Seventy Years after the “Great Patriotic War” “Let No One Forget, Let Nothing Be Forgotten”

[polly7]

by Walter C. Uhler / May 9th, 2015

V-E Day, or Victory in Europe Day, is celebrated every May 8th in Western Europe and the United States, but is celebrated as Victory Day every May 9th in Russia. Why? Because the Soviet Union’s representative had no authority to sign the German document of surrender at Reims, France, on 7 May 1945, but also because, on 8 May, Soviet forces were still shelling German units in Czechoslovakia that had refused to surrender. Thus, when the surrender ceremony was repeated in Berlin on 8 May, it already was 9 May in the Soviet Union.

Recently, the Ukrainian Prime Minister told German TV: “I will not allow the Russians to march across Ukraine and Germany, as they did in WWII.” Putting aside the impossibility of the feeble and feckless government in Kiev doing any such thing, one needs to ask the Prime Minister whether he would have preferred the preservation of the Ukraine – admittedly suffering under Nazi repression, but besmirched during World War II by so many Nazi sympathizers and collaborators — and whether he would have preferred the preservation of the Third Reich?

Recently, three former U.S. Ambassadors to Ukraine, Steven Pifer, John Herbst, and William Taylor absurdly recommended that V-E Day be celebrated in Kiev. Such a recommendation indicates not only profound ignorance of the magnitude of Ukrainian collaboration with the Nazis, but also insufficient appreciation for the accomplishments of the Russians during World War II.

For example, in the first year of the war, Nazi collaborators in Ukraine (a minority of who were Russian) “provided German forces on the Eastern Front with 80 percent of their bread, 83 percent of their meats, 77 percent of their sugar and 70 percent of their potatoes.”1 Such Ukrainian collaboration helped to enable German forces to attack Russian civilians and largely Russian forces deep into western Russia.

Full article: http://dissidentvoice.org/2015/05/seventy-years-after-the-great-patriotic-war/#more-58310

[malthaussen]

1. Now, there's a "have you stopped beating your wife" question.

Who do you prefer, Stalin or Hitler? Which do you want, Nazis or Soviet Socialists? The rock, or the hard place?

-- Mal

[msongs]

2. considering Stalin's genocide against Ukraine, ambivalence is understood. which brutal oppressor is

the least awful

[Judi Lynn]

3. You've shared information which has absolutely remained unknown by so many!

Truly am grateful to have read so much material I've never seen before today. Thank you.

[polly7]

4. You're very welcome.

Last edited Mon May 11, 2015, 08:58 PM - Edit history (2)

There is so much information there. I appreciated reading the author personalizing the ten millions soldiers who were killed, collectively known as 'Ivan' (not to mention the additional 18 million with illness and wounds) and the bravery, suffering and accomplishments in horrific conditions. Seeing them, all these years later still stereotyped and scoffed about with hate and bigotry (see just one example here: http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1017&pid=242700) makes me ill. To have world leaders devalue their contribution because of their Ukraine driven agenda is actually nauseating.

She especially notes the fate of a marine called Pankaiko. “As the doomed man prepared to lob a gasoline-filled bottle at a line of German tanks, a bullet ignited the fuel, turning him into a pillar of flame. But the marine was still alive, and somehow, with some last reserve of rage or maybe some grim reflex, he managed to reach for a second missile [and] run right up to the German tank, and smash the bottle against the grille of the engine hatch. A second later an enormous sheet of flame and smoke engulfed both the tank and the hero who had destroyed it.”

Merridale notes that, in 1950, the U.S. Army borrowed racist descriptions provided by Nazi officers to create a pamphlet that described “the peculiarities of the Russian soldier.” Ivan was described as “semi-Asiatic,” “primitive and unassuming,” and “innately brave but morosely passive when in a group.” Ivan acts on “instinct,” and “is subject to moods which to a westerner are incomprehensible.”

"It shows a Russian solider, Sergei Makarovich Korolkov, who has just been captured by a German unit and is about to be executed. I love his look of self-confident defiance which, to me, symbolizes the real “ultimate weapon” of the Russian people: an unbreakable willpower, even in the face of defeat or death."

http://dissidentvoice.org/2015/05/todays-victory-day-celebrations-in-moscow-mark-a-turning-point-in-russian-history/#more-58318

[swilton]

5. Really great article

Within the past year or two I've been enjoying watching foreign films - one can never get the international perspective through the lens of US cinema......In particular over the past two years I've watched three films on the Battle of Stalingrad - one from the German perspective - made in 1993, a second which is a documentary interviewing the survivors made in 2003, and finally, the third from the Soviet perspective entitled Burning Snow. All of these were found on NETFLIX, but more and more, I've found many of these end up being post on YOUTUBE.

Here is a link to a documentary about the Battle of Stalingrad - courtesy YOUTUBE...

<iframe width="640" height="390" src="

" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

[swilton]

6. Cinematic Expressions about the Battle of Stalingrad and its significance

For those who find watching a movie edifying, here is a link to the German film Battle of Stalingrad (1993) - Imbd description (couldn't find it on YOUTUBE but it's available on NETFLIX).

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0108211/


From the Soviet (Cold War) perspective, there is this Goryachiy Sneg (Burning Snow)/1972

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0212194/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1


Finally, just last night I watched a 2013 Russian movie about the Battle of Stalingrad - much more reliance on IMAX cameras, technical effects, etc. than the first two listed...For that reason, it wasn't my favorite but I'll list it here because it does an excellent job of putting the hardships of the citizens and soldiers into perspective (i.e., collecting dirt so that they could salvage a few left-over morsels of grain to feed to the children).

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1966566/?ref_=nv_sr_1

[polly7]

7. Wow! Thank you Swilton!

I'm going to watch these tonight.