Opinions & Interviews
Belarusian FM criticizes Europe’s attempts to remove WWII memorials
MINSK, 15 June (BelTA) – By removing monuments commemorating the events of World War II, some in Europe are seeking to eliminate the silent witnesses of history, Belarusian Minister of Foreign Affairs Maxim Ryzhenkov told journalists after a meeting with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov in Minsk on 15 June, BelTA has learned.
Maxim Ryzhenkov noted that as the situation evolves in many regions of the world, there is a growing understanding of the even greater importance of efforts to preserve historical memory.
He noted that World War II memorials located across Western Europe serve as silent testimony not only to the heroism of Soviet soldiers but also as reminders that the horrors of such a war should never be repeated. However, certain countries in Western Europe are now pursuing policies of revanchism and revising the outcomes of World War II, and these silent witnesses stand in their way.
“For them, these memorials are reminders of the horrors of that tragedy and of the fact that some of these states [Western Europe] were among those that unleashed World War II and spread the brown plague across the world, bringing gas chambers, concentration camps and mass extermination. Each such memorial is a silent witness to those events. They remind people first and foremost of their involvement in the tragic chapters of that period, including the involvement of their parents and grandparents, who marched in an attempt to defeat the Soviet Union and establish world domination.”
“Tomorrow they may raise the question of whether memorials at former concentration camp sites are needed at all,” the minister added, once again emphasizing the importance of preserving historical memory.
Maxim Ryzhenkov noted that Belarus and Russia regard their joint efforts within the Union State to defend historical truth and counter attempts to rehabilitate Nazism as an essential moral and political foundation of bilateral cooperation.
June 2026 will feature a number of events of both symbolic and practical significance in this regard. Among them is the 2nd International Forum of the Union State Great Heritage, Shared Future, which will take place in Brest on 21-22 June to mark the 85th anniversary of the beginning of the Great Patriotic War.
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