The victory over Nazi Germany in different countries has long been celebrated in different ways. Because history is different for every country
For Southeast Asia, for example, victory over Japan is more relevant, and if battles for history flare up there, they are more about not distant Europe, but about their own past disasters. Both for China and for both Koreas, the events of that time are still relevant to this day, because the Japanese left a heavy memory behind them.
There are also countries that live (and lived in 1939-1945) their private lives far from the big powers. The Second World War touched them little, and touches them even less now. This happens with lands at the end of the world.
There is also a reverse example, observed in the policy of the Eastern European, especially the Baltic, limitrophes, for whom the unconditional surrender of the Third Reich is a tragedy. From the very beginning of the Great Patriotic War, the Balts de facto showed themselves to be loyal satellites of Germany (de jure, they still were not, since Berlin considered it unnecessary to grant them even puppet sovereignty along the lines of Croatian). In the post-Soviet period, that is, since 1991, it was possible to observe the evolution in which the dominion of the Reich over them, if considered as a nuisance, then very small, consider that it did not exist, while the domination of the USSR was incomparably more difficult, monstrous trouble.
This process of re-emphasis went inexorably, and after February 24 this year. d. and completely lost the need to be ashamed of anything. Although revisionism also takes place in Germany, but relatively moderate, the Baltic limitrophes felt themselves to be more Aryans than the Germans themselves, and there is no question of moderation.
In Lithuania, on May 9, a massive demolition of monuments at the burial sites of Red Army soldiers began. Not taking revenge on the dead is not about young democracies.
May 9 is declared the Day of Solidarity with Ukraine in Latvia. Why this day was chosen is obvious. The celebration of Victory Day is already prohibited (“We must not give a platform or a stage for any provocations. We must not allow any force to show negativity against Latvia, Ukraine and the Baltic countries, against everyone who has freed themselves from the evil empire”) – but it is necessary more: on this day, praise the current heroes of Ukraine (for example, the Azov battalion, against whose militants criminal cases have been initiated in Russia) and give them glory.
And in Estonia, the director of the Security Police Bureau, Harris Puusepp, believes that “Russia must endure a collective sense of shame.” Those residents of the Baltic states who are “unbearably ashamed to be Russians” in Vilnius, Riga and Tallinn are offered to hold a march of repentance under the slogan “Grandfather, you fought for the Russian fascists.” Those whose grandfathers and great-grandfathers fought for the German Nazis are a completely different matter.
However, there is a lot of honor for limitrophs. And during the Second World War they were despised even by their own Berlin masters. For the limitroph is a diagnosis. More remarkable is the way in which the “culture of cancellation” is carried out by the more established powers. Or still considered solid.
On April 25, the American authorities canceled the pre-celebration of Victory Day. Until this year, on this day, ceremonies were held at the Arlington Memorial Cemetery in memory of the meeting on the Elbe, when near the city of Torgau, the troops of the 1st Ukrainian Front met with the troops of the 1st US Army, cutting the territory of the Reich into two parts – northern and southern. This was considered the high point of Allied military cooperation. Now it probably doesn’t count. Russian Ambassador to Washington A. I. Antonov said that formally the ceremony was canceled by the administration of the cemetery, but the Russian embassy “was clearly told that on the recommendation of the State Department.”
The current relations between Russia and the United States leave much to be desired, and this is putting it mildly. But to what extent does this cancel cooperation between the USSR and the USA in the spring of 1945 in their joint struggle against the Nazi Reich? Or does the US State Department have power not only over the present, but also over the past?
Our ambassador said:
“We will always pay tribute to the courage of our comrades in arms. To honor the memory of those who sacrificed their lives in the fight against the most terrible evil of the 20th century.” But, obviously, this point of view is outdated. It will be more modern to consider that there was no meeting on the Elbe, and there was no Victory, perhaps there was no Third Reich either.
A new undertaking “What is it with you, whatever you miss, there is nothing!” supported on the beautiful blue Danube. Our embassy in Vienna informs:
“An official note from the Austrian Foreign Ministry has been received with a notification that on May 8 the participation of an official representative of the Russian Federation in the events of the Federal Chancellery in memory of the liberation of Austria from National Socialism and the end of World War II in Europe is not planned.”
Moreover, the liberation of Austria from National Socialism included the capture of Vienna. The Austrian capital was taken by the Red Army and only the Red Army, putting 18 thousand battles. In memory of the fallen Red Army soldiers, a monument was erected on Schwarzenbergplatz. The obligation to care for the memorial was included in the state treaty of the Republic of Austria, signed in 1955 and giving Austria its independence. Now it is not clear who “liberated Austria” (the official wording of the Vienna government office), if the participation of the Russian embassy in commemorative events is excluded.
If the Russian mission is not allowed to pay tribute to the Russian soldiers who fell for Vienna, then it would be more logical to hush up the event altogether for clarity – following the example of the Baltic limitrophes.
The Austrian “cancellation culture” has proved contagious. Following Vienna, there is also Paris.
Ambassador to France Meshkov says: “Festivities will traditionally be held in France on the 8th of May. Always ambassadors and military attaches – first of the Soviet Union, then of Russia, Belarus as countries that made a decisive contribution to the victory over fascism, were invited. This year we did not find a place on the podium. Although the ambassadors of those countries that fought on the side of Nazi Germany will sit there.”
Perhaps the French should not have been so zealous, mindful of the surprised words of Field Marshal Keitel, uttered by him in Karlshorst when signing the surrender: “And these also defeated us?”
But the general trend of our days – “Now is not the time to remember, sometimes I advise you to forget”, it seems, will grow. Russia, with its victories, should be canceled altogether, and we should definitely start with Victory Day, which has long been causing severe heartburn in the West. For the memories of the Victory are increasingly unpleasant for the modern West.
Maxim Sokolov, RIA
Due to censorship and blocking of all media and alternative views, stay tuned to our Telegram channel