Victory Day over Nazism in World War II

Victory Day over Nazism in World War II
The official symbol for the holiday is the Remembrance poppy.
Official name	Ukrainian: День перемоги над нацизмом у Другій світовій війні
Observed by	Ukraine
Date	9 May
Next time	9 May 2022 (2022-05-09)
Frequency	annual

Victory Day over Nazism in World War II (Ukrainian: День перемоги над нацизмом у Другій світовій війні, romanized: Den peremohy nad natsyzmom u Druhii svitovii viini) or Victory Day (Ukrainian: День перемоги, romanized: Den peremohy) is a national holiday and a day off in Ukraine. It was first celebrated on 9 May 2015 and follows the Day of Remembrance and Reconciliation on May 8 (which pays tribute to the victims of World War II and was also first celebrated in 2015).^[1] The holiday replaced the Soviet Union/Russian Federation "Victory Day", which was celebrated in the post-Soviet Union states, including Ukraine, until 2014 inclusive.

Differences of "Victory Day"[]

On 9 April 2015 the Ukrainian parliament approved a set of laws of decommunization that included canceling the Law of Ukraine "On perpetuation of the Great Patriotic War of 1941-1945" and replaced Victory Day with the new holiday titled "Victory Day over Nazism in World War II".^[2] Because of the decommunization laws Soviet symbols cannot be used during the celebrating of the holiday, since from 15 May 2015 Communist and Nazi symbols are prohibited in Ukraine.^[3] Besides, the term "Great Patriotic War" was removed from Ukrainian legislation.^[4][5] Also in the new holiday there is a bias from history of hostilities to histories of certain people and in result honoring instead of celebration.^{[6][phrasing)}

Celebrations by year[]

2015[]

The Ukrainian Institute of National Memory have published teaching materials in advance and recommended the holiday be celebrated in a new format. Despite the fact that the law "About perpetuation of the victory over Nazism in World War II 1939 - 1945" officially did not came into force, the holiday in Ukraine officially was celebrated in a format different from Russian formats of celebration of "Victory Day". On this day there were ceremony of laying flowers at monuments to unknown soldiers of the Red Army, in Kyiv - a peace march involving military brass bands from Ukraine, Estonia, Jordan, Lithuania, Poland, and Serbia. It was after the ceremony of oath of cadets in the presence of the President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko.^[7][8]

The day before, Poroshenko delivered a speech to a Verkhovna Rada filled with veterans of the Red Army, the Ukrainian Insurgent Army, Anti-Terrorist Operation veterans, as well as former presidents of Ukraine (Leonid Kravchuk, Leonid Kuchma and Viktor Yushchenko) and Secretary-General of the United Nations Ban Ki-Moon.^[9]

For this memorable day the President of Ukraine established a state award by his order - the anniversary Medal "70 Years of Victory over Nazism".^[10]

2016[]

2016 was the first year that the holiday was celebrated as an official holiday (although the first celebrations took place the year before, the law establishing the holiday was adopted a couple days after 9 May).^[11] Institute of National Memory presented a new website about the holiday that year.^[12] Parliamentary speaker Andriy Parubiy referred to the Russians in his address as "revanchists" who "forgot the bitter lessons of war".^[13]

2017[]

More than 30,000 police officers were deployed to monitor holiday marches. The 72nd anniversary celebrations coincides with the ceremonies for the Eurovision Song Contest in Kyiv.^[14]

2019[]

President-elect Volodymyr Zelensky arranged a meeting in Zaporizhia of a veteran Red Army Captain and a veteran of the Ukrainian Insurgent Army.^[15]

2020[]

The 2020 celebrations in honor of the diamond jubilee were cancelled by order of Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal in light of the COVID-19 pandemic in Ukraine.^[16] On 7 May, Mayor of Kyiv Vitali Klitschko announced the organization of a planned event in the Park of Eternal Glory with a high security presence.^[17] President Zelensky went on a working visit to the Luhansk Oblast where he visited an urban settlement that is divided by the border between Ukraine and Russia. In the settlement, he visited the memorial complex "Ukraine to the Liberators".^[18] He also visited the Zakarpattia Oblast, where he also laid flowers at the "Hill of Glory" memorial complex.^[19] During his holiday address on 9 May, he paid tribute to Ukrainians who fought during the war, including Crimean Tatar Amet-Khan Sultan, American military personnel Alex M. Diachenko and Michael Strank, as well as Hero of the Soviet Union Ivan Kozhedub.^[20] Zelensky also announced the creation of memorial project, which would involve the placement of bells in the four corners of Ukraine.^[21]

Symbols[]

The official symbol of celebration of Victory Day over Nazism in World War II and Day of Remembrance and Reconciliation is red poppy (remembrance poppy) flower, which is the world common symbol of memorable days of World War II. It is used in Ukraine in its own styling developed by Kharkiv designer Sergei Mishakin. The motto of both days is "1939—1945. We remember. We prevail" (Ukrainian: 1939-1945. Пам’ятаємо. Перемагаємо).^[6]

See also[]

• Liberation Day (Ukraine)
• Time of Remembrance and Reconciliation for Those Who Lost Their Lives during the Second World War

References[]

Sources[]

• Official Website
• Project of bill "On perpetuation of the victory over Nazism in World War II in 1939 — 1945" (in Ukrainian). Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine.