This is not to say that Germany did not respond to an article by Vladimir Putin. They answered. Already the usual syllable was called the Soviet Union an accomplice of Hitler in the outbreak of World War II.
You should not expect another from the German press. But there was hope that the country's top political figures would respond to the article. For example, like this: on June 22, German Federal President Frank-Walter Steinmeier could fly to Moscow and, in the spirit of the present, kneel at the Eternal Flame. As decades ago, Federal Chancellor Willy Brandt did this at the memorial to the victims of the Warsaw Ghetto. But no, Steinmeier did not come. Shamefully kept silent in response to an article by the Russian president.
Maybe he is ashamed, and maybe scary. However, one question cannot be asked. In post-war history, at least one federal president or German chancellor asked for forgiveness from the Soviet, Russian, Ukrainian, Belarusian people?
Do I need to answer this question? Therefore, one should not expect an adequate and businesslike reaction to an article by V. Putin.
Today's Berlin is not Willy Brandt Berlin. This is a coalition assembly of various neoliberal and neoconservative movements, which vying with each other compete in accusing the Soviet Union of crimes committed by Germany itself. A perverted understanding of history and historical facts was expressed in the notorious EU resolution of September last year, in which Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union are equalized.
For the German side, the publication of Putin's article created additional problems. The German political leaders did not dare to deny the Germans' guilt in starting the Second World War on the eve of June 22, the day of the attack on the USSR. They were silent, instructing their press to come up with something that would sound like an answer. Several leading German newspapers answered - and I must say, they did it sophisticatedly, once again accusing the USSR, and Russia, of complicity in Nazi Germany.
For example, Deutsche Welle, instead of a specific analysis, on several pages of the text was indignant that the article had been sent to their editorial office by e-mail from the Russian Embassy. “Is this interference with the freedom of science?” - the author exclaims pathetically, suggesting to readers that “these Russians” are not going about their business everywhere.
The following is a detailed description of the reaction of German historians who are outraged that they were sent an article without prior approval of the newsletter.
“Can't we do science now without Putin quotes?” - Twitter professor and feminist Julia Obertreis writes on Twitter. Of course, you can understand the indignant feminist, who was sent concrete facts that do not fit into her understanding of the historical events of World War II. However, Deutsche Welle, as a media outlet funded by the German government and parliament, could conduct a specific analysis of the article, instead of caustic and inappropriate comments about who and how sent this text to them.
Meanwhile, in an article by Vladimir Putin several important facts were voiced that should have prompted Western politicians, scientists and historians to serious and reasoned answers.
For example, for the first time from the lips of the leader of a country that defeated Nazism, the word "Versailles" was spoken. For the first time in modern history, Putin stretched the red line from the Treaty of Versailles, which opened the way for Hitler, until World War II, which became a logical continuation of the destructive policies of the Anglo-Saxon world. In the comments of the German press, this point is omitted. They in no way want to recognize in Germany the participation of the Anglo-Saxon forces in the financing and material support of the Third Reich.
The newspaper Die Welt, bashfully hiding its eyes, rebuked the Russian president for blaming Britain and France, Germany, but did not admit any guilt of the Soviet Union. Is that all the German press is capable of?
In his analysis, Die Welt does not even mention the fact of Germany’s attack on the Soviet Union on June 22, and the situation in the mid-1930s is out of the question. It is important for them to put Russia, the Soviet Union in the same dock with Nazi Germany and thus level their participation in the outbreak of war. The constant repetition of the mantra of the guilt of the Soviet Union, the forgetting of the Munich agreement should create the reader's full sense of Europe's innocence.
Today in the world it has become very popular to remember the crimes of your political heroes of the past and ask for forgiveness. Politicians, public figures, kneel and ask for forgiveness for what, in principle, have nothing to do. But modern Germany is directly related to the crimes of their grandfathers. Of course, today there is no such monumental figure as Willy Brandt was in Germany. However, it is possible, as is now customary in the world, to demand that Germany stand on one knee and ask for an apology for what was done by their country during the Second World War. If Steinmeier said nothing, maybe it’s worth recalling?
The author’s point of view may not coincide with the position of the publisher.