On 23 September, an international scientific and practical conference dedicated to the 75th anniversary of the end of the Nuremberg International Military Tribunal ‘The Nuremberg Trials. The Fate and Role of Besieged Leningrad’ was opened in Saint Petersburg.
Russian President Vladimir V. Putin sent his greetings to the Conference participants.
The message reads, in part:
“Your forum is dedicated to the 75th anniversary of the Nuremberg Trials, which passed a legal and moral verdict on Nazi butchers and their accomplices. An undeniable proof of the grave crimes of the Hitler regime was the siege of Leningrad, which resulted in the death of hundreds of thousands of city residents – women, old people and children – from hunger, cold and continuing bombing.
The German troops and their allies began the siege 80 years ago, on September 8, 1941. This tragic date is a reminder of the events of the Great Patriotic War, the suffering and courage of the Soviet people, who covered a path of sacrifice and heroism until they routed Nazism thanks to their unity and unprecedented strong spirit. It is our common duty to remember about their heroism and the lessons of the past, which remind us of the need to remain vigilant and to stand up against extremism, xenophobia and national intolerance on all fronts.
We will never forget the fortitude of the residents of besieged but unbroken Leningrad, doing our best to prevent people from forgetting the conclusions made during the Nuremberg Trials, so that the tragedy of the Second World War never happens again.”
It was read by Plenipotentiary Representative of the President of Russia in the North-Western District Alexander V. Gutsan.
Governor of Saint-Petersburg Alexander D. Beglov also addressed the audience with a greeting.
The greeting from the UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres was conveyed by Director of the UN Information Centre in Moscow Vladimir V. Kuznetsov.
Deputy Director of the Institute of State and Law of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Senator of the International Association of Prosecutors, Head of the Expert Council ‘Nuremberg. The Beginning of Peace,’ Deputy Prosecutor General of Russia (2000-2016), Vice-President of the Union of Criminalists and Criminologists Alexander G. Zvyagintsev moderated the Conference and made a plenary report on the topic ‘Duty of memory: Lessons of the Nuremberg Trials.’ After that, A.G. Zvyagintsev gave an interview to the media.
The Conference was attended by heads of many state and law enforcement agencies, courts, prominent politicians, scientists, media representatives, and foreigners. In particular, Alexander Rahr (German political scientist, ex-adviser to the government of Germany), Thomas Fassbender (German RT channel employee, author of Vladimir Putin’s biography in Germany). More than 500 people took part in offline and online.
The Conference was broadcast online in Russian, English and German all over the world.
After the Conference, A.G. Zvyagintsev, as a writer-historian, presented his works and took part in an autograph session.
Translated by Elizaveta O. Ovchinnikova
