The Pobeda Committee: Preserving Genuine History From Distortion

Pobeda— победа—in Russian means Victory and the Pobeda Committee was created in 2000 by a decree issued by President Putin at the beginning of his tenure to rekindle Russians pride in Russia's most important accomplishment—the defeat of Nazi Germany almost by itself—and to remind Russians as they emerged from the Neoliberal Rapine, death and institutional destruction of the Soviet Union that they had previously overcome even greater tragedy as befits heroic people. Its main chore is the preservation and dissemination of historical materials related to WW2 in order to keep the record clear and counteract Western attempts to falsify history. A roster of its meetings since 2015 can be obtained here. Last year, I provided the machine translated transcript to readers of the Moon of Alabama blog but didn't post that here; so, this article is to rectify that omission as what gets discussed at its meetings are important pieces of Russia's past and components of its culture. Putin's remarks also provide a window into his inner being, which I find important. His passion for truth and the importance of that truth for Russia and Russians I find highly commendable, just as I find the attempts to falsify WW2's history and tar Russia and Russians with actions they never committed heinous and those who promote them being beyond vile. Yet, it's important to note who the vile people are, where they're located, what their overall agenda is, and how that ties into their program of historical falsification.

I could just provide the link to the meeting's now complete English transcript; but in his remarks, Putin brings up the issue of Genocide, Nazi Germany's Plan Ost, which are basic reasons why the liberation of historical Russian lands within the present Ukraine is being undertaken. If you scroll down my VK Wall, you'll encounter the two articles I wrote last November and December about the ongoing Genocide in Donbass, which I initially saw as Russia's R2P (Responsibility to Protect) opportunity. But much work needed to be done to legally attempt the liberation, work that was hastened to its conclusion in mid-February. It must be noted that the primary nation promoting/sponsoring the Donbass Genocide— the Outlaw US Empire—didn't attempt to rebut Russia's legal grounds for its R2P operation as it had recently escalated the Genocide's scale. I should also note that the Outlaw US Empire is the primary promoter/perpetrator of Genocide since its inception, far greater than anything Nazi Germany attempted/accomplished. Most of its Genocidal actions were/are committed against indigenous peoples in the Western Hemisphere (ongoing today in Guatemala, El Salvador, and Honduras, and recently attempted in Bolivia). Its war against the peoples of Southeast Asia was Genocidal and continues to kill and maim via the chemical weapons it deployed. Its recent abandonment of Afghanistan and theft of its resources so the current government can't properly feed its people is another Genocidal act. What it promoted in Libya, Syria, and would like to visit on Lebanese are also attempts at Genocide. The pending invasion—again—of Haiti will again result in Genocide for Haitians. And the litany of horrors can continue much longer. That said, I should provide this:

Article 2 of the Convention defines genocide as

... any of the following acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group, as such:

(a) Killing members of the group;

(b) Causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group;

(c) Deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part;

(d) Imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group;

(e) Forcibly transferring children of the group to another group.

— Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, Article 2

Yes, Genocide is an abomination and presents the very intractable problem of disciplining a guilty nation when it has nuclear weapons and sits on the UNSC and has violated the UN Charter and its own Constitution thousands of times. Thus, its title—Outlaw US Empire. In many ways, it's the successor state to Nazi Germany, a Truth few are brave enough to admit, something Putin notes in his remarks as you'll read. So, enough of my Preamble. What follows isn't the entire transcript as the discussion between Putin's opening and closing remarks I've omitted. It is the official English translation published by the Kremlin and linked above.

President of Russia Vladimir Putin: Good afternoon, colleagues.

Welcome to the meeting of the Pobeda (Victory) Organising Committee. Today we will discuss matters related to preserving the historical memory. The Organising Committee consistently devotes priority attention to this issue, which is particularly relevant today.

Attempts made by certain countries to rewrite and reshape world history are becoming increasingly aggressive, ultimately and obviously seeking to divide our society, take away our guiding lines and eventually weaken Russia and influence its sovereignty – essentially shake its sovereignty.

Distortion of history, imposition of myths and the undermining of values – it is often with these myths that destabilising states and nations begins. As we can see, a similar scenario has been tested in some other countries, including Ukraine. There have been attempts to target Russia as well but, as I have said before, we took resolute and timely measures to protect our interests and stave off similar sabotage.

Continuity of generations, loyalty to traditions and high moral and spiritual guidelines remain the foundation of our national identity. They are reflected in and supported by culture, creative arts and all areas of daily life. As you know, we have recently approved the Fundamentals of State Policy for the Preservation and Strengthening of Traditional Russian Spiritual and Moral Values. They most certainly include historical memory.

I would like to note that many initiatives related to this topic have been launched by our organising committee. One of them is the No Statute of Limitations project involving a systematic and scholarly collection of data on the crimes committed by the Nazis and their accomplices against the civilian population during the Great Patriotic War, the very crimes against humanity condemned by the Nuremberg Tribunal.

The scale of those atrocities was so enormous that at the time, in the 1940s, only a part of the evidence reached the court, as it was impossible to consider everything. Today we are filling those gaps and restoring justice.

In recent years, trials have been held in those regions of Russia where the Nazis committed atrocities during the Great Patriotic War. This undeniably proves that the war against the Soviet Union was waged not only with the aim of seizing territories and resources, but it was deliberate genocide of the Soviet people, every national, ethnic or racial group there was. Actually, this is clear from the Nazi documents, which are available in the archives.

More recently, the siege of Leningrad was also recognised as a case of genocide. It was high time to do this. With that siege, the Nazis deliberately sought to exterminate every resident, from children to the elderly. This, among other things, is confirmed, as I have said, by their own documents.

We have two historical dates coming up that are important for Leningrad, for St Petersburg, and for all of Russia. In 2023, it will be 80 years since the siege was broken around the unconquered city, and 2024 marks the 80th anniversary of Leningrad’s final liberation. I ask the Government, the regional authorities, and the public to take the organisation of the commemorative events very seriously and, as they say, with love and from the heart.

Colleagues,

I know that the collection of evidence regarding the crimes committed by the German army and their henchmen against the civilian population continues. Employees of the investigative and prosecutor's offices, and scouts are exposing more and more cases involving the murder of innocent people, discovering previously unknown mass graves containing executed and tortured women, children, and elderly people. And in addition to the legal, judicial assessment of those deaths, we are obliged to preserve those people’s memory, including as a reminder, as evidence of the very essence of Nazism. This is an extremely important responsibility.

Today, some 100 locations have been identified in Russia where the remains of Nazi henchmen’s victims are buried. These locations must be marked and looked after just like military burial sites. First of all, I would like to draw the attention of local authorities to the fact that it is necessary to carefully look after and tend to military burial sites. We do not always achieve the desired result in this important sphere of our work everywhere. We are talking about the past, the present and the future. The people must know what happened in these areas during the war.

It is highly important to shape the world view of young people regarding key milestones of our history. First of all, this concerns the Victory in the Great Patriotic War that was forged at the front-lines and on the home front. Virtually every Russian family, every Russian region, every big Russian city and small town, every village and every community in this country are directly linked with this Victory.

Today, we will review new proposals by the Russian Academy of Sciences on conferring the titles of City of Labour Glory and City of Military Glory. These honorary titles have become a valuable foundation for consolidating the public and the residents of these cities. In turn, projects aiming to popularise military and labour feats serve as inspiration for young people’s lives.

As you know, the process of conferring the title of City of Military Glory was completed in 2015. In all, 45 Russian cities received this title. Four regions where intense fighting occurred during the Great Patriotic War have now reunited with Russia. Red Army soldiers displayed bravery and fortitude here, and this played a tremendous role in the victory over Nazism.

I would like to draw attention to the fact that the list of cities submitted for consideration by a commission of the Russian Academy of Sciences includes cities in the new regions of the Russian Federation. Their applications for this high status once again emphasise our common historical memory and our shared historical space.

Let us get down to work. I give the floor to Mr Krasnikov….

Vladimir Putin: Good. Anything else?

I want to thank you all for the joint work. I would like to say a few words in conclusion.

First, we are now talking about the heroes whose memory we want to and must perpetuate. We are doing a lot in this regard, but more needs to be done.

I said this in my opening remarks, but there are many attempts to falsify history. Of course, this is done to create a certain atmosphere in today’s politics and to build these false messages in order to distribute interests for the future in the needed way, to cover up not only what was done jointly with the Nazis in order to hide their participation in these crimes, but also to create conditions for new aggressive actions, including those against our country.

Those who collaborated with the Nazis out of fear, out of cowardice also have an ambitious task: to cover up this betrayal of the interests of their peoples with pseudo-nationalist interests – this is typical of today's people from that same Ukraine. All these events fit very well within the Bandera process.

Nobody wants to consider themselves a coward, nobody wants to be thought of as a coward. But to cover up their betrayal – cooperation with the Nazis for pseudo-national interests – this is a very good cover for such behaviour, for covering up their betrayal. I think the origins of the Bandera process are mainly based on this.

As a matter of fact, we, in Russia, had similar people who used all kinds of pseudo-national interests like fighting communism, etc, to cover up their treachery. I will not give their names at this point as it is unnecessary.

But for you and me, it is certainly important to bring these attempts to light, to expose the truth, which may be good or bad, but most importantly objective. And, once again, see it for ourselves and make sure we have it sorted out completely, and leave this truth for future generations. This is a critically important thing.

Of course, historical documents must be revivified. So, the proposals to revivify history based on objective historical data and documents must, of course, be supported.

There is a well-known saying that people who have passed away remain alive as long as we remember them. That is truly the way things are. I think much of the movement, the Immortal Regiment march, with its millions of people, is rooted in this approach. We want the people who laid down their lives for us, for our children, for our Motherland to live in our memory and therefore stay alive to us. This is exactly the way it is: people are alive as long as we remember them. I am sure that, as I said, to a large extent, this is what sparked the Immortal Regiment drive.

We will spare no effort to make sure that the historical facts become known to millions of people, and that we base what we are doing today and that we are building our policy for the future on these facts. This has serious, not abstract, but serious implications for our country today and will have them in the future.

Of course, we must never forget that Victory was won by all the peoples of the Soviet Union. We have never forgotten this and never will. Meanwhile, and it is a fact of history, the RSFSR accounts for almost 70 percent of the losses in the Great Patriotic War. This is also a historical fact, like the facts that our colleagues mentioned today during our meeting.

We will continue to work as a team on these matters. I am confident that we will successfully carry out the projects that you described today.

In closing, I would like to thank you all for this work and express the hope that we will continue to work productively on these important issues as we go forward.

Thank you very much everyone. All the best.