Remarks by Permanent Representative of Russia to the UN Vassily Nebenzia at a special commemorative meeting of the UN General Assembly in memory of all victims of World War II, New York, May 7, 2025

Yet another reminder of WW2's realities

There doesn’t need to be much of an introduction to Vassily Nebenzia’s speech. What must be remembered are the truths he recalls and the fact that Nazism wasn’t allowed to die thanks to the Anglo-Americans despite what the American prosecutor said at Nuremburg. For those with functional eyes, ears, and mind, it’s clear Nazism is alive and well within the ranks of EU/NATO as their actions demonstrate. Exceptionalism is a very peculiar human mind disease that’s existed for many centuries and continues to exist in too many places on earth and currently isn’t met with the resistance from the Global Majority it merits; this is particularly acute in Palestine where Zionists copy Hitler’s plan for the Slavs and use it against all Palestinians and other peoples of the Levant. Thus, the challenge of our time and the immediate future is to stamp-out Exceptionalism once and for all so all humanity is allowed to develop to its potential. A formula was introduced in October 1945—the UN Charter—that has yet to be fully implemented thanks to the opposition raised by those nations deeming themselves Exceptional that almost exclusively are European in heritage, which is where we see the rise of Nazism yet again. Now for Mr. Nebenzia’s words:

Mr President,

Dear Colleagues,

Today we have gathered at a special solemn meeting of the UN General Assembly in memory of all the victims of World War II.

On May 9, in the suburb of Berlin, Karlhorst, the final Act of Unconditional Surrender of Germany was signed. Nazism was defeated in its lair—Berlin, which was taken by the Red Army. On May 1, the red banner of Victory was raised over the Reichstag, on this day the Chief of the General Staff of the German Ground Forces arrived to Soviet General Chuikov to inform him of Hitler's suicide in his bunker.

The most terrible page in history was turned, the world refrained from plunging into the abyss of the theory of racial superiority, where the value of human life was determined by measuring the skull with a tripod.

It is important to remember that this terrible theory was not the fruit of Hitler's fantasies. It was born among European intellectuals. One only has to recall such a work as "Essay on the Inequality of Human Races" by the French writer Arthur de Gobineau. Only the Nazis supplemented the colonial racism traditional for Europeans with radical anti-Semitism and anti-Slavism. One can only imagine a world in which such European "values" would have won. And at some point, this happened. Followers of Nazism and fascism gained popularity or came to power in many European countries. Therefore, Hitler's march was almost triumphant until it faced the heroic resistance of the peoples of the Soviet Union.

It should not be forgotten that Hitler enjoyed the sympathy and support of a number of members of the British royal family, Italy, Finland and Romania fought on Hitler's side, providing him with 700 thousand soldiers; a legion of French volunteers; Spanish volunteers; the Norwegian SS Legion; the Dutch SS Legion; the Latvian SS Legion, which distinguished itself with particular cruelty; the Estonian SS Volunteer Legion; the Belgian Volunteer Division; the SS Volunteer Corps "Denmark", which became part of the German SS division "Death's Head". Ukrainian nationalists also fought on Hitler's side.

In 1941, all anti-fascist forces managed to unite. Ideological opponents–-the USSR, the United States and Great Britain–-who had episodes of armed confrontation behind them, showed wisdom and stood shoulder to shoulder. At that time, no one could even think of playing ideological games, trying to equate fascism and communism. It was clear to everyone what was good and what was evil. Otherwise, a decision would have been fatal for the whole world. We thank all the members of the anti-Hitler coalition and honour the contribution of the Allies to the Victory. In Asia, the fight against Japanese militarism was led by China.

Evil was defeated. But the Victory came at the cost of millions of victims. China lost 35 million people in the war. The United States lost about half a million. Serbia organized the largest partisan movement in Europe. The struggle for the freedom of peoples was waged by heroes from Latin America, Asia and Africa.

The price of the Soviet Union was 27 million lives, and only irretrievable military losses amounted to 12 million people. Multi-million civilian casualties were the result of the policy of genocide pursued by the Nazis against the peoples of the Soviet Union.

The war with the USSR had different goals than in Europe. For example, on June 12, 1941, Himmler said that "the goal of the campaign against Russia is to reduce the number of Slavs by 30 million people." Another laconic and ingenuous statement belongs to Hermann Goering, the successor of the Führer, the head of the Ost economic staff. In a conversation with the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Fascist Italy in November 1941, during an everyday discussion of starvation for 20-30 million Soviet citizens, he said: "Some peoples must be reduced."

The powers that be in the Axis countries perceived the need for genocide of the peoples of the USSR with their inherent pragmatic cynicism. The goal was to extract food from the black earth regions, including Ukraine, and redirect them from the so-called forest zone—Moscow and St. Petersburg--to Europe. In addition, it was planned to populate the Soviet territories with Germans, which required getting rid of the "aboriginal population".

The genocide plan was documented in the Directives on Economic Policy in the Field of Agriculture, a product of the Ost Economic Headquarters based on the research of the Nazi economist Herbert Bakke.

At the Nuremberg trials, these "Directives" were presented by the American side. U.S. prosecutor Whitney Harris described them as follows: "The pages of this document reveal a pre-developed plan to kill millions of innocent Soviet citizens by starvation. The document clearly states that the killing of millions of innocents was premeditated. The document shows that this assassination plan must have been carried out on such a vast scale that it exceeded all the boundaries of human conceivation."

Thus, the terrible tragedy of besieged Leningrad, which claimed about a million lives, was not an accident or the result of the siege of the city. It was part of the general thoughtful policy of starvation.

But hunger was not the only "weapon" of genocide. As Hitler said: "We are talking about a struggle for annihilation ... this war will be sharply different from the war in the West. In the East, cruelty itself is good for the future." Guided by this message, the Nazis showed unheard-of cruelty against the civilian population of the USSR: carpet bombing led to the destruction of 1740 cities and more than 70 thousand villages and villages, more than 6 million buildings were burned or destroyed and about 25 million people were homeless. The extermination of the population of entire settlements was practiced. Here it is impossible not to recall the Belarusian village of Khatyn, in which 149 residents, including 75 children, were burned alive.

200 Ukrainian nationalists from the OUN-UPA organization led by Stepan Bandera were involved in this crime. They were also famous for participating in particularly brutal acts of the Holocaust, including the pogroms in July 1941 in Bendery, in the shootings of Jews, for example, in Babi Yar near Kiev and in Sosenki near the Ukrainian city of Rivne, where 23 thousand people were killed. It is impossible not to recall the terrible Volyn massacre committed by members of the UPA. As a result of this crime, from 50 to 60 thousand Polish civilians died.

The fate of Soviet prisoners of war was no less terrible: they were starved, often placed in the open air, and medical experiments were carried out on them. In the Auschwitz-Birkenau death camp, Soviet prisoners of war became the first victims of the gas chambers.

We should not forget about the millions of "Ostarbeiters", citizens of the Soviet Union, forcibly deported to Germany. Their slave labor was used by such well-known companies as Daimler-Benz, Deutsche Bank, Siemens, Volkswagen, BMW, Bayer and Hugo Boss. Ordinary Germans did not disdain the use of slave labor either. They applied for these people and came to distribution points, and, in fact, slave markets deployed in Germany in the 20th century.

However, all this did not break the Soviet people. They went not only to the front, but also to partisan detachments. Prisoners of war demonstrated unparalleled courage, raising uprisings in death camps.

Mr. President,

The terrible pages of Nazi atrocities did not require proof, they were known as an axiom. However, the time has come when the sacred memory of the heroes and victims of Nazism has become the subject of an attack by historical revisionism and revanchism. The unnatural Nazi idea of dehumanizing representatives of "inferior nations" began to be whitewashed, and its followers were elevated to the rank of heroes, and not only in the circles of marginal radicals, but also at the level of state policy.

Thus, marches of Hitler's former accomplices went through the Baltic countries. In these and other states of Eastern Europe, monuments to the heroes who gave their lives for the Victory over Nazism began to be demolished.

From the territory of neighboring fraternal Ukraine, after the anti-constitutional coup on the Maidan and several years of "brainwashing", the slogans "Ukraine over the mustache" sounded, which is a copy of the Nazi slogan "Deutschland uber alles". Unfortunately, the parallels with the Third Reich do not end there.

All this is happening against the backdrop of the demolition of monuments to the fighters against fascism, the proclamation of the deputy commander of the Nachtigall special unit subordinate to the Abwehr Roman Shukhevych or Nazi accomplice Stepan Bandera as national heroes, the holding of torchlight processions on the days of memorable dates for neo-Nazis, and the ban on the Russian language. For example, in Kiev, the Avenue of the Soviet General Vatutin, a hero of World War II, the liberator of Ukraine from the Nazis, was renamed Stepan Bandera and Roman Shukhevych Avenue.

Mr. President,

We will not let the international community forget that Hitler's followers did not remain in 1945, Nazism is reviving and rapidly gaining supporters. In Europe, the number of right-wing radical movements and their participants is steadily growing. They use modern methods and means of attracting supporters, especially from among young people – social networks and instant messengers. They even manage to hold rock concerts, organise sports events or give lectures. All this is not a one-time event, but a systemic one. We are closely monitoring the situation and publishing relevant reports.

They are trying to prove to us that honouring Hitler, his followers and ideology is the exercise of the right to freedom of opinion and expression. On the other hand, last year and this year in Berlin on May 8 and 9, the demonstration of not only the Victory Banner and St. George ribbons, military songs, but even orders and medals and uniforms of victorious soldiers, including in photographs of war veterans, was banned near Soviet war memorials. Moreover, high-ranking EU officials are threatening sanctions for participating in the Victory Parade in Moscow and urging people to go to Kiev at this time. The question arises: who will be honored in Kiev? Millions of Ukrainians who fought heroically in the Red Army and gave their lives in the fight against Nazism, or Nazi accomplices Bandera and Shukhevych? Clarity is needed on this issue, because it is impossible to unite the victims and their executioners.

It is noteworthy that those states that have been obstructing the adoption of the resolution "Combating the glorification of Nazism" initiated by Russia by the UN General Assembly for several years refuse to celebrate Victory Day. Is it conceivable to vote against such an initiative at the UN, an international organisation that owes its name to the self-designation of the member states of the anti-Hitler coalition?

Mr. President,

We must remember that the Victory brought not only relief from suffering and freedom, but also a new world order with the UN playing a central role, built on the principles of cooperation, sovereign equality and non-discrimination.

I would not be surprised if today they try to tell us an alternative history of World War II, in which the exploits of Soviet soldiers will be replaced by tales about the "occupiers" and the atrocities of the communists. But no matter what fakes we hear, only one fact matters, which the world will always remember. On May 9 at 00:43, Hitler's Germany finally capitulated. We won the Victory over Nazism, which you will not take away from us.

Russia's commitment to preserving the historical truth will remain unshakable. Contrary to what our enemies are trying to claim, we do not monopolize the Victory. We consider it common and pay tribute to the memory of all the peoples of the former USSR who made a significant contribution to the Victory in the Great Patriotic War. All the peoples of the Soviet Union contributed to the Victory - Russians, Ukrainians, Belarusians, Georgians, Armenians, Azerbaijanis, Moldovans, Balts, Kazakhs, Kyrgyz, Uzbeks, Tajiks, Turkmens, Jews and dozens of other nationalities of our vast country. This year, together with our colleagues – Belarus, Azerbaijan, Armenia, Kazakhstan, the Kyrgyz Republic, China, Serbia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan – we initiated the adoption of the General Assembly resolution "The Eightieth Date of the End of World War II", according to which the anniversaries of the Victory will be celebrated in this hall every five years.

I will conclude my speech with the words of Marshal of the Soviet Union Georgy Konstantinovich Zhukov, also known as "Marshal of Victory". It was he who accepted the surrender of the German armed forces in 1945.

"Every year in time we move further and further away from the wartime. A new generation of people has grown up. For them, the war is our memories of it. And we, the participants in these historical events, are becoming fewer and fewer. But I am convinced that time has no power over the greatness of everything that we experienced during the war. It was an extraordinarily difficult, but also a very glorious time. A person who once survived great trials and won will draw strength from this victory for the rest of his life.

This is true for the entire people. Our victory in the war against fascism, to put it in lofty language, is the finest hour in the life of the Soviet people. In those years, we became even more hardened and accumulated enormous moral capital. Looking back, we will always remember those who spared no effort to defeat the enemy of our Motherland."

Thank you for your attention. [My Emphasis]

We saw current “European values” on display in Kiev. The refusal to honor the offered truce with over 4,000 violations yet to demand an unconditional 30-day ceasefire as soon as the 9 May celebrations were over. The EU/NATO ploy is transparent: Rearm Kiev truce or no truce so the war can be continued against Russia just like Hitler never gave up sending ever more forces to the Russian Front to kill more Slavs before they too were killed. This time the preservers of Nazism were even more perverse than Hitler as they groomed Ukrainian Slavs to kill Russian Slavs, and it must be made known that it was the Outlaw US Empire that developed that plan and put it into motion with the backing of EU/NATO. The Empire has suffered an embarrassing defeat of its plan yet tries to avoid admitting the truth despite the confessions that are already public. Note too how the plan for Gaza is the same as that devised for Leningrad and what Empire backs that ongoing crime—not just the Outlaw US Empire but that of the Collective West. It should be mentioned that Colonialism in many respects was the template for Nazism and remains so in the continuing manifestation of Neocolonialism. If Humanity is going to succeed as a species, then Exceptionalism must be seen as a disease of the mind and properly treated by removing those ideological facets of culture that promote it. The ultimate goal of such treatment is the destruction of all nuclear and other weapons of mass destruction. And that will not be an easy task given the resistance that will come from those believing in their exceptionalism, which is almost exclusively a Western problem, but not completely since the West indoctrinated some of those it colonized with that mind disease. I should also mention the disease can develop outside Europe as Japan proved via its own brand of militarist ethnocentric exceptionalism whose defeat we’ll celebrate this coming September.

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