The end of the war in Ukraine: dealing with the crimes of 1945 and now!
The end of the war in Ukraine: dealing with the crimes of 1945 and now!
On May 28, 2025, the University of Heidelberg gave a lecture under the title "End of the War in Ukraine: Referring to German occupying breaks, new cleansing and nationalist underground struggle". This lecture is part of the Ruperto Carola Ring lecture, which deals with socially relevant research questions. Prof. Tanja Penter, an expert in Eastern European history, explained the cruel events that Ukraine shaped both during and after the Second World War. The lecture not only addressed the immediate atrocities of the German War of Derilation, but also the subsequent Stalinist cleansing that aimed at nationalist resistance in West Ukraine.
In the period of World War II, Ukraine experienced an unprecedented degree of exploitation, terror, violence and destruction. Around 1.5 million Jews as well as tens of thousands of Roma and people with disabilities were murdered. These systematic crimes led to the destruction of over 600 towns and forced laboratory of millions of people. After the end of the war, the Soviet judiciary and resistant movements began to process the German occupying breaks. But at the same time, the Stalinist cleansing, which aimed at suppressing any form of resistance in the region, such as uni-heidelberg.deStalinist cleansing and their consequences
The Stalinist cleansing, a dark chapter in Soviet history, began in the late 1920s and culminated during the great terror from 1936 to 1938, which according to estimates, up to 1,000 people were murdered every day. The persecution concerned not only political opponents, but also ethnic minorities who suffered from the accusation of political unreliability. Historians appreciate the total number of victims of these cleansing to between 1 million and 60 million people. This brutal persecution should create an atmosphere of fear and to silence every oppositional voice in the Soviet society, as wikipedia.org
The second wave of the cleansing began in 1948, especially against Jews who were denounced as "rootless cosmopolitan". This led to the dissolution of the Jewish anti -fascist committee and the execution of intellectual leaders. This campaign led to long -lasting consequences for the Jewish community in Ukraine, which had already suffered seriously from the Holocaust during the war. The Stalinist measures continued until Stalin's death in 1953, when the victims were used to rehabilitation. Historians are disagreed with the exact motifs behind these cleansing, but discuss the cultural and ideological contexts that led to persecution.
current references and memories
eighty years after the end of the Second World War, Russia has again entered Ukraine aggressively. This current situation throws shadows on the past atrocities and is reminiscent of the deep wounds of history, which are still present in Ukrainian society. The lecture by the Ruperto Carola Ring lecture therefore not only illuminates the historical events, but also their current relevance. The processing of the National Socialist crimes and the Stalinist cleansing are closely linked, since both periods of terror have made a decisive contribution to forming national memory in Ukraine, such as Uni-heidelberg.de
The Ruperto Carola Ring lecture offers the opportunity to deal with these important questions in history with other events that take place on Mondays in the auditorium of the old university and the general public. Records of the events are later available on Heionline, which enables access to this knowledge for everyone interested.
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| Ort | Heidelberg, Deutschland |
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