From the DW:
“Ukraine switches World War II victory date to May 8”
(Ukrainian Ambassador Oleksii Makeiev on Monday joined Berlin
Mayor Kai Wegner and German Foreign Office minister of state Tobias Lindner to
lay wreaths at the Neue Wache central memorial Ukrainian Ambassador Oleksii
Makeiev on Monday joined Berlin Mayor Kai Wegner and German Foreign Office
minister of state Tobias Lindner to lay wreaths at the Neue Wache central
memorial.)
In a break with Ukraine's Soviet past, President Volodymyr
Zelenskyy said his country would shift its commemoration of the defeat of Nazi
Germany from May 9 — like Russia — to May 8, Victory in Europe Day. Ukrainian
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Monday said Ukraine would stop celebrating the
defeat of Nazi Germany on May 9, instead marking the event a day earlier. The
announcement, on the day — May 8 — that most of Europe celebrates victory over
Nazism, cements a break with Ukraine's history as part of the Soviet Union.
What Zelenskyy announced "Today I am submitting a bill to the Verkhovna
Rada of Ukraine proposing that May 8 be the Day of Remembrance and Victory over
Nazism in the Second World War of 1939-1945," Zelenskyy said in a video
statement standing in front of a war memorial on a hill above Kyiv. Russia
celebrates the defeat of the Nazis on May 9 because the German surrender was
intentionally signed at 11:01 p.m. on the evening of May 8 in Berlin, to ensure
the clocks had ticked over to May 9 in Moscow and to give the Soviet Union a
day all of its own. Most Soviet satellites also commemorated the event
on May 9, but some have already moved to May 8 since the Cold War. Russia
calls May 9 "Victory Day," while May 8 is known as "Victory in
Europe Day." World War II would end later that year, with Japan's
unconditional surrender in September 1945.
Zelenskyy said that Ukraine, like other European nations,
would instead adopt May 9 as "Europe Day," a celebration of the
"peace and unity in Europe" after the war introduced by the Council
of Europe in 1964. "Together with
all of free Europe, we will celebrate Europe Day on May 9 in Ukraine. A united
Europe, the basis of which should be and will be peace." "We will
commemorate our historic unity — the unity of all Europeans who destroyed
Nazism and will destroy Rashism [a term the Ukrainian government often uses to
mean Russian fascism]."
Ambassador says Russia forgetting 'never again' mantra Meanwhile, Ukrainian Ambassador Oleksii
Makeiev on Monday joined Berlin Mayor Kai Wegner and German Foreign Office
minister of state Tobias Lindner to lay wreaths at the Neue Wache central
memorial to the victims of World War II in Berlin. Makeiev explicitly said he would not be
laying wreaths and flowers at any of the Soviet memorials in Berlin, as has
been done in the past. "I cannot go to the Soviet memorial,"
he told DW. He said that among other things, he objected to them carrying the
dates 1941-45, therefore only including the period after Germany broke its
non-aggression pact and attacked the Soviet Union, not mentioning the early
period of the war as Hitler and Stalin sought to carve up eastern Europe among
themselves. "Ukraine and
Ukrainians have made a very important contribution to the victory. And to the
elimination of Nazism in Europe," Makeiev said. "We've been always
saying 'never again.' But unfortunately, [the] Russian Federation brought war
to Europe in 21st century, and they're using pretty much the same methods as
Nazi Germany in Ukraine."
Horror at renewed war in Europe Meanwhile on Monday, in light of
Russia's ongoing invasion of Ukraine, the International Auschwitz Committee
said former victims of the Nazis were distraught to see war return to Europe.
"Most of those who survived Germany's concentration and extermination
camps saw the end of World War II and their liberation from the hands of their
would-be murderers as their victory. They earnestly hoped that Europe would
move beyond war with the end of the fighting and the realization of its
horrors, suffering, and crimes," said Christoph Heubner, the committee's
executive vice president. "They are all the more horrified to once
again experience towards the end of their lives a sordid and lying war of
aggression in Europe, which also hits them in the heart and pushes them back
into the darkness," Heubner said of Russia's attack on Ukraine.
German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock marked the
anniversary with praise for the Allied forces which defeated Adolf Hitler's
regime, describing May 8 as a day of "liberation" (not defeat),
echoing a famous speech by former German President Richard von Weizsäcker. "We live in freedom today, because others
fought for our freedom," Baerbock said. "That May 8 was a day of
liberation for Germany and Europe is our immeasurable good fortune, even 78
years later."
^ It’s important to break with the Soviet Communist Past and
Ukraine is certainly trying to do that. ^
https://www.dw.com/en/ukraine-switches-world-war-ii-victory-date-to-may-8/a-65549126
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