What is danger of glorification of Nazi collaborators

Against the backdrop of conflicts between the former Soviet republics, the instability of the political and economic situation in some countries, the historically formed brotherhood of the peoples of the post-Soviet states is being tested by revisionist policy. The new era ideologists often resort to the rehabilitation of Nazi criminals and freely interpret the results of the Great Patriotic War. The consequence of such actions may be a decrease in the importance of humanistic education, a decline in morality, which cannot but disturb society from the perspective of future generations.

The glorification of Nazi collaborators is an extremely delicate topic, since it divides the general cultural and historical space. The Soviet Union dealt a crushing blow to fascism, and the enormous contribution of our grandfathers and great-grandfathers to the liberation of their homeland and Europe is practically sacred for many people now. At the same time, revisionist tendencies are being deliberately idealized in an attempt to influence the minds of the younger generation. Young minds are figurable, and their views are constantly changing. Over time, the number of live witnesses of those events had been steadily decreasing. Historical memory is often shortened by momentary interests. In their quest to get rid of the primacy of Soviet ideology as quickly as possible, post-Soviet politics in search of new "heroes" often resort to the inclusion of Nazi accomplices in their history as positive ideals.

Let's recall the attempt to stage a musical dedicated to the well-known Nazi Herberts Cukurs in Latvia, which, however, was not realized, since the Latvian government reacted negatively to the idea, noting that "the chanting of the perpetrator of the death of a thousand Jews is unacceptable." The glorification of the leaders of the Ukrainian rebel army still causes controversy in Ukrainian society, and has a very negative impact on bilateral relations between Russia and Ukraine.

Last week, during the summit of the Council of CIS Heads of State in Ashgabat, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev recalled that a monument to Nazi collaborator Garegin Ter-Harutyunyan (Nzhdeh) involved in training of Armenian saboteurs and bombers to carry out Nazi tasks was erected in the center of Yerevan. Ilham Aliyev's position is entirely supported by Moscow - the Russian Foreign Ministry earlier condemned the erection of a monument to Garegin Nzhdeh. But Prime Minister of Armenia Nikol Pashinyan reacted to Ilham Aliyev's remarks, trying to present Nzhdeh as an outstanding figure for the Armenian people, publicly justifying his cooperation with the Nazis, thereby making a big diplomatic mistake.

The position of the Armenian leadership can lead to the resuscitation of the worst manifestations of Nazism and xenophobia, given that the post-Soviet space includes zones of  increased level of ethno-political tension. In the case of connivance of authorities and their flirtation with the ideas of neofascism, public glorification of the Nazi "virtues", modern societies will come to the conclusion that Nazism will cease to be something repulsive and condemned at the international level.