Dear Members of this forum, I am writing to you today to support a petition against a professor of Melbourne University Tim Lynch who humiliated WW2 veterans liberating Europe from fascism in 1944-1945. Prof. Lynch published an article in The Age newspaper where among his speculations he said that Russia barbarically invaded Germany in 1944-1945. A link to the soft copy of this article is below http://www.theage.com.au/comment/russia-reveals-both-its-strength-and-weakness-in-the-invasion-of-ukraine-20140303-3409n.html#ixzz2wHQga2wk and THE ONLY sentence I am focusing on is as follows. Quote: “…the barbarity of the Russian invasion of Germany in 1944-1945…” Irrespectively of the current politics and relationship going up and down between Russia and the West in the past and now, such words about WW2 veterans are insulting and misleading. A public online petition was put in place to demand an apology from Mr Lynch and numerous complaints were sent to the Australian Press Council to demand an apology from both Mr Lynch and The Age. A link to this petition is below. https://www.change.org/en-AU/petitions/demand-for-a-public-apology-from-timothy-lynch-for-calling-russians-barbarians-and-invaders-of-germany-in-the-newspaper-the-age and everyone who is willing to sign this petition can sign it online at the top right corner. The petition was signed by people from all over the world, including by members of the Russian community living in Australia whose relatives participated in the WW2 or just by people who know the history of the WW2. We need to thank the WW2 veterans for their enormous efforts in defeating fascism irrespectively of where these veterans were from. Efforts of the former Soviet Union were enormous and soldiers of this country were fighting side by side with the American, British, Polish and the others to achieve a desired outcome. The day of defeating fascism is celebrated in many European countries as the Liberation Day or Victory Day but never as an invasion day. It seems the professor Lynch does not want to distinguish between the liberation and invasion and people who signed this petition believe that thanks to the efforts of the Russian, American, British, Polish, French and lots of other soldiers the WW2 was actually stopped. Such comments made publicly by academics in relation to WW2 veterans are insulting and false. I believe that by signing this petition one would pay a tribute to British veteran members of the Arctic convoys which delivered vital supplies to the northern ports of the Soviet Union during WW2, pay a tribute to all fallen soldiers and to those soldiers of allies who advanced from the West and the East to Germany in 1944 and in the end defeated the Nazis in 1945. The term “barbarian invasion” cannot and shall not be used to describe such events. If you believe you can sign this petition, please do so. Thank you.
