Victory Day (9 May): Difference between revisions

Revision as of 01:33, 13 May 2006

Revision as of 01:36, 13 May 2006

Line 7:

The [[May 9]] Victory Day is celebrated in most of the successor states to the Soviet Union, especially in [[Russia]], [[Ukraine]] and [[Belarus]]. The day is traditionally marked by ceremonial [[parade|military parade]]s with the most prominent one being traditionally held in [[Moscow]] [[Red Square]].

The anniversary was enforced during communist control over [[Poland]] until [[1989]] when the government choose to celebrate [[Victory in Europe Day]] on [[May 8]] instead. The original date was considered by many to be the symbol of the start of Soviet occupation rather then liberation from Nazi's.<ref name="Walesa"> ''Only now, in a free and sovereign Republic, can we speak of this in a distinct voice. To show the complex and ambiguous meaning of this anniversary. To bare its full truth. In the times of the Polish People's Republic, in enslaved Poland, a different version of history was compulsory. The official and "only correct" version. So we celebrated 9th May as Victory Day. But even today, six years after the overthrow of communism, we still have "difficulties" with this anniversary. We still don't know whether to treat it as a day of victory or a day of national catastrophe.'' Address by president of the Republic of Poland [[Lech Walesa]] at the joint session of the Diet and Senate on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the end of World War II[http://www.zbiordokumentow.pl/1995/2/14.html]</ref>.

Two separate capitulation events took place at the time. First, the capitulation to the [[Allies|Allied]] nations in [[Reims]] was signed on [[May 7]], [[1945]], effective [[May 8]]. This date is commonly referred to as the [[Victory in Europe Day|V-E Day]] (Victory in Europe Day) in most [[western Europe]]an countries. The [[Red Army]]'s command however insisted that the Germans specifically surrender to the Soviet Union, which contributed most to the defeat of [[Nazi Germany]] on land in Europe, and held another surrender ceremony in Berlin late on [[May 8]], when it was already [[May 9]] in [[Moscow]] due to the difference in time zones. Field-Marshal [[Wilhelm Keitel]] submitted the [[Capitulation (surrender)|capitulation]] of the [[Wehrmacht]] to the Soviet Marshal [[Georgy Zhukov]] in the Red Army headquarters in Berlin-Karlshorst. To commemorate the event, the ceremonial [[Moscow Victory Parade of 1945|Moscow Victory Parade]] was held in the Soviet capital on [[June 24]], [[1945]].