70th Anniversary of Germany's surrender in WWII.

[ag]

In honor of the main contributors to this Victory:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j_LaQsHUNlQ

Nobody cares about your soviet nationalism.

Claiming that the Soviets were the main contributors to the defeat of Germany is not Soviet nationalism, it is the simple historical truth. Neither is honoring the country that suffered 27 million casualties nationalism.

Nor should we forget the 45 years of Soviet occupation of much of Europe that followed. The true liberation came only in 1990-91.

And, before you start, I still have WWII veterans who were in the Soviet Army that I can visit and talk to (my grandfather is gone, but some of his cousins and friends are still alive - though, obviously, not many). I recently took my daughter with me on a visit to one of them - a dear old family friend, who was a sniper in the war. But what she wanted to talk about where  the years of humiliation with which the Soviets repaid her generation. It was a good history lesson, trust me.

Let us not start the победобесие here. The victory was stolen from those who sacrificed for it back in 1945 - and it is being stolen by the new marauders today. And THAT is something we should never forget.

[ag]

победобесие ? Google does not translate.

that is a recent neologism Used to describe what the Russian government has done to the victory celebration. Victordevilry could be a rough (though very imperfect) translation. A southern Slav should get it from general linguistic considerations.

[ag]

BTW, the modern Ukrainian version of this song. Performed at the front. By and for the grandchildren of those who fought 70 years ago.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L0084EqyLFo

Disclaimer: there is a lot in this version I do not at all like. But, as they say in Russian, you cannot drop a word from a song.

[ag]

By the way, as we are remembering history, let us remember that there were two periods of WWII when the Soviet Union and Bulgaria were on the same side. One was, of course, starting September 1944 (though, that hardly can be called voluntary). The other period was between March and June 1941, when both were on the opposite side of the conflict.

Anyway, if we remember glorious pages, we should never forget the shameful ones as well. So, on request from our numerous viewers and listeners, Matti Jurva shall sing his famous ballade Nyet Molotoff! Let us welcome our Finnish guest with prolonged applause!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fO2o-rwbaMk

With English translation, for those who want to understand

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6pWcVxl9v6Y

And now, let us all sing along as Comrade Jurva delights everyone with his performance of his other delightful song Uraliin. Just to remind us all that when Finland stood up to the Soviets not one country did anything but express support

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DKKu1UaoTro

[ag]

BTW, the modern Ukrainian version of this song. Performed at the front. By and for the grandchildren of those who fought 70 years ago.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L0084EqyLFo

Disclaimer: there is a lot in this version I do not at all like. But, as they say in Russian, you cannot drop a word from a song.

What exactly is objectionable?

I am Jewish. My grandfather was born and spent the civil war in Uman. I cannot quite sing along about "Petlura´s regiments".  National myths are made from far worse stuff than salami.

[ag]

But, then

https://twitter.com/tweetsnv/status/596246063931105281

The grandson of the Red Army vet has been killed by the Russians in this war.

[ag]

BTW, the modern Ukrainian version of this song. Performed at the front. By and for the grandchildren of those who fought 70 years ago.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L0084EqyLFo

Disclaimer: there is a lot in this version I do not at all like. But, as they say in Russian, you cannot drop a word from a song.

I find it somewhat hilarious (though certainly not surprising) that Ukrainian nationalists would resort to stealing the melody of one of the most famous Soviet songs to make a war song on their own .

Oh, you have never heard of Orest Lyuty, I guess It is a big project, Lahidna ukrainizacija.

Enjoy

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WxjVB3Wq184

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o13TLYEheDw

Hope your Ukrainian is good enough As is you Russian

[ag]

(for a sufficiently close analogue).

I find your analogies not very persuasive. The closest they come is when they sing of those in "mordovskykh taborakh" (do you need a translation?).

[ag]

It would take some very severe distortions of the word "sides" to claim that Bulgaria and the USSR were on the same side between March and June 1941. Bulgaria at this point was a satellite to Germany

And so was the Soviet Union.

"Cold peace", for crying out loud! Stalin was enamored with Hitler. He was completely subservient, insisting on continuing strategic supplies till the very morning of June 22nd.

[ag]

I suppose that this was metaphorical, because it's not supported by your article?

Not at all metaphorical. The old guy gave interviews left and right back then. And he made it very clear whom he blamed.

[ag]

If you had limited yourself to this, I would completely agree with you. But you completely undid you own point by including the next song...

Oh, yeah.

I posted what I posted advisedly.

[ag]

победобесие ? Google does not translate.

that is a recent neologism Used to describe what the Russian government has done to the victory celebration. Victordevilry could be a rough (though very imperfect) translation. A southern Slav should get it from general linguistic considerations.

My first idea was actually victory madness. But the meaning is pretty similar and it has just as little relevance to the real world as Victordevilrty has.

Unfortunately, it is what the KGB government of Russia has done to the memory of those who fought and fell in that war.

You know that for the first few years after the war, the VE was not even a holiday in Russia? You know that they forcibly institutionalized quadriplegic vets - so that they would not spoil with their unhealthy appearance the life of reconstruction? And now, that there are almost no vets left, they have declared prison camp guards and those who fought against the Ukrainians and Lithuanians in the 1950s to be the WWII vets. The KGB has stolen the memory of the true heroes for its executioners. And that is what we should not forget.

[ag]

But if you insist on a properly Ukrainian song, then, of course, there is - and has always been - this

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QEuIfvgodAw

This is, of course, something not to forget. Ukrainians do know the general Soviet canon, but the Russians are totally ignorant of the Ukrainian. Every Ukrainian knew this one through the Soviet years - it was a completely unexpected discovery for me when this war started.

[ag]

No one is forgetting the 45 years of Soviet domination, but in the Western countries they have certainly forgotten the Soviet contribution in WWII.

Not at all. I have shelves upon shelves of books published in the West where the proper due is given - more so than in the frequently fake histories produced in Russia.

Nor have the people in the West forgotten the Russian sacrifices. Here is something you may want to listen to - straight from the Bundestag.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SQwO-k8Gbpc

[ag]

BTW, I have discovered this wonderful Russian version of the Njet Molotoff. There are still compatriots that have the right spirit out there

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bW8_iAlGo3E