German President Gauck remembers Soviet sacrifice on 75th anniversary of Nazi invasion
On Wednesday, German President Joachim Gauck paid tribute to Soviet victims of World War II 75 years after German soldiers under Adolf Hitler began their assault on Soviet forces.
"No country had as many victims in World War II as the Soviet Union," said Gauck in Berlin. "Nearly 27 million people lost their lives."
On June 22, 1941, Nazi Germany launched " Operation Barbarossa," which sought to destroy the Soviet Union. The operation was designed to swiftly topple Soviet forces under Joseph Stalin, but ended up turning into a long war of attrition and driving the Soviets into allegiance with Allied forces.
"Hitler and his henchmen, supported by countless Germans, wanted the destruction of the Soviet Union, the enslavement of its people, and the plundering of its land," Gauck said.
Many of those targeted by the Nazis were Russian Jews, who were among the millions of victims of Nazi concentration camps.
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