Russians remember World War with victory in their thoughts

Eighty miles from Moscow, a park reflects the sound of explosions and gunfire.

While feathers of thick gray smoke rise in the air, the Red Army rushes over a bridge and fights for control over a small island. More Soviet soldiers arrive by boat over a lake.

Once on the island they tear off a swastika and replace it with the hammer and sickle of the Soviet Union. Victory.

A large crowd looks from the safety of the coast. What they witness is a historical re-enactment of one of the last battles for Berlin in 1945. It led to the capitulation of Nazi Germany and what Moscow still calls the big victory.

The battle for Berlin, unfolding for me in the city of Dubna, is one of the many events in Russia for the 80th birthday of the Soviet victory in the Second World War.

The birthday receives enormous attention in a country where the national idea is very built around the idea of ​​Russia as Victor and Victim.

“I am here because my grandfather fought in this war,” says one of the spectators, Katya.

“He was missing near Berlin. Much later we found out that he had been killed in January 1945.”

Eighty years at Katya’s son Vecht in Ukraine.

“My son is now in a war. He is in the ‘special military operation’,” she tells me. “He offered himself. I tried to talk him out. But he has not listened to anyone since he was a child.

“I’m my own tsar,” he told me. “Then fight if you’re a tsar,” I answered. He and his friend went together. His friend was killed. “

Katya’s family history is a story about different generations fighting on the front line.

But in very different circumstances.

In 1941 the Germany of Hitler invaded the Soviet Union to try to conquer the largest country in the world and to secure world domination. Soviet, soldiers (including the grandfather of Katya) fought to free their land from the Nazis. The victory for Moscow came to an enormous human costs: more than 27 million Soviet citizens were killed in what is known here as the Great Fatherland or Great Patriotic War.

But in 2022 it was Russia that launched a large -scale invasion of his neighbor. What the Kremlin still calls a “special military operation” was generally seen as an attempt to force Ukraine back in the geopolitical job of Russia. In March 2022, the UN General Assembly adopted a resolution that condemned the “aggression” of Russia.

And yet the Russian authorities portray the war in Ukraine as a continuation of the Second World War. The official story here creates a parallel reality, in which Russia fights again against Nazism and fascism, in Ukraine and throughout Europe. Russia, the country that has invaded Ukraine, presents itself as the victim of external aggression.

“Historically and sociologically, the victory in the Great Patriotic War was always a cornerstone of the Russian United Consciousness,” explains Novaya Gazeta columnist Andrei Kolesnikov, “because there is no glue for the nation: only this event. It was always true, from Brezhnev’s time to now.

“But what is happening now is something special. Now the Great Patriotic War is presented as just the first step in our permanent war with the West, against ‘Eurofascism’. The special military operation as a continuation of the Great Patriottian War: this is something new.”

In Russia, television plays a key role in distributing the official message that Europe could not be trusted at the time and cannot be trusted now. Recently I saw a documentary entitled “Europe against Russia. Hitler’s Crusaders” on Russian TV. It was about how European countries had worked with the Nazis during the Second World War.

No report of the non-aggressional act of 1939 between Hitler and Stalin: Under the Secret Protocol, Germany and the USSR had influences in Eastern Europe.

Last month, a Russian TV presenter launched a tirade against the German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, an avid supporter of military support for Ukraine. The talk show -guest called Germany’s leader “A Nazi -Scumbag” for comments about Russia. The anchor said directly to the Chancellor and said that Russians “hold you and your comrades responsible for killing 27 million Soviet burgers.”

Iconography supports ideology. In the city of Khimki, near Moscow, a recently unveiled monument shows a soldier of the Red Army next to a Russian fighting in Ukraine. Cut photos of Russian soldiers killed in Ukraine are placed under the two hunting figures.

An inscription is: “By preserving the past we defend the future!”

Wars past and present: brought together in bronze.

In the run -up to Victory Day, Russia was flooded with memories of the big win. Last month a Soyuz rocket was decorated to celebrate the 80 -year anniversary of the defeat of Nazi Germany, demolished from the Baikonur Cosmodrome.

Back on earth, in a pregnancy hospital in the Siberian city of Kemerovo, newborn babies are dressed in miniature Red Army Caps and Capes.

On his telegram canal, the hospital explained that combat clothing for babies “served as a reminder of ties between the generations, the courage of the defenders of the homeland and how even the smallest Russian citizen is part of a great history.”

In Moscow is the Russian word for ‘Victory’ – ‘Pobeda’ – everywhere: on gigantic billboards, on posters in shop windows, even on the side of Road -Sweepers. Underground, special “Victory Trains” on the Moscow Metro have been dressed with images from the Second World War and the words: “Be proud!” and “remember!”

Tanks roll in the main street of Moscow, Tverskaya, on rehearsals for the Big 9 May Parade on Red Square. In the Soviet times, after 1945, military parades on Victory Day were rare. Under Vladimir Putin they have become an important element of what is now the most holy national holiday in Russia – not only one day before remembering the victims of the Second World War, but for presenting Russian military power and to unite the people around the idea of ​​Russia as an unpaid nation.

The USSR was indeed the victory in the Great Patriotic War. But eighty years later, and despite self -assured statements by Russian officials, the victory Moscow in Ukraine misses. The “special military operation” of the Kremlin would only last a few days, a few weeks. After more than three years of war – and huge victims on both sides – it is still unclear how and when the fighting will end.

The Kremlin says that 29 world leaders, including the Xi Jinping of China, will attend the Victory Day Parade. According to Moscow, the Serbia president Aleksandar Vucic and Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico Russia will visit for the commemorations. Ensuring security for the military parade and guests on the Red Square will have already been a top priority for the Kremlin. Even more after two consecutive nights of Ukrainian drone attacks aimed at Moscow.

Back in Dubna, German resistance has crumbled and the Red Army has complete control. The re-enactment is over.

Some spectators here believe that the official representation of Russia is threatened by the West as a besieged fort.

“Both Great -Britain and America have betrayed us and threaten us,” says Lidiya. “But we are resilient. You can’t beat Russia.”

When I talk to the 98-year-old Fyodor Melnikov, he will not be in politics. The military show has fueled painful memories for him. Fyodor’s brother was killed in the Great Patriotic War.

“War is a frightening thing,” says Fyodor. “People must be able to live freely. Let them work, let them lead their lives, let them die naturally.”

Fyodor has written a poem about his deceased brother about war. He recites it for me. In translation it sounds like follows:

“A uniform that I never wore

A fight I have never seen.

But in my mind I see

My brother goes to the war.

All he said to me

Before he went this was:

“Live, little brother, be healthy.”

I will bring the victory home. “

On Friday, together with the whole of Russia, Fyodor Melnikov celebrates the 80th birthday of the great win of 1945.

But it will also be a day to remember: friends and family who have never returned.

A day to recognize the war costs.