The post-Soviet South Caucasus countries have not yet accumulated sufficient experience in conducting their own “festive and commemorative” policies. Before they became independent countries as a result of the collapse of the Soviet Union, Azerbaijan, Armenia and Georgia shared symbols and festive dates with all the other republics (the majority of these dates were associated with the establishment of the Soviet power there). The experience of national statehood after the disintegration...
Since Alexander Lukashenko came to power in 1994, Victory Day, the memory of it and its symbols have become an integral part of Belarusian statehood and the ideology of the Belarusian state. Back then, 20 years ago, when many ex-Soviet countries were aggressively revising the Soviet legacy, the people of Belarus and the Belarusian leadership definitively determined Victory Day as a sacred day for the country.
There are many reasons for this. There is the price Belarus paid for the Victory: one in...
Spain’s participation in the Second World War is not all that easy to assess. Officially, Spain was not among the combatants, this often being forgotten when the country is assigned the status of an ally of Germany. Indeed, the Spanish people, under the leadership of Franco, who held definitely fascist (not to say Nazi) views, assisted Germany and its allies with weapons and soldiers, but refused to act openly on the side of the Axis.
At the same time, Franco continued talking to the allies...
If more far-reaching and serious political events did not occur in the world, considerably more attention would be devoted in Russian scientific circles and media to the attitude of Central-Eastern European countries to the Red Army’s victory in the Second World War. After all, in all the countries liberated by the Red Army in 1944–1945 a particular microcosm of emotions has now arisen that is pitiless towards oppressors and full of sympathy for the peoples that suffered.
On 4 April 2015...
The May 8–9 holiday is a far too complicated affair, and somewhat inconvenient to be a widespread celebration across the Balkans
The attitude to Victory Day in the Balkans can at best be described as positive to neutral. This date certainly exists in the public and media space. Remembrance events are held, and speeches are made.
Local news feeds
feature reports of the “grand military parade in Moscow”, and yet in most cases it is shown as a kind of spectacle, in recognition of modern...
The attitude of India and its population to the Second World War is substantially different to that which exists in Europe. There were no military battles on the Indian territory, the country’s existence was not put in doubt, but the war itself led to the proclamation of India’s independence.
It is the last aspect which attracts the Indian public most. In this respect there is especial interest in the actions of the Indian National Army, which fought on Japan’s side.
In September...
In the light of the geopolitical situation that has developed in relation to Russia’s foreign partners’ attitude to the country, the celebration of the 70th anniversary of victory in the Second World War will be a kind of litmus test both for Russia’s political elite and for the majority of the country’s citizens. The decision by a number of western leaders not to come to the events celebrating this anniversary has sparked a wave of indignation among the Russian public and...
Germans observe May 8 as their day of deliverance from the National Socialist dictatorship, commemorating the millions of victims fallen from one the world's bloodiest regimes that mechanized mass murder and was responsible for the banalization of evil, according to historian Eugen Kogon
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Russia and other countries liberated from German occupation perceive May 8 and 9 as a day of great victory in the ugliest war of the 20th century, which took over 27 million Soviet lives. So, what exactly...
This is the official name of the holiday in France that celebrates victory in World War II. On May 8, 1945, Nazi Germany signed the act of surrender in the headquarters of Anglo-American Commander-in-Chief General Dwight Eisenhower in Reims. This date is celebrated in France as the day when World War II ended in Europe. It should be noted that due to a demand by the Soviets, another ceremony for the German surrender was arranged in Berlin shortly before midnight on 8 May, during which Marshal Georgy...
This year, Russia and China will for the first time jointly commemorate their victory against fascism, both countries regarding this day primarily as a tribute to the heroic generations of the Russians and the Chinese who shouldered the burdens of World War II and suffered the greatest losses. Joint events in Moscow and Beijing also testify to the cooperative endeavor made to defend the achievements of the Great Victory and oppose any attempts to distort the history of the war. The shared celebration...
