Moscow (Brussels Morning Newspaper) – Russian President Vladimir Putin stated that not acknowledging the Soviet Union’s part in liberating Nazi German death camps such as Auschwitz and refusing to invite the surviving family members of Soviet troops to liberation anniversaries was a shameful act.
This is such a strange, shameful thing to do,
Putin told Russian state television in an interview.
You can treat the head of the Russian state, me, in any way you want – no one is asking for any invitation. But if you had thought about it, you could have been a lot more subtle.
Putin expressed that if the Soviet soldiers who participated in the liberation of the camps could not be brought due to health or age, then at least their families could have been invited to the occasions honoring the anniversary of the liberation.
How was the event of marking the anniversary held?
January 27, 2025, marked an important anniversary: it was the 80th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz by Soviet troops. This event took place with representatives of many leading countries, among whom were German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, British King Charles, French President Emmanuel Macron and Polish President Andrzej Duda.
The main ceremony was held at the Auschwitz-Birkenau camp in Poland before the notorious gate of the former camp. The most significant exhibition was the freight train car, which served to remind the audience of the Jewish transports into the camp during the Holocaust.
What role did Soviet forces play in liberating Auschwitz?
On January 27, 1945, it was Soviet forces who liberated Auschwitz concentration camp within the Vistula–Oder Offensive during their advance to the west into Poland. To the west toward Auschwitz, with the SS anticipating the Soviet capture of the site, the former began evacuating prisoners from that camp on 17 January. This evacuation had resulted in the “death march,” during which some 60,000 of the prisoners in the camp had been marched to the west.
