05) RE-WRITING HISTORY OF WW2

People’s Voice Editorial

    Seventy years ago this winter, the Second World War was entering its final stages. Among the events on this timeline, the Soviet Red Army liberated Warsaw (Jan. 17) and the Auschwitz death camp (Jan. 27) from Nazi occupation. Over the next weeks the Red Army drove the Wehrmacht out of Lithuania, Hungary, Poland, Austria, and East Prussia, culminating in the May 8 surrender of Berlin to Soviet forces.

    But astonishingly, some Canadian newspapers seem to have joined members of PM Harper’s cabinet whose rhetoric depicts the Red Army’s historic victory over Hitler fascism as a terrible tragedy. How else to explain the open support by their correspondents for the neo-Nazi thugs terrorizing the population of Ukraine, committing countless war crimes when they aren’t busy commemorating fascist “heroes”?

    Back on December 23, for example, Star writer Tanya Talaga introduced readers to the “Patriot Defense”campaign, which  funds first aid kits and training to the rightist battalions which  play a key role in the Kiev government’s war. On February 7, the Star published a front-page article by Olivia Ward, advocating fundraising for extreme right militias. Last December, the Globe and Mail‘s European correspondent, Mark MacKinnon, described the Second World War as a time when “Hitler fought Stalin in Ukraine”, rather than the heroic people’s resistance against an invader who killed over 20 million Soviet citizens.

    There is a saying that those who forget history are doomed to repeat it. In this case, those who cover up the crimes of Hitler’s Nazis and praise his 21st-century supporters are creating fertile ground for the resurgence of fascism. What a slap in the face for the people of Britain, the USA, and Canada and other countries who were allies of the USSR in the global struggle to defeat Nazi aggression.

(The above article is from the March 1-15, 2015 issue of People's Voice, Canada's leading socialist newspaper. Articles can be reprinted free if the source is credited. Subscription rates in Canada: $30/year, or $15 low income rate; for U.S. readers - $45 US per year; other overseas readers - $45 US or $50 CDN per year. Send to People's Voice, c/o PV Business Manager, 706 Clark Drive, Vancouver, BC, V5L 3J1.)