Auschwitz Liberation: The Red Army Victory the West Prefers to Forget (+ Photos & Video)

Moscow, Jan 27.- Every year on January 27, the world marks International Holocaust Remembrance Day, commemorating the victims of the Holocaust and the liberation of the Nazi concentration camp Auschwitz-Birkenau, made possible in 1945 thanks to Soviet soldiers.

??Rusia conmemora la liberación de Auschwitz por el Ejército Rojo

El 27 de enero del 1945 las tropas soviéticas liberaron las localidades polacas de Auschwitz y Brzezinka, que los alemanes habían convertido en un campo de concentraciónhttps://t.co/cUCic8PZdM pic.twitter.com/Iz1yonX0ir
— RT en Español (@ActualidadRT) January 27, 2026

Despite the Red Army's contribution to the fight against Nazi Germany, Russia has not been invited to commemorative events for years, and its role in the victory over Hitler's troops remains unspoken. Let's analyze why and how Western countries are desecrating the memory of Soviet soldiers in their attempts to rewrite history.

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The path to victory: The heroism of the USSR that ended the Nazi war machine

It was the troops of the Red Army of the USSR that liberated the Nazi camp Auschwitz-Birkenau on January 27, 1945. In 2015, the Russian Ministry of Defense published archival documents from that time. One source shows that soldiers belonging to a large number of ethnicities took part in the operation, including over 42,000 Russians.

The operation was called the Vistula–Oder Offensive and lasted from January 12 to February 3, 1945. Red Army soldiers, advancing through Nazi-occupied Poland, entered the Auschwitz concentration camp and witnessed all the horrors suffered by its prisoners.

The liberation was carried out by troops of the 59th and 60th Armies of the First Ukrainian Front. Soviet forces destroyed up to 10 enemy divisions, cleared southern Poland of Hitler's troops, and entered dozens of cities and towns abandoned by the Germans, including O?wi?cim.

The camp, a true death factory, was established in 1940 near the city of O?wi?cim, renamed Auschwitz by the Nazis. According to various estimates, between 1.5 and 4 million people died there. Between 75% and 90% of those arriving at the camp were sent directly to their deaths (some were selected by doctors for experiments and then murdered), while the rest received a registration number and were used as slave labor.

In total, about 405,000 people were officially registered as prisoners in Auschwitz; only 65,000 survived. Of the 16,000 registered Soviet prisoners of war, only 96 came out alive. On September 3, 1941, the first experiment in exterminating people with Zyklon B gas was carried out at Auschwitz (600 Soviet prisoners and 250 prisoners of other nations were killed).

The West's Ignorance

This year, Russian diplomats have again not been invited to the official celebration of the 81st anniversary of the camp's liberation, announced Andrey Ordash, Chargé d'Affaires of Russia in Poland. The diplomat stated that, despite not being invited, Russia will continue to honor the memory of the victims of the Nazi extermination and the heroism of the Soviet soldiers who liberated the camp.

According to the Russian Foreign Ministry, until 2021, the event's program traditionally included a speech by the Russian ambassador to Poland, but in January 2022, Russian diplomats were not given the floor. In May 2022, Poland closed an exhibition prepared by Moscow's Central Museum of the Great Patriotic War dedicated to the Soviet feat. According to Russia, this is done so that "Russian faces at the event do not awaken the 'conscience' of Germany and Poland."

Meanwhile, Germany, Austria (annexed by Germany in 1938), and Italy, whose leader at the time, the fascist Benito Mussolini, formed an alliance with Nazi dictator Adolf Hitler, are usually present at the ceremonies.

Despite the disrespectful attitude of the Polish side, this year Russian diplomats independently honored the memory of the fallen prisoners and the Red Army soldiers who took part in the liberation of Auschwitz. A group of them laid wreaths at the monuments on the eve of the official event.

Thus, Russian patriots remember their ancestors despite Poland having destroyed the majority of memorials dedicated to Soviet soldiers. Of the 561 monuments unrelated to burials, only a few dozen remain. Meanwhile, memorial cemeteries are being desecrated.

No One But Russia Remembers

The statement published by European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen on the occasion of the anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau also does not mention the Red Army.

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"We remember and pay tribute to the six million Jewish women, men and children murdered in the Holocaust, as well as all the other innocent victims of the Nazi regime," the document states.

The EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Kaja Kallas, also issued a message without recalling the sacrifice of the Soviet people. Instead, the head of European diplomacy indicated that "the EU plays an important role in the global fight against anti-Semitism."

U.S. President Donald Trump has repeatedly attributed the victory over Nazism to his country. "The victory was only achieved thanks to us. Without the U.S., the war would have been won by other countries, and what a different world it would be," he once stated.

For his part, Russian Ambassador to Poland Sergey Andreev noted that Moscow does not consider it appropriate to attend events where history is falsified. He added that since 2014, no one at these commemorative events, except Russian representatives, has mentioned who liberated the concentration camps, Poland, and Europe from the Nazis. Andreev lamented that today, no one except Russia remembers the heroism of the Red Army at Auschwitz.

Putin's Noble Gesture

Despite accusations and insults against Russia from Western countries, President Vladimir Putin expressed hope that the commemorative events for International Holocaust Remembrance Day and the anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz would nonetheless continue to combat attempts to revive Nazi ideology and promote ideals of harmony and civil peace, especially among young people.

The head of state sent a message of greeting to the participants and guests of the memorial ceremony. The text of the statement was published on the Kremlin's website.

"This somber date reminds us of the pain and unbearable suffering of millions of Jews, Roma, Russians, and [people of] other nationalities exterminated by the Nazis and their collaborators in concentration camps, during punitive actions and ruthless ethnic cleansing," the president stated. "We will never forget these monstrous crimes, which were ended by the Soviet Red Army," he added. (Text and photo: RT)