FILE IMAGE
The Ukrainain Parliament has adopted legislation equating veterans, heroes of the Great Patriotic War, with participants of the 2014 Euromaidan coup.
The legislation also says that the term ‘The Great Patriotic War’ has to be completely removed and replaced with ‘The Second World War’.
The Great Patriotic War is the term used in Russia and former Soviet respublics to describe the conflict between the USSR and Nazi Germany during the period from June 22, 1941, to May 9, 1945.
Victory Day is a holiday that commemorates the victory of the USSR over Nazi Germany. It is celebrated on May 9.
The Russian Foreign Ministry commented on the issue (source):
It deeply saddens us to note that, on the initiative of Ukrainian Prime Minister Vladimir Groysman, the Verkhovna Rada has approved amendments to the law On the Status of War Veterans, under which the term ‘The Great Patriotic War’ must be completely removed from the legal text and replaced with ‘The Second World War’.
This is a blatant manifestation of the policy pursued by the Kiev authorities, aimed at the forcible obliteration of the history of their own country. Other such moves are the dismantlement of monuments, the renaming of streets and settlements and a ban on wearing the St. George ribbon.
In addition, the new legislation equates veterans, heroes of the Great Patriotic War, with Maidan participants.
All this insults the memory of those killed during the Great Patriotic War, who defended their Motherland, their homes and families, and it is also disrespectful to surviving veterans. To forget that the Great Patriotic War was simultaneously one of the most tragic and one of the most heroic chapters in the history of the vast number of nations making up the Soviet Union, who fought side by side and who sacrificed their lives for future generations, is great disrespect for one’s own ancestors and one’s own history.
The World is insane.
How is any of this possibly happening ?.
Ghastly, isn’t it. You stage a coup, you run the country down, reduce people’s wealth and self-esteem and then you start changing history when everyone is just struggling to survive. Apart from geo-strategic factors, I have a feeling that Ukrainian people are being punished partly for daring to declare Lazar Gaganovich a genocidal war-criminal.
I don’t know “Lazar Gaganovich”, I’ll have a quick search, but YES, the whole situation is ghastly and rather sad. Cheers for now.
Traitors of their own fathers – those Ukrainians who quietly watch and accept this farce.
Those in Ukrainian parliament who pushed for this sh$t are different – their grand
fathers most likely collaborated with nazi under Bandera/Shuhevich command.
On one thing I do agree with, this whole Great Patriotic War thing is nonsense. It’s called the Second World War. With the invasion of the USSR and the massive traumatic battles there only being a part of it. The greatest part, with the heaviest battles and losses of life, but fighting did take place elsewhere as well. I have great respect for the sacrifices made by the people of the USSR, but this whole Great Patriotic War naming smacks of Russian exceptionalism, like the rest didn’t matter. Just as the way the West portrayed WWII as a war in which the Russian contribution was downplayed smacks of Western exceptionalism.
Where are you from?
The Netherlands.
Don’t want to sound crude but I doubt that it is possible for you to comprehend what that war really was for Russian people. Considering that 10th May 1940 Hitler started war against Nederland and 15th May of the same year (5 days in total) Nederland capitulated it is understandable. There’s nothing about exceptionalism as you call it. It’s just that each and every family lost one or more relatives in this war. That was and still is a Sacred War for us. If you want to understand something about that war and relative contribution of countries involved – look at the numbers (forces involved, losses eastern and western fronts). If you’re simply jealous to Russia’s pride about that war than there’s no point to bother.
That war is the most misrepresented and propagandised event on the planet. Many archives still remain closed, and the “winners” all have different versions of events, Soviet Union too had their own version. There are big question marks about the myths surrounding that conflict. But many people who have tried to research or publish material opposing the official myths have been hounded, sometimes to death. The point is, we are still dealing with the aftermath of those events. WW2 also is a misnomer.
Too many aspects of WW2 are ignored. It is never as cut as dried as the accepted history books make out. What’s never discussed for example is Britain’s role in provoking the war, or Stalin’s or FDR’s. Worse still is that when trying to get to the truth and debate it, it is assumed we are disrespecting the suffering of those who died. Not correct, it makes their suffering all the more tragic.
What Britain’s leaders did in the following article to ensure Poland and Germany would not reach an agreement, is an appalling betrayal of the people they served.
“Great Britain for the first time in history had left the decision
whether or not to fight a war outside of her own country to another
nation. Britain’s guarantee to Poland was binding without commitments
from the Polish side. The British public was astonished by this move.”
https://wearswar.wordpress.com/2017/10/06/a-blank-check-forked-tongues-how-britain-poland-started-wwii-blamed-hitler-germans-for-eternity/
Don’t want to sound crude but I doubt thatyou know the history. In the beginning of WW2 ussr and germny were allied. so, ussr fought ONLY for itself ;)
Solomon, showing your ignorance again? Yes, Russia and Germany had treatyes but so did England, France and most of the Europe. And yes, when Hitler invaded Russia our grand fathers fought for their Motherland and not others.
and ussr declared war on romania, finland, … ussr was not better then germany. barba papa is right.
@barba_papa….I suppose, the West is free to call the war anything it wants. However, the fact remains, it was the USSR which alone destroyed 80% of the Nazi military. Further, the overwhelming supply of war material used by the USSR in that effort was made in the USSR. Not till the summer of ’43 were Western supplies arriving in any significant quantity and, by then, the USSR was already reaching it’s peak material output.
If you had actually read what I had said you’d read that I had great respect for the sacrifices made by the Soviet people, and that they did most of the fighting. The point remains, by giving it a unique name, the Russians are doing EXACTLY what the West is doing, belittling the contributions made by others. And since the Ukrainians probably don’t have much appetite anymore for celebrating something which feels completely Russian I can’t fault them for opting for the more common World War II.
But if we’re going to split hairs about the Russian role in World War II, are we also going to pay attention to the Non-Aggression pact that the USSR made with Hitler, the Soviet invasion of Poland in 1939, the mass deportation and murders of Polish troops, the invasion of the Baltic states and the attempted invasion of Finland?
The Russians defeated the Nazis at great cost to themselves. The West played a minor role in that defeat. But the Russians also did some terrible things in that war as well. Maybe like the Israelis they should stop playing the victim card and address their darker role in that war as well.
papa, this name is ONLY for that part (time and geography) of WW2, when hitler attacked the ussr. from thw viewpoint of soviets this was really BIG PATRIOTIC war. beacuse they were close to annihilation. similar like tatars hundreds years ago.
The US paid it with 200’000 soldiers,
Russia with 28’000’000’000….
add on this,
Anglo-American Money Owners Organized World War II
http://www.voltairenet.org/article187508.html
The Purpose was to destroy Europe and Russia
their main competitors…
WW2 History still need to be written
outside Hollywood
Mc Carthyism.
Slava Ukraini! Heroyam slava!