Historical memory of the genocide of the soviet people during the great patriotic war: criminal and legal aspect

The significance of modern genocide trials and discussion of court decisions of the postwar years (the Nuremberg and Japanese tribunals, the Khabarovsk trial) is not to distort the events of the Second World War and prevent their repetition in the 21st century.Modernity determines the need for the formation of new approaches to the meaningful definition of genocide in order to prevent the distortion of the historical memory of peoples. The authors analyzed the current Russian and international legislation, scientific and journalistic sources. Attention is drawn to the fact that in scientific publications the meaning of the term genocide is often distorted, historical facts are interpreted distortedly. Based on the results of the study, it is concluded that it is necessary to expand the term “genocide” in the criminal law.