“The whole idea of talking about denazification and of using language that in the end trivializes the Holocaust is unacceptable and is also dangerous.”

Russian President Vladimir Putin’s claims that he is “denazifying” Ukraine was “related to antisemitism” and constituted “instrumentalization of the Holocaust,” said von Schnurbein.

“We have seen war crimes [in Ukraine], but the threshold to genocide is very high so I believe that comparing [what is happening to] the Holocaust is problematic,” she explained. The West does not accept Putin’s claims of denazifying Ukraine, pointing out that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky was democratically elected and is Jewish.