Editorial
This year the Russian Federation is celebrating the 70th Anniversary of the end of the Great Patriotic War, known in history as Victory Day or 9 May. The title “Great Patriotic War” comes from the address that Joseph Stalin made to his people in July 1941 to call upon the
entire region to fight the invaders, the Nazi Germans. In the West, this war is generally
known as the “Eastern Front of World War II”.
The day has been celebrated with national ethos and festivity to commemorate the
sacrifices made by the Soviet people and the patriotism of the millions of Soviet soldiers
during the battle with Nazi Germany, which lasted from the German invasion of the USSR on June 22, 1941, until Germany signed its unconditional surrender on May 9, 1945.
This year, special invitations have also been sent to Heads of State of various countries
to participate in the festivities arranged in Moscow.
While glancing through the history pages one can observe that the people of the Soviet Union faced unprecedented hardships and sufferings at the hands of Germans while fighting the battle. This was a huge and unforgettable tragedy that will remain blood-soaked in the history pages of the world where no other country paid such a high price of human life as the Soviets did. Twenty-Seven million Soviet citizens lost their lives during the war.
According to an estimate, during the war, 1,710 cities, more than 70,000 villages and
32,000 factories were destroyed. The total damage amounted to $128 billion. Due to
heroic resistance and unity against all odds, winners at the end were still the Soviet
people, who remained resilient and stood fast and hence remained glorious at the
end. Even seventy years have passed since the end of the war but the memory of the
conflict has not faded from the hearts and the mind of the people of the region especially the Russian people and it will pass on to “generation to generation, from parents to
children, from heart to heart”.
President of the Russian Federation, Mr.Vladimir Putin once said while addressing on similar occasions previously, that “the might behind this righteous unity is love for Russia, our home, our relatives and our family. These values bring us together today. Our entire
nation fought valiantly to defend them.”
The war that was started in June 1941 was turned into one of the brutal and most cruel battles in human history where there was a huge loss of human lives. The war lasted for 1,418 days and nights. The loss of Nazi forces near Moscow by the end of 1941 was the first major victory that Soviet Army gained in war. The battle continued when German forces made a failed attempt to capture the city of Stalingrad (present-day Volgograd).
The battle for this city lasted for more than six months, hence causing huge loss of lives and infrastructure. Finally, Soviet forces led by General Georgiy K Zhukov made the attempt to force the opposition to surrender Stalingrad in 1943. This victory for Stalingrad was a morale booster and proved decisive for the Red Army. History also reveals that the most traumatic battle was for Leningrad, famously known as “blocked of Leningrad” which lasted for 880 days.
The Leningrad was the former capital of Russia and a symbol of the Russian Revolution also and winning this city was the strategic goal for the German plan for the Eastern Front. It turned out to be the bloodiest episode of the whole war in terms of a huge loss of human lives during the war and offensive for this single city. Even it claimed more victims than the
combined losses of the U.S and Britain in the whole Second World War.
Then the battle of Kursk-the greatest tank battle of WW2 and human history took place. Later Red Army, with an attitude of victory, broken the German siege and moved beyond the
Soviet Frontiers hence reached eastern Germany and captured Berlin in May 1945,
wherein the war ended with the surrender of Nazi Germany, after signing the document of Surrender in May 1945. The day is celebrated in 15 Soviet Republics after the adoption of the surrender document on May 8, 1945, and then the Soviet government announced the victory early on May 9 after the signing ceremony in Berlin.
The date has become a national holiday – Victory Day and is commemorated by organizing a grand military parade at Red Square in Moscow. The day has become part of the national narrative of the country and has been given importance in cinema, literature, history lessons at education institutions, mass media, and the arts. The ritual of the celebration gradually obtained a distinctive character with a number of similar elements: ceremonial
meetings, speeches, lectures, receptions, and fireworks.
It is also estimated that the upcoming 70th Anniversary celebrations of Victory Day in Russia will be the largest one in Russia’s modern history. Thousands of people from the country and across the world will come to witness this a glorious day in Moscow.
