II to justify its own violence.

Eugene Finkel (Johns Hopkins University), Izabella Tabarovsky (Washington D.C.), Aliza Luft (University of California-Los Angeles), Teresa Walch (University of North Carolina at Greensboro), Jared McBride (University of California-Los Angeles), Elissa Bemporad (Queens College and CUNY Graduate Center), Andrea Ruggeri (University of Oxford), Steven Seegel (University of Texas at Austin), Jeffrey Kopstein (University of California, Irvine), Francine Hirsch (University of Wisconsin-Madison), Anna Hájková (University of Warwick), Omer Bartov (Brown University), Barbara Kirshenblatt-Gimblett (New York University and POLIN Museum of the History of Polish Jews), Christoph Dieckmann (Frankfurt am Main), Cary Nelson (University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign), Waitman Wade Beorn (Northumbria University), Jeffrey Herf (University of Maryland), Timothy Snyder (Yale University), Jeffrey Veidlinger (University of Michigan), Hana Kubátová (Charles University), Leslie Waters (University of Texas at El Paso), Norman J.W. Goda (University of Florida), Jazmine Conteras (Goucher College), Laura J. Hilton (Muskingum University), Katarzyna Person (Jewish Historical Institute, Warsaw), Tarik Cyril Amar (Koc University), Sarah Grandke (Neuengamme Concentration Camp Memorial/denk.mal Hannoverscher Bahnhof Hamburg), Jonathan Leader Maynard (King’s College London), Chad Gibbs (College of Charleston), Janine Holc (Loyola University Maryland), Erin Hochman (Southern Methodist University), Edin Hajdarpasic (Loyola University Chicago), David Hirsh (Goldsmiths, University of London), Richard Breitman (American University, Emeritus), Astrid M. Eckert (Emory University), Anna Holian (Arizona State University), Uma Kumar (University of British Columbia), Frances Tanzer (Clark University), Victoria J. Barnett (US Holocaust Memorial Museum, retired), David Seymour (City University of London), Jeff Jones (University of North Carolina at Greensboro), András Riedlmayer (Harvard University, retired), Polly Zavadivker (University of Delaware), Aviel Roshwald (Georgetown University), Anne E. Parsons (University of North Carolina at Greensboro), Carole Lemee (Bordeaux University), Scott Denham (Davidson College), Emanuela Grama (Carnegie Mellon University), Christopher R. Browning (University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, emeritus), Katrin Paehler (Illinois State University), Raphael Utz (Deutsches Historisches Museum Berlin), Emre Sencer (Knox College), Stefan Ihrig (University of Haifa), Jeff Rutherford (Xavier University), Jason Hall (The University of Haifa), Christian Ingrao (CNRS École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales, CESPRA Paris), Hannah Wilson (Nottingham Trent University), Jan Lanicek (University of New South Wales), Edward B. Westermann (Texas A&M University-San Antonio), Maris Rowe-McCulloch (University of Regina), Joanna B. Michlic (University College London), Raul Carstocea (Maynooth University), Dieter Steinert (University of Wolverhampton), Christina Morina (Universität Bielefeld), Abbey Steele (University of Amsterdam), Erika Hughes (University of Portsmouth), Lukasz Krzyzanowski (University of Warsaw), Agnieszka Wierzcholska (German Historical Institute, Paris), Martin Cüppers (University of Stuttgart), Matthew Kupfer (Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project), Martin Kragh (Uppsala University), Umit Kurt (Van Leer Institute Jerusalem), Meron Mendel (Frankfurt University of Applied Science, Anne Frank Center Frankfurt), Nazan Maksudyan (FU Berlin / Centre Marc Bloch), Emanuel-Marius Grec (University of Heidelberg), Khatchig Mouradian (Columbia University), Jan Zbigniew Grabowski (University of Ottawa), Dirk Moses (University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill), Amos Goldberg (Hebrew University of Jerusalem), Amber N. Nickell (Fort Hays State University), Tatjana Tönsmeyer (Wuppertal University), Thomas Kühne (Clark University), Thomas Pegelow Kaplan (Appalachian State University), Amos Morris-Reich (Tel Aviv University), Volha Charnysh (Massachusetts Institute of Technology), Stefan Cristian Ionescu (Northwestern University), Donatello Aramini (Sapienza University Rome), Ofer Ashkenazi (The Hebrew University of Jerusalem), Roland Clark (University of Liverpool), Mirjam Zadoff (University of Munich & Munich Documentation Centre for the History of National Socialism), John Barruzza (Syracuse University), Cristina A. Bejan (Metropolitan State University of Denver), Isabel Sawkins (University of Exeter), Benjamin Nathans (University of Pennsylvania), Norbert Frei (University of Jena), Stéfanie Prezioso (Université de Lausanne), Olindo De Napoli (Università degli Studi di Napoli Federico II), Eli Nathans (Western University), Eugenia Mihalcea (University of Haifa), Rebekah Klein-Pejšová (Purdue University), Sergei I. Zhuk (Ball State University), Paola S. Salvatori (Scuola Normale Superiore di Pisa – Università degli Studi Roma Tre), Antonio Ferrara (Independent Scholar), Verena Meier (Forschungsstelle Antiziganismus, Ruprecht-Karls-Universität Heidelberg), Frédéric Bonnesoeur (Zentrum für Antisemitismusforschung, TU Berlin), Sara Halpern (St. Olaf College), Irina Nastasa-Matei (University of Bucharest), Michal Aharony (University of Haifa), Michele Sarfatti (Fondazione CDEC Milano), Frank Schumacher (The University of Western Ontario), Thomas Weber (University of Aberdeen), Elizabeth Drummond (Loyola Marymount University), Jennifer Evans (Carleton University), Sayantani Jana (University of Southern California), Gavriel D. Rosenfeld (Fairfield University), Snježana Koren (University of Zagreb), Brunello Mantelli (University of Turin and University of Calabria), Carl Müller-Crepon (University of Oxford), Grzegorz Rossolinski-Liebe (Freie Universität Berlin), Amy Sjoquist (Northwest University), Sebastian Vîrtosu (Universitatea Națională de Arte “G. Enescu”), Stanislao G. Pugliese (Hofstra University), Ronald Grigor Suny (University of Michigan), Antoinette Saxer (University of York ), Alon Confino (University of Massachusetts, Amherst), Corry Guttstadt (University of Hamburg), Vadim Altskan (US Holocaust Memorial Museum), Evan B. Bukey (University of Arkansas), Elliot Y Neaman (University of San Francisco), Rebecca Wittmann (University of Toronto Mississauga), Benjamin Rifkin (Hofstra University), Vladimir Tismaneanu (University of Maryland), Walter Reich (George Washington University), Jay Geller (Case Western Reserve University), Atina Grossmann (Cooper Union), Francesco Zavatti (Södertörn University), Eliyana R. Adler (The Pennsylvania State University), Laura María Niewöhner (Bielefeld University), Elena Amaya (University of California-Berkeley), Markus Roth (Fritz Bauer Institut Frankfurt), Brandon Bloch (University of Wisconsin-Madison), Monica Osborne (The Jewish Journal), Benjamin Hett (Hunter College and the Graduate Center, CUNY), Volker Weiß (Independent Scholar), Manuela Consonni (The Hebrew University of Jerusalem), Svetlana Suveica (University of Regensburg), Todd Heidt (Knox College), Volha Bartash (University of Regensburg), Jakub Drábik (Slovak Academy of Sciences), David Hamann (Freie Universität Berlin), Matthew Kott (Uppsala University), Piotr H. Kosicki (University of Maryland, College Park), Ole Frahm (Independent Scholar), Carlo Gentile (University of Cologne), Mihaela Serban (Ramapo College of New Jersey), Tobias Ebbrecht-Hartmann (The Hebrew University of Jerusalem), Doina Anca Cretu (Masaryk Institute and Archives of the Czech Academy of Sciences), Peter Gross (The University of Tennessee), Anna Ullrich (Leibniz Institute for Contemporary History, Munich), Benjamin Grilj (Institut für Jüdische Geschichte Österreichs), Harry C. Merritt (Amherst College), Richard Steigmann-Gall (Kent State University), Mats Deland (Mid Sweden University, Sundsvall), Judith Vöcker (University of Leicester), Florian Kührer-Wielach (IKGS at LMU München), Hikmet Karcic (University of Sarajevo), Susan Rubin Suleiman (Harvard University), Mikko Ketola (University of Helsinki), Gerald J. Steinacher (University of Nebraska-Lincoln), Charlotte Schallié (University of Victoria), Peter Davies (University of Edinburgh), Laurien Vastenhout (NIOD Institute for War, Holocaust and Genocide Studies, Amsterdam), Dave Rich (Birkbeck, University of London), Magdalena Marsovszky (Independent Scholar), Susanne Heim (Freie Universität Berlin), Sarah Rembiszewski (Tel Aviv University), Giovanna D’Amico (Università degli Studi di Messina), Susanne Urban (University of Marburg), Anika Walke (Washington University in St. Louis), Martin Clemens Winter (Leipzig University), Alexander Korb (University of Leicester), Tobias Freimüller (Fritz Bauer Institut, Frankfurt am Main), Polina Sparks (Manchester), Jonathan Skolnik (University of Massachusetts Amherst), Sascha Feuchert (Justus-Liebig-Universität Gießen), Henning Borggraefe (Arolsen Archives – International Center on Nazi Persecution), Sarah Jewett (London School of Economics and Political Science), Charlotte Kitzinger (Justus-Liebig-University Gießen), Natalia Aleksiun (Touro College), Miriam F. Elman (Syracuse University), Bill Niven (Nottingham Trent University), Benny Morris (Ben-Gurion University, emeritus), Raisa Ostapenko (Sorbonne University), Don H. Doyle (University of South Carolina), Donna Robinson Divine (Smith College and University of Haifa), Moritz Föllmer (University of Amsterdam), Lidia Zessin-Jurek (Czech Academy of Sciences), Jayne Persian (University of Southern Queensland), Susannah Heschel (Dartmouth College), Judith Wechsler (Tufts University), Gerald Steinberg (Bar Ilan University), Yanina Di Croce (Universidad Nacional de La Plata), Jamie L. Wraight (The University of Michigan-Dearborn), Zigmas Vitkus (University of Klaipėda), Alana Holland (American University), Kobi Kabalek (Penn State University), Anika Binsch (Justus-Liebig-University Gießen), Kurt Tweraser (University of Arkansas), Ilan Troen (Ben-Gurion University), Lawrence Baron (San Diego State University), Helen Epstein (Independent Scholar), Nicholas Terry (University of Exeter), Gayle Zachmann (University of Florida), Shelley Baranowski (University of Akron), Andrei S. Markovits (University of Michigan), Wolfgang Freund (Universite du Luxembourg), Jeffrey Blutinger (California State University, Long Beach), Joanna Sliwa (Independent Scholar).

Quelle: Jewish Journal, 27.02.2022, https://jewishjournal.com/news/worldwide/345515/statement-on-the-war-in-ukraine-by-scholars-of-genocide-nazism-and-world-war-ii/.

Offener Brief von Wissenschaftlern und Wissenschaftsjournalisten aus Russland gegen den Angriff auf die Ukraine

Wir, russische Wissenschaftler und Wissenschaftsjournalisten, protestieren entschlossen gegen die von den Streitkräften unseres Landes auf dem Territorium der Ukraine begonnene Militäroperation. Dieser fatale Schritt wird unendlich viele Menschen das Leben kosten und er untergräbt die Grundlagen der internationalen Sicherheitsordnung. Die Verantwortung für die Entfesselung dieses Krieges in Europa liegt allein bei Russland.

Es gibt keinerlei rationale Rechtfertigung für diesen Krieg. Der Versuch, die Situation im Donbass als Vorwand für eine Militäroperation zu nutzen, ist vollkommen unglaubwürdig. Es ist absolut offensichtlich, dass die Ukraine keine Bedrohung für die Sicherheit unseres Landes darstellt. Dies ist kein gerechter Krieg, er ist eindeutig ungerechtfertigt.

Die Ukraine war und ist ein Land, das uns nahesteht. Viele von uns haben Verwandte, Freunde und wissenschaftliche Kollegen, die in der Ukraine leben. Unsere Väter, Großväter und Urgroßväter haben gemeinsam gegen den Nationalsozialismus gekämpft. Die von geopolitischen Ambitionen und zusammenphantasierten historischen Weltbildern angetriebene Führung der Russländischen Föderation verrät mit diesem Krieg in zynischer Weise deren Andenken.

Wir respektieren die ukrainische Staatlichkeit, die auf demokratischen Institutionen beruht. Wir haben Verständnis für die Entscheidung unserer Nachbarn, sich nach Europa zu orientieren. Wir sind überzeugt, dass alle Probleme in den Beziehungen zwischen unseren Ländern friedlich gelöst werden können.

Indem Russland diesen Krieg begonnen hat, hat es sich international isoliert, Russland ist seit heute ein Paria-Staat. Das bedeutet, dass wir Wissenschaftler unsere Arbeit nicht mehr wie gewohnt fortführen können, denn wissenschaftliche Forschung ist ohne die umfassende Zusammenarbeit mit Kollegen aus anderen Ländern undenkbar. Die Abschottung Russlands von der Welt führt dazu, dass unser Land einen weiteren kulturellen und technologischen Niedergang erleben wird, ohne Aussicht auf einen Ausweg. Der Krieg gegen die Ukraine ist ein Schritt in den Abgrund.

Es ist sehr bitter, dass wir erkennen müssen, dass unser Land, das entscheidend zum Sieg über den Nationalsozialismus beigetragen hat, heute einen neuen Krieg auf dem europäischen Kontinent provoziert. Wir fordern ein sofortiges Ende aller gegen die Ukraine gerichteten Militäroperationen. Wir fordern die Achtung der Souveränität und territorialen Integrität des ukrainischen Staates. Wir fordern Frieden für unsere Länder. Lasst uns Wissenschaft betreiben, nicht Krieg.

642 Unterschriften, Stand: 25.02.2022, 16:05 (MEZ)

Quelle: Deutsche Gesellschaft für Osteuropakunde, https://dgo-online.org/site-dgo/assets/files/17224/erklaerung_russ_wissenschaftler_krieg_gegen_ukraine_de_220225.pdf