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US ex-ambassador says US has no right to judge how other nations remember WWII

Former US ambassador to Russia quoted John F. Kennedy saying no people ever suffered as much as the Soviet people suffered in World War II
Former US Ambassador to Russia John Beyrle attends the exhibition devoted to his father, Joseph R. Beyrle, a legendary World War II veteran who fought with US and Soviet armies (archive) AP Photo
Former US Ambassador to Russia John Beyrle attends the exhibition devoted to his father, Joseph R. Beyrle, a legendary World War II veteran who fought with US and Soviet armies (archive)
© AP Photo

WASHINGTON, April 10. /TASS/. The politicization of history is dangerous and the United States has no right to judge how other people choose to remember World War II, former US ambassador to Russia John Beyrle told TASS on Friday.

"It’s not for us who have never suffered that kind of devastation on our own territory - it’s not for us to judge how other people choose to remember that," said Beyrle whose father was one of the very few American soldiers in World War II to serve with both the United States Army and the Soviet Army.

"As John F. Kennedy said in 1963 that in the history of battle no people ever suffered as much as the Soviet people suffered in World War II and that is just a fact," Beyrle added.

"The politicization of history is something that can be used in a very dangerous and pernicious way and we’ve seen that through history. Hitler is probably a good example," he said.