Recently I read a book. Can you imagine I still read books?
It said:
“Life changes you, even if you don’t realize it while it’s happening…”*
Many things have changed in my life and head since the beginning of the war.
Yesterday was May 9th and it's a big holiday in Russia. It's a Victory Day for people who fought in World War II.
It seems like I feel slightly different about that now.
I still grieve for all the dead and missing in that war, I still cry when I watch Soviet war films (that's why I don't watch them), I'm still proud of the feat of the Soviet people.
The Soviet Union lost some 27m people in the Great Patriotic War, and no family remained unaffected. Some people fought on the front lines, some worked three shifts a day to supply the army.
The Victory Day was and is a sort of reminder of the importance of peace.
But now, the word “peace” is prohibited.
It started in spring 2022 when thousands of people were repressed for their anti-war position or reports of war crimes by Russian military personnel. There are cases when courts have found guilty of “discrediting” citizens for one word “peace” on T-shirts, badges or posters, or holding a “War and Peace” book.
This spring, the rejection of the word “peace” during the official May Day events was sanctioned at the federal level. The journalists noted that the word was removed from the festive posts on social networks by the Russian Prosecutor General's Office and the Investigative Committee, as well as the main federal TV channels — Channel One and VGTRK.
But anyway, the holiday is still there, May 9th, Victory Day to commemorate the Soviet victory in World War II or the Great Patriotic War, as World War II is referred to by the Russians.
The peace treaty had been signed late on 8 May, 1945 in Berlin. Moscow (being in a different time zone) received the news in the early hours of 9 May. The Soviet government announced the victory early on 9 May after the signing ceremony in Berlin.
In 1946 and 1947, May 9 was a day off, and in 1948-1964, Victory Day was not officially celebrated.
The usual celebration of the anniversary of the Victory with a parade of military equipment returned only under Secretary General Leonid Brezhnev, but the parade was held only in the capital. At the same time, May 9 became an official holiday again.
In 2024, as in 2023, a number of regions refused to hold a parade. According to RBC**, among them are Crimea, Kursk, Bryansk, Ryazan, Pskov, Saratov. The regions also refused the festive fireworks, including the Tomsk region.
The authorities also adjusted the format of the Immortal Regiment.
 |
| My son |
 |
| My friend Naralia |
“Immortal regiment”
“Immortal regiment” is a public action when people carry pictures of World War II soldiers.
In 2011, in Tomsk, journalists Sergei Lapenkov, Sergei Kolotovkin and Igor Dmitriev noticed that fewer and fewer veterans take part in street processions on Victory Day, and decided to restore justice. They invited people to participate at the parade with portraits of relatives who fought in the War. For the first time the action “Immortal regiment” was organized in 2012 in Tomsk on the initiative of local TV journalists.
In 2014, the march took place in 7 countries. in 2016 - in more than 50 countries, in 2018 - in more than 80 countries, 2020 and 2021 - online due to the pandemic.
In 2022, the march was held in Tomsk, and in 2023 it was abandoned “for security reasons”.
There was no official procession of the Immortal Regiment this year. But hundreds of Tomichi came to the Lagerniy Sad with photos of their relatives, veterans.
Two of my grandfathers died in World War II. One went missing, the other died in 1942.
My grandfather’s letter
I grew up in the Soviet Union with stories, books and movies of sacrifice, courage and patriotism of Russian defenders. In films soldiers were strong, bold and courageous. They were Heroes. They always shared canned meat and chocolate with civilians. I truly believed in that. Until my aunt, Dad’s sister, showed me a letter from her Dad (my grandfather) to her Mom. I was really shocked.
My grandfather was killed in 1942. If you remember, the war (with Russia) started on June 22, 1941. Sometime in between 1941 and 1942 my grandfather wrote a letter to his wife asking to send him some croutons. I know that the beginning of the war was a very difficult time for the entire country. The Soviet Union was not ready for that scenario. The Red Army was backing up. And knowledge that soldiers were suffering from hunger made me feel really sad. My grandmother had three kids at that time. My dad was the youngest one, he was 2 years old. But despite this my grandfather was asking for croutons….It shows how bad the situation in the Soviet Army was.
Since then, I don’t watch too many Soviet style patriotic movies. I still like some of them though, such as “Only old men are going to battle”, “The dawns here are quiet”. You can find them on YouTube with English subtitles.
But anyway, Victory day is a holiday which brings families together. This is a day to remember and think of people who fought and sacrificed their lives for our happy future. The words “Thank my grandfather for the victory” became a slogan of the holiday.
There is a link to the Ria Tomsk News article with photos from the Tomsk parade.
*The Sweetness of Forgetting by Kristin Harmel
**The RBC Group, or RosBiznesConsulting, is a Russian media group headquartered in Moscow.
Resources:
https://youtu.be/m4j1oHjJN3Q?si=hPx_pkI1F6g_jr5S video parade in Moscow
https://rupor.md/v-rf-pochti-perestali-ispolzovat-slovo-mir-v-pervomajskom-lozunge/
No comments:
Post a Comment