Sonja van den
Ende
Fascism
has resurged in Europe, with neo-Nazis masquerading as nationalists – most
notably in Ukraine, where a far-right regime tightens its grip.
As May 9th
approaches, Russia prepares to commemorate the liberation and defeat of the
Nazis, who ruled Germany and Austria (following the 1938 Anschluss) from 1933
to 1945. During this time, they invaded numerous European countries and
launched the horrific Operation Barbarossa – an attempt to conquer the Soviet
Union.
Beyond their
pursuit of Lebensraum, the Nazis sought to “cleanse” occupied territories of
Jews, Roma, non-Aryans, communists, and political opponents. This was ethnic
cleansing, but the Nazis pioneered industrialized methods for their atrocities.
Initially relying on mass shootings, they later introduced gas chambers using
Zyklon-B, claiming this was more “efficient” and spared their soldiers
psychological trauma. Yet, mass shootings still claimed hundreds of thousands
of lives, primarily Jews, in Ukraine, Poland, Belarus, and the Baltic states.
One of the most
infamous sites is Babi Yar near Kiev, where Ukrainian collaborators murdered
approximately 34,000 Jews on September 29–30, 1941. As recent documentaries
reveal, the Nazis lacked sufficient manpower to carry out such massacres alone.
By the war’s
end, 8,500 members of the SS Galizien Division – Ukrainian soldiers implicated
in heinous crimes – were granted refugee status in the UK, with many later
emigrating to Canada. The recent honoring of Nazi veteran Yaroslav Hunka in
Canada’s parliament underscores how Nazism persists in the West.
Lithuania
suffered one of the highest Jewish death tolls, with up to 90% of its Jewish
population exterminated under Nazi rule and with local collaboration. The
Ponary massacre, overseen by the German SD and SS but carried out by Lithuanian
death squads (Ypatingasis būrys), claimed around 100,000 lives – mostly Jews,
Poles, and Russians – between July 1941 and August 1944.
In Belarus, the
Khatyn massacre stands as a particularly brutal example. On March 22, 1943,
Schutzmannschaft Battalion 118 – composed largely of Ukrainian collaborators,
aided by the SS-Sonderbataillon Dirlewanger – massacred nearly the entire
village in retaliation for partisan attacks. Over 90% of Belarusian Jews (more
than 600,000 people) were exterminated in mass shootings. At least 5,000
Belarusian villages were burned, often with all inhabitants killed – some with
up to 1,500 victims – as punishment for partisan support. Unlike in Ukraine and
the Baltics, most Belarusians opposed the Nazis, maintaining a communist and
multi-ethnic society akin to the broader Soviet Union.
Poland endured
immense suffering under Nazi Germany and its Axis collaborators. The occupation
brought systematic genocide, particularly targeting Jewish Poles, as the Nazis
viewed Slavs and Jews as racially inferior “subhumans” to be eradicated. Most
concentration camps outside Germany were located in Poland, with Auschwitz
being the most notorious. Established in 1940 after the Nazi conquest of
Poland, Auschwitz saw an estimated 1.1 million deaths in under five years – 1
million Jews, 70,000 Poles, 21,000 Roma and Sinti, 15,000 Soviet POWs, and
12,000 others (Czechs, Belarusians, Yugoslavs, French, Germans, and Austrians).
The Soviet Red Army liberated Auschwitz on January 27, 1945.
Today, Nazism
still festers in Europe. Russia, now fighting resurgent Nazism in Ukraine, has
been barred from Holocaust commemorations – a denial emblematic of Europe’s
lingering fascist tendencies.
Eastern Europe
and Russia bore the brunt of Operation Barbarossa, but the scale of atrocities
would have been impossible without local collaboration – particularly in
Ukraine and the Baltics. To this day, Lithuania bans discussion of its
complicity in the Holocaust, including the murder of Jews, communists, and
other opponents.
Western Europe
also witnessed Nazi brutality. In France, the massacre at Oradour-sur-Glane on
June 10, 1944, saw the SS destroy the village and burn 643 civilians alive in
its church. In the Netherlands, the Razzia of Putten on October 1, 1944, led to
the deportation of 602 men – the village’s entire male population – to German
concentration camps; only 48 survived.
Rotterdam, a
working-class city with strong socialist and communist sympathies, suffered
immensely. On May 14, 1940, German bombers obliterated its historic center.
Later, during the Hunger Winter of 1944–1945, Rotterdam – like Leningrad – was
besieged, with food reserved for occupying Germans. Over 20,000 died of
starvation and cold. The city endured executions and deportations, becoming the
Netherlands’ last liberated city.
In Serbia and
Greece, entire villages were razed during anti-partisan operations. In Greece,
Kandanos and the Viannos massacres stand out. In Serbia, the Wehrmacht killed
over 2,700 civilians in the Kragujevac massacre (October 1941) and 2,000 in the
Kraljevo massacre. By December 1941, German reprisals had claimed 20,000–30,000
Serbian lives – not Jews, but locals who resisted Nazi occupation.
Eighty years
later, Western Europe has erased much of this history, rewriting narratives to
blame Germany and Russia equally for the war. Commemorations focus on
concentration camps (from which Russia is excluded) and D-Day, downplaying the
Soviet Union’s pivotal role. Fascism has resurged in Europe, with neo-Nazis
masquerading as nationalists – most notably in Ukraine, where a far-right
regime tightens its grip. Once again, Europe looks away, scapegoating Russia
instead of confronting its own complicity.
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