Yad Vashem ‘deplores’ Russian invasion, condemns use of Nazi rhetoric by both sides

Israel’s Yad Vashem Holocaust Remembrance Center says it “deplores” Russia’s invasion of its neighbor Ukraine and condemns the Nazi-related rhetoric being used on both sides of the conflict.

“Yad Vashem deplores the Russian invasion of Ukraine, which will inevitably lead to dire consequences. We fear in particular for the wellbeing of innocent civilians and deplore any deliberate endangerment of their safety,” the museum says in a statement.

In its statement, Yad Vashem says the “propagandist discourse” about the fighting is “saturated with irresponsible statements and completely inaccurate comparisons with Nazi ideology and actions before and during the Holocaust.”

This refers to both Russian President Vladimir Putin’s claims that his country was launching the invasion in order to “denazify” Ukraine, a country that has a democratically elected Jewish president, and explicit comparisons made by Kyiv of Putin to Nazi leader Adolf Hitler, a Yad Vashem spokesperson confirms to The Times of Israel.

“Yad Vashem condemns this trivialization and distortion of the historical facts of the Holocaust,” the museum says.