Today, on January 27, the International Holocaust Remembrance Day, the Ukrainian World Congress (UWC) and the global Ukrainian communities hallow the memory of the 6 million Jewish victims executed and tortured by the Nazis, among whom nearly 1.5 million were Ukrainian Jews.
We pray for the innocent lives taken by the murderous totalitarian Nazi regime, which cultivated hatred, racism, and xenophobia. We also pay tribute to those who risked their lives to save innocent victims doomed to death. Over 2,500 Ukrainians have been recognized among over 27,000 Righteous Among the Nations. These brave people became pillars of hope, humanity, and salvation during one of the darkest periods of history.
As commemoration events occur worldwide, Ukraine approaches the second anniversary of the Russian Federation’s unprovoked full-scale brutal and genocidal invasion and the tenth anniversary of Moscow’s illegal annexation of Crimea and the start of its military aggression against Ukraine. The brave Ukrainian people continue their fight for freedom and independence of their country against the deadly Russian terrorist state.
Just like the Nazis, Putin’s authoritarian regime hides its imperialistic ambitions and dreams of “global domination” behind disinformation, lies, and criminal propaganda. With appalling cynicism, the Russians have been distorting and manipulating the memory of the Holocaust and the Second World War to justify their rapacious invasion of Ukraine.
The hatred that Russian occupiers have again brought to Ukrainian soil after almost 80 years since the last prisoner of the Auschwitz-Birkenau Nazi death camp was released has shocked the world. The massacres in Bucha, Izyum, and Mariupol, multiple sadistic atrocities committed by the Russian armed forces throughout Ukraine’s occupied territories, deliberate bombing of residential buildings, hospitals, and even memorial sites, like the Babyn Yar National Memorial in Kyiv or the Drobytsky Yar Memorial in Kharkiv, must not go unanswered and the perpetrators must be held accountable.
“While honoring the victims of the Holocaust, we call on all peace-loving nations to unite their efforts to stop the Russian evil and help the Ukrainian people liberate their people from occupation. We also call on the international community to establish an international war crimes tribunal to hold all Russian war criminals, including Russia’s leadership and their enablers, accountable for all the atrocities committed in Ukraine. Just like the Nazism, Putinism must be stopped,” stated UWC President Paul Grod.
