Holocaust

“Unpunished evil repeats itself”. Interview on Radio Culture

Natalia Hrabchenko, journalist and presenter of Radio Kultura, Anatolii Podolskyi

On 27 January 2025, the Radio Kultura website published an interview with the head of the UCHS, historian Anatolii Podolskyi, Unpunished evil repeats itself. About the Holocaust and the Crimes of Ruscism. The interview was dedicated to the International Holocaust Remembrance Day. 

In his interview, A. Podolskyi noted that, unlike the crimes of National Socialism, the crimes of communism were not condemned. As a consequence of the unpunished nature of Soviet crimes, in 2022 we saw that man is capable of genocide again. “Now we, the citizens of Ukraine, are like ethnic Jews in the time of Hitler. Izium, Yahidne, or Bucha are signs of genocide”, the historian notes. He adds that while sane people say “never again,”russians say “they can do it again”. We have to protect Ukrainian statehood. Because the Gulag, the Holodomor, and the Holocaust can always happen again. 

The scholar also noted certain historical parallels between the events of the Second World War and the russian aggression and war against Ukraine. When soldiers kill unarmed people, they cease to be soldiers and become murderers. The hatred of the Third Reich was based on racial theory, a horror that was the state policy of Germany for 12 years. In our case, our enemy's hatred targets our citizenship, the Ukrainian political nation, our statehood, and the identity of Ukraine. They are destroying us because we are a state. Today's enemy aims to deprive us of our subjectivity. Therefore, we are in danger as citizens. Crimean Tatars, Poles, Jews, Georgians—citizens of Ukraine—are in the same danger as ethnic Ukrainians, ethnic Jews, etc. The enemy seeks to take away our citizenship at the cost of our lives.

[Audio recording and text of the interview with A. Podolskyi]