NETANYA, February 25, /ITAR-TASS/. Attempts at justification of Nazism mean defiance to entire civilized world, Sergei Naryshkin, the speaker of the State Duma lower house of Russian parliament, said at the meeting with Israeli historians and cultural figures in Netanya on Tuesday. Naryshkin is in Israel in the framework of his visit to the Middle East.
“Attempts are made to justify crimes of Nazism or show disregard for victims of that horrible war, the Second World War,” Naryshkin said. “This is defiance to entire civilized world,” he said, urging the professional community of historians to concentrate efforts on preserving the memory about that war.
The speaker of the State Duma who heads the Russian Historical Society said that the society plans to set up its first branch abroad in Israel. He recalled that the Russian Historical Society founded two years ago is the successor to the Imperial Russian Historical Society.
“The memory of the Great War is the priority of the Russian Historical Society, and I hope that it will be the priority of its branch in Israel,” Naryshkin said, expressing the confidence that “the historical society can strengthen contacts between our countries.”
The speaker began his visit with a meeting with veterans of the Second World War in Netanya and placing wreaths on behalf of the Russian Federation at the monument to the Victory of the Red Army over Nazi Germany. “It is important that the memory of those grim years should be preserves so that there should be no repetition of the horror of 70 years ago. We will not forget these years and those who gave their lives so that we live,” Naryshkin said.