Russian President Vladimir Putin has signed a new law designating April 19 as a national “Day of Remembrance for Victims of the Soviet Genocide,” commemorating civilians killed by the Nazis and their collaborators during World War II, without explicitly mentioning the murder of Jews in the Holocaust.
The law, which took effect January 1, emphasizes Nazi responsibility for the destruction of Soviet civilians but does not refer directly to the systematic extermination of Jews as part of the Holocaust.
April 19 was chosen to mark a decree issued by the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet on April 19, 1943, considered the first official document to acknowledge the Nazis’ deliberate policy of mass murder against civilians in territories occupied from the Soviet Union. Russian lawmakers say the date symbolizes historical recognition of these crimes and is intended to combat historical denial.
The decision has drawn sharp criticism in Israel and among Jewish communities worldwide, as April 19, 1943, is the day the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising began, widely regarded as the central symbol of Jewish resistance during the Holocaust. Israel’s Holocaust Remembrance Day also falls in April each year, closely tied to the date of the uprising. In 2026, it will be observed on April 14.
Critics of the Russian move, including Alex Tenzer, the son of Holocaust survivors, say the law is a cynical distortion of history. They argue it ignores the unique nature of the Jewish genocide and promotes the concept of a “Soviet genocide” to advance a political agenda.
Tenzer noted that until April 1943, the Soviet Union had not formally recognized mass extermination on its territory. He also pointed to Russia’s ongoing demands for additional compensation from Germany for the siege of Leningrad, while Jewish Holocaust victims have received reparations for decades.
Russia’s Victory Day parade marking the defeat of Nazi Germany
(Video: Reuters)
In recent years, Russia has pushed for legal recognition of Nazi crimes as genocide against the “Soviet people,” including demands that Germany recognize the Leningrad blockade as genocide and expand compensation. Germany already pays reparations to Jewish Holocaust victims, including Jewish survivors of the Leningrad siege, but Russia argues compensation should be extended to all survivors.
Many historians and officials view the new law as an effort to downplay the Holocaust of European Jewry, particularly amid Russia’s war in Ukraine and heightened tensions with the West. In Israel and internationally, critics have called for a clear distinction between remembrance of World War II victims and the Holocaust as a unique act of genocide.
Russia annually marks Victory Day on May 9, one of the most significant dates in its state calendar, commemorating the defeat of Nazi Germany according to the Soviet timeline. The day is marked by official ceremonies, large military parades and speeches emphasizing the Soviet Union’s role in defeating Nazism.