Every year on May 9, the anniversary of the Nazi Germany’s surrender to the Soviet Union in 1945, the Communist Party of Israel (CPI) marks the defeat of the Nazi forces at the hands of the Red Army. This year, the annual commemoration of this historic event will be held by communists and Hadash activists on Saturday, May 10, in the Red Army Forest near Jerusalem.
Red army soldiers celebrating the end of the war, May 1945 (Archive photo: TASS)
Towards the 80th anniversary of the Nazi surrender, the CPI has issued a call to the public to participate in the Victory Day celebration, “Throughout the 20th century, Communists led the struggle against fascism and racism. We are proud of this struggle and are committed to its humane values, now and in the future.”
The CPI statement goes on to say that “The Holocaust of European Jewry is an inseparable part of the essence of racism and the monstrous practices of fascism. The lesson of the Holocaust is universal and humane. Dealing with it is both a humanistic and a Communist duty. For us, it is also a very contemporary lesson. No people are immune to fascism and racism. These dangers exist in Israeli society as well, and struggling against them obliges us to form, within the Israeli society, a broad democratic front of resistance and action against fascism, war and occupation.”
“The CPI is well aware that for decades, the Israeli establishment has made great efforts to appropriate the Holocaust for the benefit of official state propaganda, especially during the criminal war in Gaza. This is a false connection. As the Communist Party of Israel, it is our duty to contribute to the struggle against the misuse of the memory of the Holocaust, which is intended for the justification of war, occupation and crimes. The way of dealing with it is not by running away or avoiding the matter. Dealing with it means not forfeiting to the Israeli establishment the universal marking of events and ceremonies commemorating the victims of Nazism.”
In Israel, the CPI has for many years stood in the forefront of the commemoration of May 9th – Victory Day over Nazi Germany – “even during times in which the Israeli establishment chose to completely ignore this decisive event in human history.”
