World War II: Old lessons to remember, modern challenges to resist

THIS year, most countries around the world solemnly commemorate the 80th anniversary of the end of World War II, an unprecedented catastrophe in humanity's history in terms of bloodshed and destruction.

In Russia and other former USSR states, this event is known, remembered, and annually celebrated as the Victory in the Great Patriotic War (1941–1945).

The victory over the claims to world domination and the ideology of racial superiority espoused by Nazi Germany, which unleashed this war, resulted in immense human losses.

The Soviet Union suffered most: over 26 million of its citizens perished, including more than 17 million civilians – children, women, and the elderly. On these May days, we pay tribute to the courage and resilience of those who defended their homeland and honour the memory of those who fell.

During the first three years of the war, the Soviet Union republics fought almost single-handedly against the Nazis, who drew upon the resources of nearly all of Europe. At the same time, we have never diminished the role of our allies, nor the heroes of the resistance, and we shall never forget our joint struggle for liberation from Nazism.

The Prime Minister of Great Britain, a wartime ally of the Soviet Union, Winston Churchill – who could hardly be considered a friend of the USSR – wrote: “Future generations will acknowledge their debt to the Red Army as unreservedly as do we who have lived to witness these heroic achievements.”

The Great Victory had an epoch-defining political significance for the subsequent course of world history: it laid the foundations for the global system of international relations, with the United Nations at its core. Powerful impetus was given to the decolonisation process, resulting in the emergence of dozens of newly independent states in Asia, Africa, and Oceania, nowadays marked as the Global South.

The multilateral, UN-centred system, which has for 80 years prevented global conflict, remains highly relevant today as a universal mechanism for deterring threats and promoting the peaceful development of humanity amid the political, economic, and cultural diversity of our civilizational world.

The tragedy of WWII taught us many lessons. Among the most important ones is that ideologies based on racial superiority, a sense of exceptionalism, and self-belief in impunity must be met with an immediate collective response from civilised nations.

Unfortunately, today we are witnessing attempts to "revise" history, to equate the liberators with the oppressors, and to challenge the verdicts of the International Military Tribunal at Nuremberg. In a number of countries, not only are the Nazis and their collaborators being justified, but the ideology of national exclusivity is being revived at the state level.

We must never forget the inadmissibility of rewriting history to serve short-term political interests. Any attempt to revive Nazism, glorify Nazi criminals, promote slogans of national or other forms of supremacy, or assert a right to rule the world must be resolutely and uncompromisingly condemned and prevented.

On March 4, the UN General Assembly adopted the Russian resolution entitled “The Eightieth Anniversary of the End of the Second World War.” The resolution was co-sponsored by 54 states. It is encouraging to see Malaysia among the countries that treat the lessons of our shared human history with care and responsibility.

The adoption of this thematic resolution is a landmark event. The document reminds that the war’s end paved the way for the establishment of the United Nations and calls upon all states to unite in confronting challenges and threats to international peace and security, with the central role of the UN.

It is a tribute to the heroism of our forebears, who delivered humanity from destructive ideologies; a commemoration of the heroes who fought against Nazism, fascism, and militarism; and an act of remembrance for the millions of civilian victims of that global catastrophe, which must never be repeated.

It also serves as a warning against the dangers of revanchism, attempts to rehabilitate Nazism, the incitement of interethnic and interreligious hatred, and efforts to suppress the development of sovereign and independent states.

Naiyl Latypov is Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Russian Federation to Malaysia.