The conference will also try to "come up with practical recommendations for keeping the historical lesson for future generations," Shpigel told a convention in Moscow of the Russian Jewish Congress.

The World Congress of Russian Jewry and the Ukrainian Jewish Committee are organizers of the Kyiv forum.

Shpigel also said that, in celebrating next year the 65th anniversary of the end of World War II, one must not turn a blind eye to "shameful tendencies" to revise the war's history and re-interpret some of the war's events.

"There can be no justification for those who, in pursuing their political interests, are trying to distort lessons of the history of World War II and whitewash the henchmen of fascism," he said.

He also said how influential the Russian Jewish Congress will be directly depends on whether its leaders are willing to cooperate with other Jewish organizations, both religious and secular.

He said he considered the president of the Russian Jewish Congress, Yury Kanner, "a unifying figure round whom both business circles and public figures can rally."