Аннотация:This paper examines the problem of criminalizing the distortion of historical memory. It largelyconcerns the Armenian Genocide carried out by the Ottoman Empire in 1915, as well as the events taking placeduring the Second World War. The work presents judicial practice of national courts and the European Court ofHuman Rights, which considered the material of such distortion. The authors study the criminal legislation ofdifferent countries providing for responsibility for the distortion of historical facts. The paper includes the resultsof Russian sociological studies on the need to introduce penal prohibitions for historical facts distortion. Thefindings of this research allowed the authors to conclude that it is advisable to contend with the phenomenaunder consideration through some social impact measures rather than with criminal legislation methods. Suchmeasures are raising the legal culture of the population, increasing the number of academic hours dedicated tothe problematic issues in the courses of history and social studies in educational institutions, organizing new andrenovating and promoting existing museums and historical centers (especially such centers as “Khatyn”,Auschwitz, Yad Vashem holocaust remembrance center in Israel, the Armenian Genocide Museum in Yerevanand others), providing open access to archive documents for not only scientists, but general public as well - byusing modern means of communication. Keywords: criminal policy, historical memory, falsification of history,criminal liability, genocide, Second World War.