THE CONCEPT OF “DENAZIFICATION” IN THE CONTEXT OF THE INFORMATION COMPONENT OF THE MODERN RUSSIAN-UKRAINIAN WAR

Abstract

The purpose of the paper is to consider the concept of “denazification” from a historical perspective and follow the current course of its use by the Russian Federation against Ukraine. The Methodology of the Research. In the article there have been used the methods of analysis, synthesis, generalization, comparative method, methods of historical hermeneutics, and semiotic analysis. The scientific novelty: for the first time, the concept of “denazification” has been comprehensively analyzed from a historical perspective and studied in the context of the information component of the modern Russian-Ukrainian war. The Conclusion. The “denazification” of post-war Germany, along with the task of punishing those guilty of the Nazi crimes, also pursued a “humanitarian” operation to re-educate the Germans after the war and reformat their information and virtual systems under the coercion and control of the victorious states – members of the anti-Hitler coalition, primarily the USA, the USSR, Great Britain and France. The denazification programme was initially reduced to several key blocks: the impossibility of Nazism re-enactment through the liquidation of the Nazi agencies and the legal dismissal of the Nazis and militarists from public posts and positions of the highest importance; liquidation of the Nazi ideology, the Nazi party, its formations, affiliated associations and supervised organizations; abrogation of all laws and regulations which establish discriminations on grounds of race, nationality, creed, or political opinions; demilitarization; denazification of education; arrests and internment of members of the Nazi organizations. Due to the relative “softness” of denazification, especially in the Western occupation zones, modern  historiography often points at its “farce” and even “sabotage”. However, the determination to implement relevant policy in the humanitarian sphere (education, mass media, art, public discourse, etc.) yielded fruit – nowadays Germany is one of the leaders of the democratic world. Instead, the Russian Federation, whose predecessor, the USSR, denazified the East German occupation zone, has turned into a terrorist state. Paradoxically, it produces the ideas of the “denazification of Ukraine”, declaring the practical desovereignization of the Ukrainian state (up to its annihilation) and the latest genocide of the Ukrainian people.