Victory Day of Russia in the Great Patriotic War (1941-1945)

Alena V. Danilova/ Aleksei A. Novikov

May 9 marks the Victory Day of Russia and the countries of the ex-Soviet Union in the Great Patriotic War against Nazi Germany in 1945. 
79 years have passed since the end of that war. Several generations have grown up over the years. The political map of the planet has changed. For some people the events of that war have long become a distant memory. So why does Russia celebrate May 9 as the most important holiday? 
The war has left a deep imprint on every family’s history. Behind these words, there are fates of millions of people, their sufferings and the pain of loss. Behind these words, there is also the pride, the truth and the memory. It is important that our children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren understand the torment and hardships their ancestors had to endure. They need to understand how their relatives managed to persevere and win. Yes, they were defending their homes, children, loved ones and families, but more importantly, they shared the love for their homeland, their Motherland. That deep-seated and intimate feeling is fully reflected in the very essence of the Russian nation and became one of the decisive factors in its heroic and sacrificial fight against the Nazis.
We have a responsibility to our past and our future to preserve the memory of that war, especially the fact that the Nazis were defeated first and foremost by the entire Soviet people and that representatives of all republics of the Soviet Union fought side by side together in that heroic battle, both on the frontlines and in the rear. 
On April 28, 1942, Franklin D. Roosevelt said in his address to the American nation: “These Russian forces have destroyed and are destroying more armed power of our enemies – troops, planes, tanks, and guns – than all the other United Nations put together.” Winston Churchill in his message to Joseph Stalin of September 27, 1944, wrote that “it is the Russian army that tore the guts out of the German military machine…”
Such an assessment resonated throughout the world. Almost 27 million Soviet citizens lost their lives on the fronts, in German prisons, starved to death and were bombed, died in ghettos and furnaces of the Nazi death factories including children’s concentration camps. Today as well, our position remains unchanged – there can be no excuse for the atrocities of Nazi criminals and their collaborators, there is no period of limitations for them. 
This is why this holiday is sacred for every Russian.