Patriotic ringtones are available for download and the YouTube video-sharing site is featuring a special Mosfilm package of famous Soviet movies about the war.Ī series of videos about Victory Day have also aired on Russian television. Hoping to counter such trends, the government has made a number of attempts to educate young people about the war. "People who have grown up with the conditions we have in contemporary schools - my generation, the people I grew up with - I've seen how the majority of them throw their arms up in Nazi salutes when they go to a football match," Maksim says. Only 31 percent could name Zhukov as one of the army commanders.īut while some youth can be accused of general ignorance of World War II, others have been seduced by far-right propaganda that was considered deeply offensive in the decades following the war but which has found fresh advocates in younger Russians like Maksim, a member of an antifascist youth movement, who refused to give his last name. Russian fighter jets fly in tight formation - spelling out "65" - during rehearsals for the May 9 commemorations.Only 22 percent correctly identified 1939 as the first year of World War II, and some named Poland, Ukraine, and the Austro-Hungarian Empire - which collapsed in 1918 - as opponents in the war. But a recent survey by the VTsIOM state-controlled Russian polling agency shows that although many young people are proud of their country's history, they come up short when asked about the details. Many young people could be see taking photographs of armored vehicles and other defense equipment during parade rehearsals this month. Air-defense systems, helicopters, and intercontinental ballistic missiles will all be on show, as will more than 10,000 Russian soldiers and - for the first time - troops from wartime allies the United States, France, Britain, and Poland.īut as the country prepares to honor its elderly veterans, it has also set its sights on its younger generations - the teenagers and young people for whom the war and its significance are an increasingly abstract concept. Seventy-three percent of Russians say they will watch the parade this year, which is set to be one of the biggest displays of military might and organizational stagecraft the country has yet seen. The day remains one of the few holidays that unites most Russians. World War II - or the Great Patriotic War, as it is known in Russia - killed up to 24 million Soviet citizens, leaving virtually no family untouched. Marshal Georgy ZhukovMoscow authorities have announced plans to seed clouds this weekend to ensure that no rain disturbs the May 9 celebration of the 65th anniversary of the war's end in Europe. You can only imagine - it was a bright, dazzling day." Our uniforms were wet all the way through, but the day was bright. "It stood with its back to the History Museum. Veteran Boris Utkin, whose interview is among the many relics of the war on offer at the State Historical Museum, said the mood on the morning of June 24 was triumphant in spite of a heavy rain. The parade, which Zhukov famously entered on a white stallion, was a grand affair for a nation still reeling from the most devastating conflict in its history. Zhukov, who had formally accepted the German surrender to the Soviet Union, spoke at the first Victory Day parade held on J- just over a month after the war's end in Europe on May 9. The voice of Soviet Marshal Georgy Zhukov, the man who led Red Army troops to hard-fought victory in the war, will boom out in the State Historical Museum, based at the northern end of the square. MOSCOW - As tanks and missile launchers drive through Red Square during the massive parade celebrating the victory over Nazi Germany this weekend, visitors will also be reminded of an earlier celebration, held 65 years ago.
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