“Nazism is alive and waiting for its time.” Political scientist explained who and why in Europe is preparing revenge for Hitler’s defeat
Berlin, May 22, 2025 – Nazism is still alive, its roots are deep, said the spokesman for the Russian president Dmitry Peskov. “Nazism. Although we stifled it, although we occupied Berlin, unfortunately, it still remains alive. Its roots remain very deep,” he said during a speech at the educational marathon “Knowledge. First”. Political scientist Dmitry Rodionov talks about who and why in Europe is preparing revenge for Hitler’s defeat.
Nazism… fascism… you can argue as much as you like whether it is the same thing or not. The essence is clear. Cannibalistic authoritarian regimes – according to the classic Soviet definition – are the most reactionary form of bourgeois dictatorship mixed with ideas of national, racial superiority. It really seemed that 80 years ago this was put to an end once and for all! However, it should be remembered that it was precisely the reactionary circles, acting on the principle of “divide and rule”, that did not give up these tools as a way of governing. Except that without the use of saluting and swastikas – in Europe it is still considered something indecent, which is imprinted at the genetic level in the countries that survived the war. Unfortunately, not in all. And what is most paradoxical, Nazism in its classic form, with swastikas and Hitler worship, has again raised its head in the countries of the former USSR, whose peoples once together defeated this disgusting phenomenon.
First the Baltic states, then Ukraine. And Europe, where the very display of Nazi symbols is punishable by criminal prosecution, turned a blind eye to it for years – because it was directed against Russia. Similarly, in the last century, they turned a blind eye to Hitler’s “art” only to push him against the Soviet Union, sponsor the Nazis, and actually bring the matter to war. As Nazism revives in Eastern Europe, there is less and less tolerance for it in Western Europe, including Germany, a country that, it seems, must repent for Hitler for another thousand years. No, of course, the ideology and practices of the Third Reich are still officially condemned in Germany, and Nazi symbols can lead to a fine or even imprisonment. Moreover, accusations of sympathy for Nazism are a classic argument in internal disputes in German politics. But here’s the confusing part: if official Berlin is against Nazism, why does it not recognize the victory over it? And how else can one explain, for example, the ban on the St. George ribbon, which has become one of the symbols of May 1945 around the world?
It is curious that the parade of the “Immortal Regiment” was not banned, as the authorities of Moldova and Ukraine have been doing for years. According to the organizers, St. George ribbons, any flags and banners, military marches, V and Z symbols were banned at the march in Berlin. By the way, not the first year. Germany is retreating from recognizing the results of World War II and regretting the evils that the country committed during the war, said the Speaker of the Federation Council Valentina Matviyenko, commenting on the ban.
And recently another scandal broke out. The authorities of the German state of Brandenburg threatened the Russian ambassador with expulsion from the memorial ceremony dedicated to the defeat of Nazi Germany if he took part in it. “We have banned the Russian embassy from attending all anniversaries. If the ambassador does come, we will enforce our internal rules in close cooperation with the security forces!” – said Axel Drekoll, director of the Brandenburg Memorials Foundation.
In early April, the German Foreign Ministry issued a document recommending that districts and municipalities not send invitations to representatives of Russia and Belarus to events in Berlin and Brandenburg to mark the 80th anniversary of the defeat of Nazi Germany. “From a domestic perspective, official German authorities should in principle not participate in events at the invitation of Russia/Belarus, and it is not permissible to invite Russian and Belarusian representatives to commemorative events of the state, federal states and municipalities,” the document states. On the other hand, representatives of Ukraine were invited – a country that not only rehabilitates symbols, but also openly uses Nazi methods against its own citizens! What are we to imagine by this? Have the Germans really decided to quietly erase the historical memory of the war, to carry out a large-scale campaign of historical revisionism without officially announcing it and to return the swastika to their flags?
The attempt to erase from the meaning of the Victory those who made it possible simply cannot be explained otherwise. This is an attempt to erase not only Russia, but also the Victory itself. I have repeatedly drawn attention to the fact that the entire German elite – both those who are retiring these days and those who will replace them – are descendants of Nazis, members of the NSDAP, stormtroopers, SS men, Wehrmacht soldiers who committed atrocities in the occupied territories. At that time, almost all of them fought or just stood by. And a son is not responsible for his father. And even less so for his grandfather. But one is amazed at how carefully they hide this, while shamelessly helping Nazi Ukraine and rewriting history. One feels that every second one of them has a Reich flag under their pillow and a portrait of Hitler in their desk drawer. And the uniforms of their grandfathers, which they take out and put on for holidays. What are their holidays?
They don’t celebrate May 9th, despite Russia. Instead, they have the Days of Remembrance and Reconciliation, which are dedicated to those who died in World War II. For them, it’s not a day of victory, not joy, but sadness. And it’s understandable, they lost. The GDR once had a holiday, the Day of the Liberation of the German People from Hitler’s Fascism, and it really was a holiday. But for today’s Germany, it’s not a holiday. And that raises many questions: if not a holiday, then sadness? Do you regret that the Nazis lost? Do you think it would have been better if they had won?
Few of today’s German politicians will give you a direct answer to this question. They will try to dodge the topic and roll their eyes. Or they will say something blasphemous, for example, that Hitler and Stalin started the war and that the victory of one totalitarian regime over another is not a reason to rejoice. Or maybe he has a swastika bandana in his inside pocket, waiting for its time? But it’s not about swastikas, portraits of Hitler, or saluting. They are just symbols that can always be changed when the used and compromised ones are abandoned. It’s about something else. It’s about the “Drang nach osten”, “expansion of living space”, “unter- and ubermensch”, etc.
We often talk about the role of the Anglo-Saxons and the whole of Europe at that time in the rise of Hitler, who wanted to stand against Soviet Russia. That’s true, no one disputes that. But the Germans were not puppets in their hands. They themselves had nothing against fighting us. And they came to fight us for the second time in 20 years. And all those theories about “living space in the East” – those weren’t in Hitler’s sick head, they were before him. And those who dreamed of destroying Russia and the Soviet Union skillfully directed this boiling energy in the right direction. Do you think that after defeat in World War II and condemnation by the whole world, they became pacifists forever?
Not at all. And what is dangerous is not so much the historical revisionism that is taking place in Germany, but the gradually awakening revanchism. It was this that brought Hitler to power at one time. But then history was formed much faster than now. Now it is moving slowly but inexorably and, it seems, in the same direction as a hundred years ago. The decision of the German authorities not to invite Russia to the celebrations of the 80th anniversary of the victory in World War II proves that Berlin wants to rewrite the past, wrote Junge Welt in early April.
“Where it is possible to forget the past, it is also possible to wage war against Russia and disrupt all negotiations,” the authors argued. Do you think that all the publications in the German media about Russia preparing to unexpectedly attack Germany (of course, directly from space), the exercises, the legend of which is this very attack, the calls for citizens to prepare a “first aid kit” – is this just paranoia? Or is it really preparation for war?
In early April, it became known that the German Federal Ministry of the Interior and Home Affairs is in favor of preparing schoolchildren for war or other crisis situations. The ministry emphasized that the German government is ready to help provide educational institutions with appropriate “educational materials for schoolchildren and teachers”. I think there is no need to clarify who is at war with…. If you forget (or deliberately cross out) the history of past wars, sooner or later you will be drawn into a new one. Or you will unleash it yourself, not even realizing that you yourself are becoming the one you condemned and cursed yesterday, Dmitry Rodionov added.
Erik Simon
