World Without Nazism

World Without Nazism (WWN; , , ''MBN'') is a Russian political organization with ties to Vladimir Putin's government, which claims to campaign against neo-fascism.
The group has also been described, by security agencies from Estonia and Latvia, as a Russian propaganda organization, and as a Kremlin-sponsored GONGO, which aims to advance Russian foreign policies against formerly Soviet-occupied countries and to promote "a Soviet-era approach to World War II". The organization was founded and is led by Boris Spiegel, a Russian oligarch with close ties to Putin. It was founded in Kyiv, Ukraine, on 22 June 2010, and is registered in Strasbourg, France.

The organisation accuses the countries that were formerly part of the Communist Bloc of "rapid nazification." It criticizes the "Western European democracies" for their alleged role in starting World War II and proposes a common history textbook for all of Europe based on "serious scientific study, as well as the decisions of international judicial and political authorities on which basis the postwar world order had been built".

Aims

World Without Nazism has declared its official aims to be:
* establishment of an international "early warning" system, monitoring and prevention of the uprising and spread of Nazi ideas and actions;
* establishment of interaction with national, European and international law enforcement and judicial bodies in order to suppress any manifestations of neo-Nazism, racism and xenophobia, including glorification of its accomplices, struggle against those who deny Holocaust,
* cooperation with international European organizations, parliaments, public associations overseeing denazification processes in the UN member states,
* incorporation into the educational system of the Council of Europe member-states (and further on of other states) of obligatory programs of teaching the Second World War and Holocaust history;
* popularization of publicist materials, films, works of literature and art which cover issues of revival of the Nazism threat, the need to struggle against it;
* support of organizations initiating investigation of activities against persons who are accessorial to Nazi crimes of the Second World War;
* preservation of the memory of victims of the Second World War and Holocaust and resistance fighters and liberating soldiers.

According to a member of Civic Chamber of the Russian Federation and founder of a sub-section of World Without Nazism in Russia Alexander Brod, the organization also attempts to protect Russian-speaking citizens in the Baltic states.

Criticism

WWN has been accused of being a GONGO, "a pseudo-independent outfit that a country (usually authoritarian or non-democratic in nature) establishes to mimic an NGO so as to deceive the media, public and other governments." The organisation is under observation by the police in Estonia because security officials allege its membership includes suspected extremists. The organization is described in the Annual Review of the Estonian Security Police as a propaganda organization aimed at promoting "a Soviet-era approach to World War II." According to Estonian security officials, certain members of the organization are radical nationalists who promote Russian chauvinism. The Annual Review states that World Without Nazism cooperates closely with Russian state controlled media channels and Russian Federation embassies in target countries. It also states that WWN's goal is to create a situation according to which questioning Moscow's version of history regarding the Soviet occupation of the Baltic states and The Holodomor is equated with denial of the Holocaust.. Five WWN members who are also members of the New York State Assembly wrote an open letter to the Prime Minister of Estonia Andrus Ansip objecting against calling the WWN extremist. Steven Cymbrowitz, Alec Brook-Krasny, Kevin Cahill, Michelle Schimel, Linda Rosenthalbr>Letter to Andrus Ansip
28 July 2011. Retrieved 14 May 2018.

According to V. Likhachev, a Ukrainian Congress of Ethnic Communities official, WWN accuses selected governments unsympathetic to Russia of antisemitism, radical nationalism, support of neo-fascists, Holocaust denial, hindering the prosecution of alleged Nazi war criminals and historical revisionist politics toward the consequences of the Great Patriotic War. Likhachev also alleges that the allegations are not directed against Kremlin-friendly authoritarian regimes and that WWN is profoundly focused on instances of antisemitism by the government of Georgia, which is pro-Israel. According to James Kirchick of ''The Daily Beast'', the WWN employed the "fascist" label to defame governments in eastern Europe which are opposed to Russian influence.

Support

The 2010 conference, where WWN was founded, received letters of support from Hillary Clinton and from the Prime Minister of Ukraine Mykola Azarov, and was attended by Minister of Education and Science of Ukraine Dmytro Tabachnyk

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