DISINFO: Europe insists on historical revisionism about World War II

DISINFORMATION CASE DETAILS

  • Outlet: sputniknews.gr ( archive, original )
  • Date of publication: July 06, 2021
  • Article language(s): Greek
  • Countries / regions discussed: Russia, Germany

DISINFO: Europe insists on historical revisionism about World War II

SUMMARY

Russian passed a law recently which forbids the equation of Nazism and communism. This was decided as there is a constant effort in Europe to prove that Nazism and communism are equally responsible for the outbreak of World War II. In this context, the European Parliament passed a resolution in 2019 mainly saying that Nazism and communism shared the responsibility for the catastrophic conflict, comparing Nazi Germany with the Soviet Union.

RESPONSE

The claim advances a recurring pro-Kremlin disinformation narrative distorting the events leading up to the Second World War, and accusing the West of historical revisionism.

The Soviet Union started collaborating with Nazi Germany in 1939. The Ribbentrop-Molotov Pact of August 1939 between Germany and the USSR contained a secret supplementary protocol that stipulated the carving up of Eastern Europe between the USSR and the Third Reich and did forego a coordinated Nazi-Soviet attack on Poland. Just a week after the signing of the Pact, the German attack on Poland started World War II. Two weeks later, Soviet troops entered Polish territory. Later in 1939, Soviet Russia attacked Finland.

The intentions of the Soviet Union also expressed by this fact: on August 19, 1939, Stalin publicly expressed the need to push Europe to a major war that would become an overture to the “world revolution”.

Read similar examples of the Russian historical revisionism concerning this issue: West rewriting history by claiming USSR colluded with Nazi Germany; USSR was forced to go to WWII only in June 1941. For more info of the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact see here, here, here, here and here.

Disclaimer

Cases in the EUvsDisinfo database focus on messages in the international information space that are identified as providing a partial, distorted, or false depiction of reality and spread key pro-Kremlin messages. This does not necessarily imply, however, that a given outlet is linked to the Kremlin or editorially pro-Kremlin, or that it has intentionally sought to disinform. EUvsDisinfo publications do not represent an official EU position, as the information and opinions expressed are based on media reporting and analysis of the East Stratcom Task Force.

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