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At 8 and 9 May, World War II ended with the capitulation of Hitler’s Germany. Russia celebrates this as “Victory Day”. But Putin is increasingly using May 9 for war propaganda.
Liberation Day. Victory Day. VE (Victory in Europe) Day. The end of World War II and the victory over National Socialism have many definitions. In some countries, such as France or Slovakia, it is a holiday, in Germany a memorial day. After 12 years of brutal Nazi rule, nearly 6 years of war, 60 million victims and 6 million Jews systematically killed, Nazi rule was finally defeated on May 8. The capitulation of the Nazis is celebrated on different days depending on the different last days of the war. Colonel Alfred Jodl, the Wehrmacht chief of staff, signed the capitulation with the Western powers on the night of 6 to 7 May 1945 in Reims. But it came into force on May 8, 1945.
Red Army soldiers in Berlin, April 1945
The Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin wanted to do this once again in his area of power, so on the night of May 9 General Wilhelm Keitel, the commander-in-chief of the German army, signed a capitulation to the Soviet headquarters in Berlin-Karlshorst. That’s why Russia celebrates this day on May 9th. In the Netherlands, Liberation Day is celebrated on May 5, which marked the end of the German occupation.
Germany, the country that organized this catastrophe, took a long time to find a way to commemorate May 8th. For the German population with the capitulation began the so-called “zero hour”. No one wanted to look back. The day symbolized failure and liberation, so for the new post-war republic it was apparently difficult at first to understand this day. And the new German Democratic Republic, which chose the Soviet path, saw itself as the next anti-fascist state and thus escaped responsibility for Nazi Germany. For several years even May 8 was officially a holiday.
Konrad Adenauer
The problems of the Germans on May 8 and 9
In West Germany this day was seen with fear. It was Konrad Adenauer, the first German chancellor who even insisted that the German constitution be adopted on May 8, 1949. The Center for Political Education quotes in a series of analyzes from a meeting, where Adenauer said “that for us Germans it is actually the day the first rejoiced since 1933. We must begin to count from this day and not with the time of the collapse, no matter how severe the years of the collapse were. ”
Zero hours instead of facing history. German President Richard von Weizsäcker was not the first to call that day in a historic speech “the day of liberation” from the nationalist socialist system of violence, but his speech remained in the memory and at the same time he reminded the Germans of the obligation to face individual guilt and responsibility. In 2020, May 8 was once declared just an official holiday, and every year it is remembered as a memorial day.
In Russia the day of victory, as it is called in post-Soviet space is remembered for years as a day of mourning. The Soviet Union lost millions of citizens in World War II, this day also remembers this loss. But for several years Vladimir Putin has been using this day more and more for domestic political purposes. As early as 2022 a study by the Science and Politics Foundation suggests that under Putin Soviet history is increasingly remembered unilaterally, to bring out the current regime stronger and to establish a continuum with the former superpower of the Soviet Union. . Under Putin, the pompous May 9 parades began to unfold again.
Instrumentalization of May 9th
At the parade a year ago, Putin said: “Russia consistently defends international law – At the same time we will vigorously defend our national interests to ensure the security of our people. “The heroic Russian forces, the heirs of the photographic soldiers, are the most reliable guarantee for this.” Putin propagates the image of an empire threatened in the tradition of the Red Army.
Putin speaks at a military parade on May 9, this day is being increasingly instrumentalized by the Kremlin
To this narrative go the statements long before the start of the war in Ukraine, since February 2014. Putin called Ukraine then “fascist” thus constructing the connection with the time of Nazism. Russia expert Ingo Manteufel is closely following this development. “Putin and the propaganda of the Russian state made the capitulation of Nazi Germany on May 9, 1945 into a central narrative of current Kremlin policy. The Soviet victory against Nazi Germany is instrumentalized to justify the war started on February 24 against Ukraine. “May 9 loses its function as a historical memory of the suffering of millions and has become an aggressive propaganda tool of Putin’s Russia.”
It has been speculated for weeks whether Putin will use May 9 this year to step up propaganda for the war against Ukraine. Experts such as CDU politician Roderich Kiesewetter fear a massive mobilization by recruiting tens of thousands of soldiers. The Ukrainian secret service warns that Putin will hold a military parade in Mariupol. Thus, May 9 turns from a memorial day into a day in Putin’s service. But not only Ukrainians, but also Russians in Western countries want to rise up against instrumentalization. A broad alliance has called for several rallies in Berlin that want to responsibly remember this day and peace./DW
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