May 9th 1945 – Victory Day in the Soviet Union (Russia)

Posted on 09/05/2020 by Michael

The triumph of the Conquering People

May 9th – Victory Day in the Soviet Union (Russia)

Whilst much of western Europe commemorate May 8th as the official end of the Second World War in the Soviet Union the date for the end of the Great Patriotic War was, and has been since 1945, May 9th. After the collapse of the Soviet Union at the end of 1991 the celebrations have been sporadic but in recent years Putin has realised there’s political capital to be made out of the event and it has now become a major affair, especially in Moscow, and under normal circumstances there would have been hundreds of thousands of Moscovites, covering four generations, on the streets today. It was only in the middle of April, when the covid-19 outbreak started to really take hold in Russia, that the planned parade was cancelled.

Soviet Troops – Berlin – 9th May 1945

Why the difference in the end of the same war?

When the defeat of the Nazi forces was only a matter of time the Fascist leadership after the death of Hitler started to play a bit of a game – deadly for those needlessly killed in the last 6 or 7 days of the conflict.

The Red Army was coming from the east like a steamroller, destroying everything in its path. The British/American et al were making equally fast progress from the west. By the beginning of May it wasn’t a matter of when the Fascists had to surrender it became to whom – and when. The Fascists knew they would be able to get the best deal for themselves if they negotiated with the allies coming from the west – after all British and American capitalism wasn’t that far removed from German Fascism. They knew they would get short shrift from the Soviets.

The Soviet flag flies above the Brandenberg Gate, Berlin

Somehow (and I don’t know if anyone ever discovered exactly how this was allowed to happen – the documents coming into German hands during the Ardennes Offensive – also called the Battle of the Bulge which came to an end in January 1945) the Fascists got hold of a map that had been drawn up which showed how Germany would be divided between the allies. With that knowledge Karl Dönitz’s, Hitler’s ‘appointed successor’, main task was to let the war drag on for as long as possible so as many Fascists as possible could escape into those sectors that would be under the control of the British, American or French forces.

To get an idea of Dönitz’s ideology a couple of quotes from national radio broadcasts in the early part of May 1945.

On 1st May, just after the broadcast of the news of Hitler’s death, Dönitz added the following;

‘My first task is to save Germany from destruction by the advancing Bolshevik enemy. It is to serve this purpose alone that the military struggle continues.’

For ‘Germany’ read as many as possible Nazis and Hitlerites.

A public broadcast, so these words and intentions would have been known by all the Allies’ commanders. Added to this Dönitz had never made a secret of his sympathies, being a staunch supporter of Hitler (so much so that even the normally paranoid and suspicious ‘Führer’ had designated him ‘heir apparent’), anti-Communist and anti-Semite.

(To show how correct the new Fascist leader was in his approach to surrender he was only given a 10 year prison sentence at the Nuremberg Trials (arguing the ‘just obeying orders’ defence) – then surviving till 1980 – whilst of those sent to negotiate with the western allies one (von Friedeburg) committed suicide and two (Jodl and Keitel) were hung.)

Soviet flag flies over the Reichstag, Berlin, May 1945

After the end of hostilities he wasn’t arrested in Flensburg (almost in Denmark), by British forces, until 23rd May. Why it took so long demonstrates the attitude of the western allies to the Nazis especially as, on the day the unconditional surrender was signed, he had made the following broadcast.

‘Comrades, we have been set back as thousand years in our history. Land that was German for a thousand years has now fallen into Russian hands … [but] despite today’s military breakdown, our people are unlike the Germany of 1918. They have not been split asunder. Whether we want to create another form of National Socialism or whether we conform to the life imposed upon us by the enemy, we should make sure that the unity given to us by National Socialism is maintained under all circumstances.’

But back to the machinations of the Nazis, in efforts to save as many of their kind as possible, and the collaboration in this by the top commanders of both the British and American armed forces. By Montgomery sticking to protocol (and sending the Fascist envoys to Eisenhower – the Allied Supreme Commander) and then Eisenhower giving the Nazis an extra 48 hours before borders were closed) an untold number of war criminals were allowed to escape to and then later prosper in the parts of the country controlled by the western allies. Although not breaking the letter of the agreement with the Soviets it certainly went against the spirit of those agreements. But then what do you expect?

After all the time wasting, game playing and vacillation the first unconditional surrender was signed in Rheims on 7th May. However, there was a very large and angry Red Army coming in from the east and on Stalin‘s insistence any final capitulation had to be signed in the presence of the Commander of the Red Army in Germany, Marshal Zhukov.

That unconditional surrender was signed just before midnight Central European Time on 8th May – which was already 9th May in Moscow – hence the difference in dates.

Celebrations in Moscow

News of the surrender was broadcast over the radio at around 02.00 Soviet time and people congregated in Red Square soon after. Although you rarely see pictures of the reaction to news of the end of the Great Patriotic War by the citizens of the Soviet Union Red Square was as full that day as Trafalgar Square in London or Time Square in New York.

For Motherland, for Stalin – 9th May 1945

Red Square – 9th May 1945

I have read reference to, but haven’t been able to confirm it or seen photographic proof, that there was a simple ceremony later in the day of the 9th when captured standards of the Nazi army were thrown down on to the ground in front of the Lenin Mausoleum with Soviet leaders on the podium. This did happen, but the only time I know for certain when it did was during the Victory Parade which took place on 24th June 1945.

Early on the day of the 9th May, Comrade Stalin issued the following Order of the Day;

ORDER OF THE DAY, No. 369, OF MAY 9, 1945,

Addressed to the Red Army and Navy

ON May 8, 1945, in Berlin, representatives of the German High Command signed the instrument of unconditional surrender of the German armed forces.

The Great Patriotic War which the Soviet people waged against the German-fascist invaders is victoriously concluded. Germany is utterly routed.

Comrades, Red Army men, Red Navy men, sergeants, petty officers, officers of the army and navy, generals, admirals and marshals, I congratulate you upon the victorious termination of the Great Patriotic War.

To mark complete victory over Germany, to-day, May 9, the day of victory, at 22.00 hours (Moscow time), the capital of our Motherland, Moscow, on behalf of the Motherland, shall salute the gallant troops of the Red Army, the ships and units of the Navy, which have won this brilliant victory, by firing thirty artillery salvoes from one thousand guns.

Eternal glory to the heroes who fell in the fighting for the freedom and independence of our Motherland!

Long live the victorious Red Army and Navy!

J. STALIN

Supreme Commander-in-Chief, Marshal of the Soviet Union

Moscow

[30 salvoes from a thousand guns – that’s quite a firework display!]

The end of the Great Patriotic War celebrated in Moscow’s Red Square, May 9, 1945

Joseph Stalin’s Victory Speech

Broadcast from Moscow at 20.00 hours (Moscow time) on May 9, 1945

COMRADES! Men and women compatriots!

The great day of victory over Germany has come. Fascist Germany, forced to her knees by the Red Army and the troops of our Allies, has acknowledged herself defeated and declared unconditional surrender.

On May 7 the preliminary protocol on surrender was signed in the city of Rheims. On May 8 representatives of the German High Command, in the presence of representatives of the Supreme Command of the Allied troops and the Supreme Command of the Soviet Troops, signed in Berlin the final act of surrender, the execution of which began at 24.00 hours on May 8.

Being aware of the wolfish habits of the German ringleaders, who regard treaties and agreements as empty scraps of paper, we have no reason to trust their words. However, this morning, in pursuance of the act of surrender, the German troops began to lay down their arms and surrender to our troops en masse. This is no longer an empty scrap of paper. This is actual surrender of Germany’s armed forces. True, one group of German troops in the area of Czechoslovakia is still evading surrender. But I trust that the Red Army will be able to bring it to its senses.

Now we can state with full justification that the historic day of the final defeat of Germany, the day of the great victory of our people over German imperialism has come.

The great sacrifices we made in the name of the freedom and independence of our Motherland, the incalculable privations and sufferings experienced by our people in the course of the war, the intense work in the rear and at the front, placed on the altar of the Motherland, have not been in vain, and have been crowned by complete victory over the enemy. The age-long struggle of the Slav peoples for their existence and their independence has ended in victory over the German invaders and German tyranny.

Henceforth the great banner of the freedom of the peoples and peace among peoples will fly over Europe.

Three years ago Hitler declared for all to hear that his aims included the dismemberment of the Soviet Union and the wresting from it of the Caucasus, the Ukraine, Byelorussia, the Baltic lands and other areas. He declared bluntly; ‘We will destroy Russia so that she will never be able to rise again.’ This was three years ago. However, Hitler’s crazy ideas were not fated to come true-the progress of the war scattered them to the winds. In actual fact the direct opposite of the Hitlerites’ ravings has taken place. Germany is utterly defeated. The German troops are surrendering. The Soviet Union is celebrating Victory, although it does not intend either to dismember or to destroy Germany.

Comrades! The Great Patriotic War has ended in our complete victory. The period of war in Europe is over. The period of peaceful development has begun.

I congratulate you upon victory, my dear men and women compatriots!

Glory to our heroic Red Army, which upheld the independence of our Motherland and won victory over the enemy!

Glory to our great people, the people victorious!

Eternal glory to the heroes who fell in the struggle against the enemy and gave their lives for the freedom and happiness of our people!

[Personally I would have liked Comrade Stalin to have added;

Long Live Socialism,

Long Live Marxism-Leninism.]

Soviet Victory Parade

Victory Parade, 24th June 1945

The Moscow Victory Parade of 1945 was a held by the Soviet army (with a small squad from the Polish army) after the defeat of Nazi Germany in the Great Patriotic War. It took place in the Soviet capital, mostly centring around a military parade through Red Square. The parade took place on a rainy June 24, 1945, and it was during this parade that the Nazi standards were definitely thrown on the ground in front of the Lenin Mausoleum, with Stalin and other Soviet leaders of the podium.

The fate of Nazism

Some of these standards were, for many years, inside a huge glass case on the floor of one of the rooms of the Revolution Museum in Moscow, close to the then Pravda offices and the Mayakovsky Metro station.

After 1991 this museum went through a number of changes and has little to merit a visit today (or at least it didn’t at the end of 2017). I understand that some (or all) of these standards are currently in the Central Armed Forces Museum in Moscow. If or how they are displayed would be interesting. When I saw them in the early 1970s I liked the idea they were in a jumble (thought well organsiaed jumble) on the floor – as they were at the Victory Parade in 1945. ‘Trophies of war’ are often displayed in the way they would have been when in the hands of their original producers – that was not the fate for the Nazi symbols in the Soviet Union.

Eternity Memorial Complex – Chișinău – Moldova

Posted on 09/04/2026 by Michael

Victory Memorial – Chișinău – May 9th, 1980

Eternity Memorial Complex – Chișinău – Moldova

The memorial park to the fallen of the Great Patriotic War in Chișinău is quite a large complex compared to many of the ones I’ve visited in the other post-Soviet Republics. In Moldova such monuments are now called ‘Eternity Memorials’. One aspect of this memorial (which is repeated in other Moldovan towns) is that the Eternal Flame is still burning. Sadly the flame has been extinguished in many places, for example, in Bishtek (Kyrgyzstan) and Tbilisi (Georgia). So at least in this small country there’s still that element of respect to those who had fallen in the anti-Fascist war.

Though it’s quite a large complex I don’t consider it very attractive – and that’s principally down to the colour of the principal structure and the six large stelae on the edge of the site that separate the memorial complex from the city’s main public cemetery.

Eternity Memorial Complex – Chișinău

The principal structure is in the form of a large, open pyramid formed by five, 25 metre high stylised stone rifles. The numbers 1941, 1942, 1943, 1944 and 1945 are displayed on each of the struts indicating the years from the time that the Soviet Union was invaded until the year that the Red Army entered Berlin. In the centre is a five pointed star which houses the Eternal Flame.

The problem of this monument, for me, is its garish orange colour. That wasn’t always the case as, originally, both the pyramid and the stelae were the colour of the natural stone when the monument was constructed in time for the thirtieth anniversary of the end of the Great Patriotic War on 9th May 1975 (when it was known as the Victory Memorial). The structure went through a renovation in time for August 24, 2006, which marked the 62nd anniversary of the Second Jassy–Kishinev Offensive (an important victory of the Soviet Red Army over the Fascist forces – both German and Romanian – in eastern Romania). It’s almost certain it was during this renovation that the decision was taken to paint the the major structures this stand-out orange colour – an insult (assault) camouflaged as taking care of an important part of Moldova’s heritage.

Eternal Flame

I have read that the pyramid and the Eternal Flame used to have a permanent honour guard (changing every hour on the hour) but that was not the case when I visited in 2025. It’s more than likely that now the honour guard is only in place during the days surrounding the May 9th Victory Day – which is still celebrated (and is a public holiday) in Moldova. This was the situation in May 2025 in Stalingrad in Russia.

At the western edge of the complex is known as the ‘Heroes Cemetery’ where there are a number of memorials, as well as individual graves, to Red Army soldiers who died in Chișinău, either during battles within Chișinău itself in 1941 or in nearby battles towards the end of the conflict in Moldova, in August 1944, when the Nazi forces were being forced back towards their liar in Berlin. In this part of the complex as well as white pillars with the names of individual soldiers there’s a symbolic belfry and a massive bronze laurel crown which is inscribed with the words ‘We didn’t forget you’. This slogan is reflected on the more modern, major monument where can be read the words ‘No one is forgotten, nothing is forgotten’. Unfortunately, that is not the case for many in the post-Socialist Republics.

This would seem to indicate that there was a relatively small memorial to those who died in the Great Patriotic War constructed soon after 1945 but it wasn’t until 30 years later that the larger and more substantial monument we see today was constructed.

Red Army Cemetery

As I type this I’m trying to work out why the Revisionists (and traitors to the October Revolution and the Party, as well as the sacrifice of all those who died in the Great Patriotic War to defend Socialism) who were in control of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union in 1975 decided to sanction the building of such a major monument in Moldova and the other of the Soviet Republics at, more or less, the same time. All I can come up with is that as they were increasingly flailing having betrayed the cause of Revolutionary Socialism and so they celebrated the past in order to hide their ineptitude in the present.

Another monument, one that is much more recent than those related to the Great Patriotic War, is ‘Grieving Mother’, which is dedicated to the ‘War of Independence of Moldova’ from 1991-1992 which resulted in the establishment of the province of Pridnestrovie (called Transnistria by those in the west that challenge its right to exist) refusing – to this day – to be considered part of the Moldova which wants to integrate/ingratiate itself with the European Union.

There is supposed to be a black cross which was erected on the site of the graves of fallen German soldiers buried here. However, I missed that (if, indeed, it does exist). It seems to be very strange to have such a fascist monument in exactly the same location as the country’s principal monument to the Soviet fallen in the Great Patriotic War. I’ve come across a monument to the German dead in Tirana, Albania – but at least that’s in a different park to the location of the National Martyrs Cemetery. There’s something off about having a memorial to Fascist dead in the country let alone in a complex commemorating the country’s martyrs to fascism.

Along the walkways there are a total of 155 marble slabs with the names of those who died in the battle against Nazism.

As stated above there are six, very large, square stelae (also now painted the same bright orange as the monument containing the Eternal Flame) which contain images of soldiers but at the same time none of them reference the enemy against which they were fighting – that is, German Nazism. Without knowing the context they could be fighting in any 20th century war.

Stela 1941

The first, the one on the left as you look towards the main cemetery with the road at your back, makes an allegorical reference to the war. Here we have a young, almost naked muscular male sitting on the ground (not obviously injured in any way) with his right arm raised, above his head and slightly behind his back. In his hand he holds a huge sword with its point reaching to the edge of the stela. This might mean a willingness and preparedness to fight to defend the cause of Socialism and the lives of his family, friends and comrades. Not really sure I understand why he’s on the ground.

Behind him, is a female standing with her left arm raised with the forearm resting on her head. This would seem to indicate mourning and sadness but also a realisation that the possible sacrifice of the male (as there is no certainty that those going off to war will return) is necessary for the common good. The expression on her face also indicates grief.

In the left-hand top corner of this stela is the number 1941 – the year of the Nazi invasion of the Soviet Union.

The next four stelae have images of ranks of armed Soviet soldiers, in all of them marching forward – even though some of their comrades are injured – and urging those behind to join the fight. They are showing determination to throw out the invader although, in the actual war, there were some serious setbacks. But after the victory of the Red Army in Stalingrad the outcome of the war was certain. It was no longer a question of if, it was a question of when.

The final one, with the year 1945 in the top, right-hand corner, celebrates the victory. Here we have the image of three soldiers, almost standing to attention – their weapons no longer pointing towards the enemy. Their uniforms and headwear demonstrating the different units involved and the fur hat of the soldier on the right emphasising that this was a war of all the people’s of the Soviet Republics. The idea of peace is shown by the fact that there’s a young girl standing by the central soldier – who has his left hand resting on her shoulder. It is now safe for her carry on her life as normal, for her and all the children in the Soviet Union.

Near to the gated entrance to the complex there’s an alcove reached by a couple of steps which contains a semi-circle of marble stelae inscribed with the names of Heroes of the Soviet Union – one of them celebrating the achievements of Semyon Timoshenko. I’m not really sure why his name is included on the honour roll here. He was born in the Odesa Oblast in the Ukraine (which is close but still a separate Republic of the Soviet Union) and I’ve seen no reference to him being involved in any of the fronts that were established in Chișinău/Moldova.

Also to be found in this memorial complex to the dead of the Red Army is a Christian chapel. This is now common in such monuments throughout the post-Socialist world. This follows a ‘tradition’ established by the Roman Catholic church from the 15th/16th centuries were Christian churches were placed on top of religious sites of the indigenous American peoples in (now) Central and Southern America. Placing the European religious buildings in such locations was tantamount to thrusting a dagger into the heart of the defeated peoples’ beliefs. This was the so-called ‘extirpation of idolatry’. The same has happened in Europe. Capitalism and its obscurantist appendages are declaring their ‘victory’ over Communism. But such a ‘victory’ is only temporary.

All in all quite a cluttered site with many (often conflicting) messages. But interesting nonetheless.

Sculptors;

A. Maiko and I. Poniatowski

Architect;

A. Minaev.

Location;

9th May 1945 Memorial, Cemetery of the Heroes of the Great Patriotic War, Pantelimon Halippa Street 5,

GPS;

47.00906 N

28.83218 E

Mourning Mother – Bălți – Moldova

Posted on 27/12/2025 by Michael

Mourning Mother

More on Moldova – on the Post-Socialist Countries – Eastern Europe and Asia page

Mourning Mother – Bălți – Moldova

Although this is quite a unique statue – at least I haven’t seen a war memorial like this before – and obviously (at the time of its inauguration) an important monument for the people of Bălți, I have found it impossible to find out any information about it.

That doesn’t meant to say it is has been neglected as both the statue and the small gardens around it have been regularly managed. It’s location, far from the town itself but at the highest point along the road from Bălți to Chișinău, also seems to indicate that some consideration had been made over its placement.

The statue stands in the middle of a small island separating the lanes to and from Bălți. It’s a simple statue of a standing female, looking straight ahead, with her arms, bent at the elbow, facing in the direction of her gaze. Over her forearms is a large folded banner, which extends further down on her left side than her right. Her hands clutch the edge of the banner which enables her to create a platform for a large wreath, the weight of which creates a dent in the banner, which rests against her abdomen. There is no sign whatsoever of any decoration in her headscarf nor her dress and cape.

Location;

At the far end of Strada Gagarin, on the R14, as the road leaves Bălți on the way to Chișinău.

GPS;

47.72441 N

27.99004 E

How the get there;

It’s a long haul up a steep hill as you leave the city behind you. Bus No 4 has its terminus at the statue. The bus is signed ‘monumentul’ and goes along Strada Stefan cel Mare, in the centre of Bălți, in the north easterly direction.

More on Moldova – on the Post-Socialist Countries – Eastern Europe and Asia page