Posts Tagged WWII

Honestly I am amazed. After all the years the Victory Day and the 9th of May is still an ultra important holiday with parades and fireworks…

I grew up with the books about war heroes, brave partisans and pioneers, young and tough, who died but never surrendered, my favourite was “We will never forget” (Nikoli nie zabudzem). As a pioneer I enjoyed veterans’ visits to school with their very personal sagas. I even used to take my birthday guests to the Great Patriotic War Museum first and then to the festive table.

But as you grow older, you learn that the image, the pathos of the WWII in ex-Soviet Union countries is as black-and-white as the old war chronicle.

Too many people died for us to forget about the V-Day. I don’t mean to forget but to understand. The Germans call it Vergangenheitsbewältigung. My granddad said: those who saw the war, would never tell about it. My granny commented that her relatives had no way out: when the war came, they had nowhere to live so they joined the partisans in the woods. As a child travelling with my parents around Belarus I heard villagers’ stories that it was difficult to tell German and Soviet soldiers part – both came to kill and take scarce food reserves away. That at the beginning Soviet Army was equipped so poorly that soldiers had just spades against German steel. The Soviets didn’t have enough arms but too many people, that’s one of the reasons why so many died.

I can’t understand for instance… There were Belarusian partisan groups who targeted high ranking military officials. If they were successful, the fascists killed hundreds or thousands Belarusians for each assassinated German. Was it worth it? Each general was replaced.  The notorious village Khatyn was burnt together with all 149 inhabitants after partisans had blown up a car killing several Germans.. By the way there were Ukrainian policemen helping Germans to burn Khatyn. So it’s not a simple story with good fellas and bad guys.

No, parades and politicised memento mori speeches on May’9 – that’s OK with me. People love holidays, some don’t really care what they mark or celebrate anyway. Because that is the question: what do we celebrate? Why all those Soviet propaganda films and five-year-olds in khaki uniforms singing about “celebrations with the tears in our eyes” on each TV channel and from the stages all over the country? What “will we never forget”? The thoroughly created films and books?

Why after 64 years we still need to compare the modern Belarus with the Belorussia after the war? With no alternative point of view allowed: today is a celebration that is glorious because we won and sorrowful as every third Belarusian perished. No attention is drawn to the big number of Jewish population. By the way how old were the veterans who we congratulate today? And this “no war” hysteria.. sorry, sirs, we have always been a very peaceful nation, it’s a quiet region with no disputable borders. And a hypothetical world war would be pursuit without soldiers and tanks.

Last year Belarusian president Lukashenka said the victory in the Great Patriotic War (1941-1945) was the greatest achievement of the Belarusian nation. Not the cultural heritage, no. It’s not important that in 1529 the first constitution in Europe was written in old Belarusian language. Or that the first book printed in Eastern Europe was in Belarusian.

The worst warfare in Europe ended 64 ago and Belarus was among the winning nations. Yes, that’s a great achievement. I shouldn’t have missed the parade in Minsk.