Tomorrow, May 9: Victory Day (in the Great Patriotic War) (WW2) for those who fought to defeat fascism

[Trump is delusional, and/or desperate, to claim it was “America's victory”]

Tomorrow is the 80th anniversary of Victory over fascism and Nazism, the end of the Great Patriotic War (WW2). Moscow is prepared to honour this momentous anniversary, and Russians all over the country will celebrate, honouring their grandparents and other relatives who fought.

Yet, according to frankly delusional Western (and Ukrainian) sources, including Trump, in spite of the 27 million Soviets who perished, it was “a Western victory” (or specifically, ala Trump, “America's victory”). I won’t quote Trump’s stomach-churning rhetoric at length, this one sentence suffices to summarize his grotesque take on history:

“Without America the liberation would never have happened.”

Trump is a showman, bombastic, the epitome of Western arrogance. Yet, the ignorance runs deep, as historian and author Peter Kuznick (co-author with Oliver Stone [who will be in Moscow for Victory Day] of “The Untold History of the United States”) expressed some years ago in a series of panels we shared. Referring to his prestigious PhD level history students, he said:

“I did an anonymous survey with college students. I asked them: How many Americans died in World War two? The median answer I got was 90,000. They were 300,000 off.

I asked them: How many Soviets died in World War two? The median answer I got was a hundred thousand. They were only 27 million off. They know nothing about World War two.”

Russians know their history. They don’t need to fabricate victories, nearly every family has stories of their loved ones’ heroism and sacrifices, memories which are rekindled every year, honouring them on Victory Day.

*Scenes from 2024 Victory Day:

Victory Day 2024, Moscow

I’ll keep this on the short side, hoping to add new comments, photos, videos, interviews tomorrow.

In Donetsk in 2023, I interviewed a series of people I met in the street, asking each the importance of Victory Day (given that the Donbass has been under Ukraine’s relentless fire since 2014, and that like elsewhere in Russia, the Donbass people’s relatives fought to eradicate Nazism…as continues now).

One young man I spoke with said, “We’ve been through a lot, seen a lot. I’ve personally seen a lot.” He spoke of Ukrainian shelling in his western Donetsk district, “seeing people lying dead.”

Of May 9: “It’s a very important holiday for us, it’s impossible to find someone whose family doesn’t have relatives who participated in it. My grandathers were in the military. One grandfather reached Berlin, went through the war as a tank crewman. My other grandfather died in the war.

For the residents here, Russians, it’s important. We honour and love our ancestors very much. We must remember it, we can’t forget. Because when you forget, then you see what is happening now (elsewhere): momuments are crumbling, disrespected; history is being rewritten; ignorance—ignorance is bad, people don’t know what it was like back then, who was right and who was wrong.”

The full clip can be viewed on my Telegram or Odysee (no Youtube, I think most know Youtube deleted my entire channel of 50,000+ in October 2023, and Facebook did the same to my profile of 60,000+ more recently).

Also in 2023, in Donetsk, I met Claudia Ivanovna ( 80 this year!), who told me her story of only nearly escaping being burned to death by the Germans when she was an infant. She was held with other children in barracks, which German soldiers set fire to, burning down two barracks but not hers—she was rescued (by the Soviets) before that could happen.

While we spoke for quite a while, I haven’t yet published the full clip as I wanted to speak with her again to get more recent updates. But for now, this relevant segment:

“…For me, victory is everything. …For me this is very important, very important. They provided us with life, we live because of this. Our victory is everything. For us it is very important.”

These are only a handful of voices, from under Ukrainian fire, some of whom lived to see facism defeated only to see it arise anew, abetted by the same West which claims victory over Nazism.

If you were to come to Russia, it is no exaggeration to say you could meet many elders who survived, fought in, the Great Patriotic War, and their descendants, who could speak at length over what real sacrifices were (and are, currently) in order to defeat Nazism. What real heroism is.

Update:

Most who have followed Ukraine’s descent into fascism don’t debate the large presence of Nazis & supporters of Banderites.

It’s also known that up until the start of Russia’s Special Military Operation (Feb 2022), corporate media reported on this, usually deeming them “Far Right”, but also labeling “Azov Nazis”, “NeoNazis”, “Banderites”…

Now, of course, they pretend Nazis and those holding Nazi sentiments don’t exist in Ukraine—we’re just batshit crazy for reporting on it, in spite of their tattoos, logos, literature, etc…

Here’s an addition to my post: scenes of what primarily Aidar Nazis did to civilians in the Lugansk People’s Republic (Note the graffiti at ~ 1:15):

Former Nazi/Aidar prison where they starved, tortured & mock executed prisoners #UkrainianWarCrimes

From March 2014 to March 2022, Aidar took over and militarized a sausage factory near the village of Polovinkina, north and slightly west of Lugansk. They turned part of it into a prison for LPR civilians and military, near-starving them, torturing them, and killing some. It is unknown how many were held there over the years, many didn't return to their families. If dead, their bodies have not yet been found.

Based on what I heard at that former prison, and the testimonies published before and since its March 2022 liberation, Aidar were indeed very much guilty of war crimes.

[Of interest: From on the ground in Donbass during the 5 days of voting (2022): DPR Civilians On Why They Wanted A Referendum To Join Russia ]

[Of interest: JACQUES BAUD: NATO ATTEMPTED TO DESTABILIZE & THREATEN RUSSIA DECADES BEFORE 2022]