Opposing war crimes is not pro-Nazi
Of course we should memorialize the innocent German women and girls victimized by rampaging Soviet barbarians.
In the lead-up to World War II, Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union signed a "non-aggression" pact. The Nazis and Soviets conspired to invade Poland and split it between them, leading the United Kingdom and France to declare war on Germany. (But not the USSR.) The Nazis betrayed and invaded the Soviet Union, shattering the alliance. Over the course of the next four years, 3.3 million Soviet prisoners of war would die in German custody, a shocking number that by itself easily qualifies as genocide. That would be only a small percentage of the total Soviet death toll from the Nazi Wehrmacht.
The Soviets heroically fought back and pushed the Nazis out of their territory. But that is not the end of the story: The Soviets were every bit as evil and depraved as the Nazis were. Ruthless Soviet barbarians literally raped their way across Germany. Mass rape of German women and girls was an intentional strategy of the Soviet army to humiliate and degrade Germany and get revenge for the brutal invasion and occupation of Russia and its empire. See here and here and here and here for more. The broken alliance between the Nazis and Soviets is the most prominent example in the 20th century that the world is not black and white.
Some people, in their desire to be "righteous," want to reduce the Nazi/Soviet conflict into a simple black and white issue. They claim that memorializing the women and girls brutalized by Soviet rapists and child molesters is "pro-Nazi," meant to generate sympathy for Nazi Germany. This is a simple-minded take. The women and girls savagely raped by Soviet marauders are innocent of the crimes of Nazi Germany, just as the Russian women who were victimized are innocent of the crimes of the Soviet Union. It astonishes me that anyone could be opposed to memorializing innocent victims of war, just because the government of their country was evil.
The eastern front in Europe was not a conflict between good and evil. This was a conflict between evil and evil. The Soviets were every bit as brutal, depraved, murderous and genocidal as the Nazis. The Western nations accepted an alliance with the Soviets because Nazi Germany was a much bigger threat, having already conquered most of Europe. The ruthlessness of the Red Army on the eastern front took pressure off the West. Once Germany was destroyed, the West wisely pivoted against the threat the Soviets represented.
Moral standards, as defined by Scripture, are black and white. We will all answer to God for our actions on earth. The world itself, however, is not black and white. People are messy and complicated. Dealing with conflict and controversy requires more wisdom and discernment than most people are willing to exercise. It is often impossible to point to one side or the other and say "good" and "bad." All of humanity is totally corrupted by sin. We do not want to recognize that because we do not want to see the darkness in our own souls. We are fooling ourselves. The only possible righteousness we will ever achieve is through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ on the cross. Everything else is filthy rags.
