Appeal of the International Committees of Nazi Concentration and Extermination Camps:
Stop this war immediately!
As custodians of the memory of the victims of the Nazi extermination and concentration camps and of the values they defended - often to the death - the representatives of the International Committees of the Nazi Camps, faithful to the Oaths proclaimed at the Liberation and attached to founding historical realities, declare :
Among the Soviet survivors of the Nazi camps who, in the spring of 1945,left the places where they had faced death for years, the most numerous were often Russians and Ukrainians. They all shared the hope of becoming witnesses and actors of a new, liberated and peaceful world.
Russians and Ukrainians had been registered by the Nazis under the same category of prisoners, they had to face the same deprivations, humiliations and life-threatening situations. They could only rely on the solidarity between deportees to survive. All of them had had their share in the common struggle against the Nazi aggressor, as citizens of the Soviet Union.
New states have emerged, but the common history and the human bonds forged by history do not stop at national borders. None of those who suffered the war, none of those who carry the painful legacy, can bear the prospect of a return to tragic times. All of them are united today in considering, in the words of the Mauthausen Oath, "this reconquered freedom as a common good of all peoples".
As bearers of the memory of the victims of Nazism, the signatories of this appeal denounce the use of the words denazification and genocide to justify the attack on Ukraine. We are legitimate in pointing out the weight of tragedy that they cover. We cannot accept that these words should be so abused.
The testament of the women of Ravensbrück (Neubrandenburg Manifesto), the Oaths and Manifestos of Buchenwald, Mauthausen - on the sites of the just-liberated camps - and then Ravensbrück, Dachau, and Neuengamme all call for peaceful coexistence between all peoples, in peace, democracy and the sovereignty of nations.
We condemn the war against Ukraine, which endangers the very existence of this country and peace in Europe. This military attack is a clear violation of international law. We are convinced that any political conflict can be solved at the negotiating table if both sides show reason and humanity.
Stop this war immediately!
Monday 28 February 2022
