"Denazification" of Ukraine. What does Putin really want?

On the first day of the complete Russian invasion of Ukraine, millions of Ukrainians woke up to the sounds of explosions and rocket attacks.
Of course, each of us experienced Moscow's open and brutal aggression differently. However, many of us have had the question "Why? Why?".
Then we learned about Putin's "special operation" and that one of its main tasks was "demilitarization and denazification of Ukraine."
Surprisingly, during more than three months of the Russian-Ukrainian war, none of the high-ranking Russian officials was able to explain what the term meant to Ukraine. And the words of Putin's secretary Dmitry Peskov "denazification means that Ukraine should be liberated from the Nazis" can hardly be considered exhaustive.
So, despite the vague explanation, Russian officials, although they have significantly reduced the use of the term "denazification", have not completely abandoned it.
On May 24, the head of the Russian Security Council, Nikola Patrushev, said: "We are not chasing deadlines. Nazism must either be eradicated (in Ukraine - author's note) by 100 percent or it will raise its head in a few years, in an even uglier form."
That is why in this text we have tried to understand the narratives of Russian propaganda and to understand what Russia wants.

What exactly is "denazification"?

The term "denazification" was first used in Pentagon documents in 1943. At the time, it had a narrower meaning and referred to the post-war German legal system. However, that term later became more widespread and was included in the program at the Potsdam Conference in 1945.
In general, denazification is a broad Allied initiative to liberate German and Austrian societies, the press, culture, economics, justice, and politics from Nazi ideology after World War II.
As this is a fairly broad campaign, it can be divided into the following phases:
- removal from power of NSDAP and SS members, dissolution of these and similar organizations;
- bringing war criminals to justice in accordance with the Nuremberg Trials of 1946 and other legal proceedings and smaller courts;
- general censorship and condemnation of German militarism. To that end, by July 1946, the U.S. Army's Information Control Department had taken control of 37 German newspapers, six radio stations, 314 theaters, 642 cinemas, 101 magazines, 237 publishers, and 7,384 bookstores and printers;
- the elimination of physical symbols of the Nazi regime, such as the swastika, and the renaming of streets;
- the general development of the German sense of collective responsibility and guilt for the crimes of the Nazi regime.

In general, the process of denazification took place in all four (later two) zones of the Allied occupation, but with different intensity and efficiency.
The most conscientious, of course, were the Americans. They opened many cases of denazification, but then realized that they would not be able to physically process them, including withdrawing their troops from Europe (as required by American society).
Therefore, according to the Americans, potentially by December 1945, up to seven million cases would be on hold. Not surprisingly, Dwight D. Eisenhower initially believed that the denazification process would take 50 years.
A convincing explanation for this time period can be found in historian Frederick Taylor, who notes that 1.5 million Germans who joined Hitler before he came to power were considered "fierce Nazis".
Despite the unconditional punishment of war criminals, it was clear that the number of cases of "denazification" was unrealistic.

Because of that, many members of the Nazi party, if their crimes were not serious, were actually exempted from prosecution and trial. This was especially true for people born after 1919. They were believed to be victims of propaganda and “brainwashing”. Persons with disabilities were also released from the proceedings. In total, more than 90 percent of cases were found to be outside the “serious categories” and were therefore resolved very quickly.
In the zone of Soviet occupation, this process was interpreted as a particularly important element in building a "socialist society", so it was directly led by the NKVD.

Many former members of the Nazi party and officials were interned, and many died in the camps. However, some Nazi officials changed roles after the war and carried out orders from the Soviet authorities.

It is interesting that West Germany was portrayed by Soviet propaganda as a continuation of the Nazi regime, and East Germany, on the contrary, as the main "anti-fascist state".
The French did not even use the term "denazification", but used the word "purification". They were the first to hand over the power of denazification to the Germans themselves, but on the condition that France has the right to annul their decisions.
Many French people blamed all Germans, so it made no sense to distinguish Nazis from "non-Nazis", and membership in the NSDAP alone in many cases can mean nothing.
Special mention should be made of the associates from the Vichy regime, who mostly established friendly relations with the Germans.
The British were also among the first to hand over the powers of denazification to the Germans themselves, as early as January 1946. And in general, Britain has avoided too many unnecessary investigations if a person has not applied for an official position.
Some scholars point out that British officials wanted to restore Germany's economic potential so as not to "feed Germany", so they opted for this policy to some extent.
Germany's denazification program was finally completed in 1951. The Americans did not oppose Conrad Adenauer, who sought to shift government policy to reparations and compensation for victims of Nazi rule, saying the main culprits had already been brought to justice.

What does Russia want?

Since the beginning of the complete invasion of Ukraine, Russian officials have been talking about "denationalizing" Ukraine for at least 19 days. Such data is provided by the War Speeches portal.
On February 24, Vladimir Putin, in his address for launching a "special military operation", said that he wanted to "demilitarize and denazify" Ukraine, but he did not explain what he meant.
On the same day, spokesman Dmitry Peskov explained: "Denazification" means that Ukraine should ideally be freed from the Nazis. "
However, according to Russian journalists from the "Projekt" media, it became clear almost immediately that the term "failed". After all, since Putin's statement was "prepared in secret, the terms used did not have time to be worked out by experts." Therefore, Russian propagandists had to endlessly repeat the thesis of "denazification".

It also states that, according to some opinion polls, “Russians cannot explain this term,” and some find it difficult to pronounce.
Even without considering this information, it can be firmly said that the thesis of "denazification" was repeated by all Russian high-ranking officials after Putin, commenting on the war with Ukraine: State Duma Speaker Vyacheslav Vladen, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, Maria Zakharova, Foreign Ministry spokeswoman affairs and even the Russian ambassador to the UN Vasily Nebenzya.
Marija Zaharova used this expression the most. She even went so far as to say: "The Russian Federation questions the extent to which the process of denazification of Germany was completed after the defeat in World War II."
Although its boss Sergei Lavrov gave the example of Germany a few days earlier: "Ukraine should be demilitarized and denazified, as was the case in Germany."
And although every Russian leader used this term, none of them wanted to explain it. Even Russia's ambassador to the UN, Vasily Nebenzya, simply said that "Ukraine should be denazified and demilitarized to ensure that it no longer poses a threat to Russia," without explaining anything to the world community.
Maybe that's why the mention of "denazification" of Ukraine gradually disappeared, and Russian officials began to talk much more broadly - about the confrontation with NATO. Specifically, what, according to Vasilije Nebenzji, is called "the war of the West with Russia".
It even happened that during the parade on Red Square on the occasion of Victory Day, Putin did not mention the "denazification" of Ukraine. Of course, he spoke about "Bandera and the neo-Nazis", but he did not repeat one of his main demands to Ukraine.
And we remember very well how Putin loves symbols.

Jarosh's business card

It must be understood that the narrative of Russian propaganda about "aroused Nazism in Ukraine" is not something new. The first thing that comes to my mind is, of course, the case with Jaroš's business card (April 20, 2014).
In fact, the business card became not only a joke, but also a real hit of Russian propaganda, which once accused the "Right Sector" of almost all crimes, showing the "horrors of Nazism" in Ukraine.
However, much earlier, Putin declared the mythical "Nazis" enemies.
What is worth only the so-called "Crimean speech" of the Russian president of both houses of the Federal Assembly of Russia in connection with the request of the Crimean parliament to join Russia.

Then, in March 2018, Putin said, among other things: "The main perpetrators of the coup were nationalists, neo-Nazis, Russophobes."
As we can see, even then the Russian president deliberately used propaganda clichés against de facto all Ukrainians.
Within a year, a very "interesting" report by the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs "Neo-Nazism - a dangerous challenge to human rights, democracy and the rule of law" was published. It pays the most attention to Ukraine. For example, in the presentation of the report alone, Ukraine was mentioned as many as 38 times. By comparison, the United States has been mentioned five times, Poland three times, and Belarus none.
The report "reminded" Ukrainians of the memory of UPA heroes, the "Right Sector" and "wrong" political statements.
The Law of Ukraine "On Condemnation of Communist and National Socialist (Nazi) Totalitarian Regimes in Ukraine and Prohibition of Propaganda of Their Symbols" was adopted as an argument for Russia and adopted the same year (already registered and considered at the time of the report), which directly condemns Nazism and its propaganda and symbolism. .
Russian officials called it a rewriting of history: "Ukrainian authorities are trying to erase from the memory of millions of Ukrainians the pages of the true history of Ukraine. Nazi aggressors and fighters for the liberation of the country from Nazism are on the same board in today's Ukraine."
It is interesting that all these years, Russia has been trying in all possible ways to substantiate its arguments with the alleged mass xenophobia and anti-Semitism in Ukraine. And already in 2022, there was a real scandal with Minister Lavrov, who said in an interview for the Italian channel Mediaset: there was also Jewish blood. That means absolutely nothing. Wise Jews say that the most ardent anti-Semites are usually Jews "Family is not without freaks", as they say. Later, the Russian president himself had to apologize to Israel for the diplomat's words.
This case perfectly shows the essence of hanging the labels of Russian propaganda and misinformation, which have distorted the facts for years and spread lies in which our citizens also believed.

"Whom they call, he answers"

It is clear from the following that Russian propaganda, which probably also believed in the rapid occupation of Ukraine, did not try to choose words in foreign policy or for domestic consumers. The latter, on the other hand, rejoiced: "There are Nazis there and we will defeat them soon. Again."
Maybe that’s why Russian propaganda changes its slogans so easily, and domestic consumers are so happy to believe it. Because what is the difference between who can be defeated: "Nazism in Ukraine" or "West" if "we can defeat them all"?
And, finally, why explain to the Russians what denazification is, if thousands of war crimes in Ukraine prove: denazification means de-Ukrainization - linguistic, cultural, physical.
After all, Putin himself said: "When they call, they respond." And Nazism must be eradicated in a completely different country.
P.S. The portal "ruZZia is the new Nazi" has collected hundreds of cases of propaganda of the war in Russia, which have direct analogies with Nazism. We recommend that you revise it to understand the domestic context of propaganda and the participation of tens of thousands of Russians in support of the war.