UN Secretary-General, Antonio Guterres, has decried the recent resurfacing of Neo-Nazi messages and political movements that either claims neo-Nazi affiliation or make use of its symbols and hateful language.
Mr Guterres, in a message, to commemorate the paying of tribute to all victims of the Second World War, on whose ashes, he said, the UN was founded, described the unfortunate trend as “spreading cancer”.
“This is cancer that is starting to spread again and I think it is our duty to do everything possible to make sure that this horrible disease is cured,’’ he said.
He said the memory of those who sacrificed their lives in the Second World War should help us “to defeat any form of neo-Nazism in today’s time.’’
Stipulating that the worst crime of all perpetrated by the Nazis was the Holocaust, he warned that “anti-Semitism and other forms of hatred are again proliferating in the world’’.
“I sincerely hope that the lessons of this May victory will help us defeat this resurgence of ideas and convictions that I thought had been buried forever.
“It is our duty to do it because we cannot accept the return of these ideologies,’’ the Secretary-General said.
Recalling the “unimaginable and devastating destruction’’, the UN chief said: “We absolutely need to make sure that in the world, these kinds of events do not take place anymore.
“We see a world in which conflict is proliferating, we see a world in which so many wars are taking place.
“And so I believe it is absolutely essential to remind us all of the lessons of the Second World War that, for the Soviet Union, was considered the Great Patriotic War,’’ he said.
Mr Guterres also highlighted the fact that it was the Soviet Union, which had made ‘by far’ the greatest sacrifice in terms of military effort and losses sustained during the war against Nazi Germany, until its unconditional surrender on May 8, 1945.
The Second World War, which unfortunate incident took place from 1939 to 1945, reportedly claimed 25 million lives. (NAN)
