With the renewed attention to the threat of possible genocide of the Armenian population in Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabach) these days, new attention has been focused on past historical events, among them a massacre of Jewish Poles by the Azeris during the Holocaust. –Ed.

Vartanian, Varouj (August 24, 2023). The Massacre of Jews by the Azeri Legion during the Holocaust. The California Courier. Reprinted from the Times of Israel. https://blogs.timesofisrael.com/the-holocausts-wola-massacre-legacy-of-the-azerbaijani-legion/

The Wola Massacre is one of the forgotten massacres during the Holocaust that we must remember today. The brutal massacre of 50,000 Polish and Jewish civilians began on August 5, 1944 – 79 years ago today. Between August 5 and August 12, 1944, German Wehrmacht soldiers and Azerbaijani Legion soldiers collaborated to “kill anything that moves” in Wola, Poland. The infamous quote from the previous sentence was uttered by Adolf Hitler as the Nazis approached Warsaw.

“Azerbaijan’s strong association with massacres and human rights crimes over a span of more than 100 years is the elephant in the room that the international community is hesitant to address due to geopolitics. But this needs to be addressed if we are to build a more peaceful and moral future.”

As early as 2020, Los Angeles Times, Time Magazine, Forbes, Chicago Tribune, Jerusalem Post, Newsweek, and RollingStone have published articles bringing attention to the fragile situation in Nagorno-Karabakh and the risks of a second Armenian genocide. If the West truly believes in democracy, human rights, self-determination, and liberal values, Europe and the United States must take a stand against Azerbaijan’s government instead of giving the dictatorship a pass to commit these crimes. Otherwise, the hypocrisy is deafening.