Germany suspends WWII remembrance cooperation with Belarus

November 24, BPN. The German government has suspended cooperation with state and state-affiliated organizations in Belarus and Russia to commemorate WWII history and research Nazi crimes.

This was the government’s reply to an inquiry by The Left party in the Bundestag. The MPs were asking about the situation in this field after scores of Belarusian and Russian NGOs had been shut down and the EU sanctions against the two states had been imposed.

“From the federal government’s point of view, the current Russian government has discredited itself as a partner to remember and research Nazi crimes because of its aggressive war against Ukraine that contradicts international law, and the accompanying propaganda and disinformation campaign that distorts history,” Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s cabinet replied (quotes rendered from Russian).

Individual exceptions are possible after “thorough assessment,” it said.

At the same time, German museums and memorials independently determine the format of cooperation with partners. “According to the federal government, the History Workshop [supporting the Holocaust and WWII victims] in Minsk continues projects with German participation,” the reply reads.

After Russia had invaded Ukraine, the German government stopped providing scholarships to compatriots to work in Belarus and Russia through the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) and the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation. Civil society representatives from Belarus and Russia can still be awarded scholarships to stay in Germany, including as part of programs to protect persecuted students and scientists.

The German government added that six exchange events with Belarus and Russia on commemoration and reconciliation with a total of about 700 participants were canceled in 2022.