By Mikhail AFANASIEV
Ambassador of the Russian Federation in Albania,
The COVID-19 pandemic has changed all plans and dramatically affected the global agenda. Most of the planet stands still, many events were canceled or postponed. Among them are the activities dedicated to the end of World War II in Europe, the greatest tragedy in the human history. However, the events of that Great War have not become less relevant. On the contrary, in these difficult days there is perhaps a much more acute need to look at how the world, previously fragmented by various ideologies and systems, consolidated and crushed the forces that threatened its existence.
World War II is considered to have begun in September 1939 and have ended on September 2, 1945 with the signing of the Act of surrender by Japan. In fact, the military aggression of the Nazi state started much earlier with the cynical division of Czechoslovakia and the annexation of Austria. The war was preceded by military adventures of Italian fascist regime in Ethiopia and Albania as well as the militaristic expansion of Japan in the Asian region. As a member of the anti-Hitler coalition, the Soviet Union made a decisive contribution to victory over a common enemy, losing more than 26 million people. The Allied states as well as most of countries-victims of armed aggression (China, Poland, Greece, etc.) suffered huge losses.
Post-war transformations largely predetermined the further development of the planet up to the present day. The Nazifascism and militarist ideologies were defeated while the national sovereignty of many countries occupied by the aggressors was restored. Not only did a new Yalta-Potsdam system of international relations change the basis of the modern world order, but turned out to be much stronger than the preceding Versailles system.
Search for mutually acceptable solutions, “manual” management of world crises in the post-war period showed clearly that world leaders had been making a choice in favor of maintaining peace and its progressive development despite following irreconcilable and competing ideologies. Following the war, the moral image of the victorious countries has grown, Asia and Africa saw an increase of the anti-colonial movement, which culminated in the year 1960 known as «the Year of Africa», when 17 countries of the continent gained independence. The stormy winds
of the Cold War and post-war confrontation did not shake the key political results of cooperation between the anti-Hitler coalition states. The most important outcome of that partnership was a concept of pan-European security laid down by the OSCE “Charter of Paris for a New Europe”, which 30th anniversary we celebrate this year.
What can the history of global war teach us today? First of all, we have to be united in the fight against the most important threats and challenges, which, as the lastest events have shown, have not dissolved. Such triggers may be military conflicts, international terrorism, natural disasters, or a spontaneous and rapidly spreading pandemic. Strong political and economic players should strive to help those who have much less resources to face such threats more effectively.
The experience of cooperation within the anti-fascist coalition during the World War II as well as the institutions and instruments created after it remain extremely in demand and often universal. The today`s world is still based on the international relations system created after the World War II. The United Nations remains the most important body for maintaining peace and security, which activities are based on the international law principles brought together by a group of international lawyers in 1944-45, who drafted the UN Charter. We must remember that the most influential international health protection body – World Health Organization – was created within the UN in the first years of its existence. Among such examples is the G20 format, established during the global financial crisis of 2008-2010 for consultations among the largest world economies. I am convinced that the current challenge will also lead to the improvement of existing mechanisms in order to avoid such a scale of epidemic in the future.
The war history warns us against attempts to bury in oblivion its genesis or to rewrite its course and results. The Versailles Treaty authors from the very beginning decided to ignore Soviet Russia and a number of European states, naively believing that the order created in that way would serve many generations, thereby immediately departing from the promises of building a “democratic system” of international relations after the World War I. Subsequently, rivalry and mutual distrust between the European powers brought the not fully recovered continent back into a pre-war state. Historical grudges, a low level of trust and political myopia
were bringing the world closer to disaster. The appeasement of aggressor, guided by the logic “better to satisfy the growing requests of Nazis than to deal with the Bolsheviks” brought the world to a war that entailed unprecedented social, economic, political and humanitarian crisis in the history of humanity.
The need to preserve historical memory also has another dimension. Many monuments dedicated to the heroes-liberators and War graves are scattered all around the world. Maintaining such facilities in adequate conditions is a matter of both moral (tribute to the fallen soldiers) and historical character. As the last war veterans are unfortunately leaving this world and the course of history takes us further away from those events, the need to preserve places of remembrance is gaining importance too. Nothing better than their visible presence will tell about the events and war heroes to new generations of our citizens. Unfortunately, cases of demolition or relocation of such monuments have recently become more frequent in a number of European countries. Attempts to get rid of the material reminders of the World War II directly leads to historical oblivion. If the diary of Anne Frank or the Leningrad girl Tanya Savicheva are the great manuscript monuments that tell about the inhumanity of the Nazism ideology, then the War graves and monuments to the fallen soldiers and military commanders are the memory in stone and metal. The war against monuments is the refuge of scoundrels.
The triumph of human and people`s rights values is also a Great Victory world heritage, which was enshrined afterwards in respective international conventions. The Nuremberg trials decisions have consolidated the principles that later formed the basis of the key documents of international law. The history of our common victory has shown to humankind that the world power lies in its diversity. Hatred-based ideology of Nazism sought to enslave many nations and exterminate entire peoples. The implementation of these ideas led to aggressive military campaigns against weaker states. Luckily for us, today`s planet has gone far from the world that existed 75 years ago, in which entire nations and states were on the verge of physical extermination or enslavement. As a result, the very importance and value of human life as well as our attitude towards it have also went up. The current epidemic shows how happy we are to live in a world where preservation
of a human life is a common concern of the state, civil society, international organizations and leading scientists. However, it is also necessary to remember how easy it is to lose a seeming serenity – the Europeans living in the Belle Epoque era, in the times of flourishing humanism, arts and accelerating technological progress, could not imagine even in a nightmare what Europe would have had to endure by the middle of the 20th century.
The war demonstrated that the policy of a state or a coalition of states could only be successful when it is based on mutual respect, trust between allies, a combination of economic, socio-political and military factors that are merged to achieve a common goal. Only a comprehensive consideration of all these aspects can ensure the effectiveness of a policy and a strategy of states or a coalition. These principles are effective in the fight against any international challenges. The Nazi and fascist aggression have demonstrated to the humanity the hell, the very remembrance of which has a sobering effect for a larger number of humans and political elites for many years. I would like to believe that we shall always remember the lessons of that war./ argumentum.al
© Argumentum.
