Victory Day during the war on Ukraine
This is definitely an... interesting time to mark the 77th anniversary of the Nazi Germany surrender and, with it, the end of World War II in Europe.
Those of you who read this blog for a few years know that I feel that, even before the war, the meaning of the holiday has been steadily eroded as more and more veterans and survivors died of natural causes. There has always been talk about heroism of soldiers, guerrilla fighters and civilians, but at least when I was growing up in the 1990s, I remember being told that World War II was an ugly, cruel thing, the sheer toll it took on everyone involved, and how important it was to make sure that nothing like this happened again.
The point of the remembering was not only to remember the sacrifices, but remember what to avoid, what we must never allow to happen. And now, especially in the post-Bucha era, more than anything, I feel like we failed.
I feel like my generation failed the most. The generations before us are blinded by Soviet nostalgia, but my generation is old enough to see the collapse and young enough not to hold any such nostalgia. We, out of all people, should have gotten a life-long lesson at the poisonous power of propaganda, the importance of not trusting the government. And, in fairness, many people in my generation have marched, and protested, or just left the country in disgust (and/or out of justifiable fear for their safety)... but I feel like it wasn't enough.
Of course, the current government is exploiting the idea that we must never allow it happen again by framing the current war as a fight against Nazis. But that, I feel, is another way we failed. I remember when "Nazi" was about the worst thing one could call someone, that it wasn't something we were supposed to use lightly. But the aftermath of the 2014 Maidan protests, I feel, opened the floodgates, as both sides called each other Nazi invaders. And now, it got even worse.
Russians who swallow what state channels show uncritically are convinced that Ukraine is ruled by Nazis who committed atrocities against Russians aren't going to be easily swayed from their position, especially when the reports of death and destruction get labeled as fake news. But for anybody else - yes, there are Nazis on Ukraine's side, and, in some ways, right-wing nationalism has never been stronger, but considering the rise of right-wing nationalism in Russia, we are really not the ones to talk. If the Russia's mission was really so righteous, why are most people fleeing in the other direction? Why is it that Russia is trying to suppress Ukrainian and any sign of Ukrainian culture and language in the occupied territories? And why is it that the Russian government is afraid of calling a war a war, in spite of it clearly being one?
But I digress, ever so slightly.
Even if, for the sake of the argument, the memories of World War II weren't used as justification, we still failed to prevent the war on the Eastern Slavic lands. We still failed.
it seems absurd to celebrate anything about the end of the war when there is another war going on near the Russian border, where Russian soldiers are still fighting and dying, when, just like 80 years ago, people lost their homes and their loved ones.
And yet... It feels like it's wrong not to do something, to mark it somehow. Four years ago, attending a Victory Day banquet organized primarily by Russian Jews showed another side of that anniversary - a celebration of life, a giant, defiant middle-finger to the all who tried to exterminate them and their ancestors. And there is still something to be said about remembering those who fought, those who suffered and those who died.
I agreed to do what has become traditional toast with Grandpa Gena P. over Skype because he survived the occupation and he lost his mom to that war. And I do have a vague notion of doing something in front of one of this painting on the stone steps of Loyola Beach.
I don't know how I'm going to mark Victory Day going forward. Dong it the usual way isn't an option anymore, especially not in post-Bucha world.
And the time will come where we will have to start thinking about how to honor those who are currently dying and suffering in Ukraine. Clearly, the way we marked World War II hasn't worked. Maybe try not to lose sight of the devastation, and the toll the war took.
Maybe, next time, we wouldn't let nationalism creep in.
And I still hold out hope, however faint, that May 9 wouldn't become associated with an escalation of another war entirely.
Those of you who read this blog for a few years know that I feel that, even before the war, the meaning of the holiday has been steadily eroded as more and more veterans and survivors died of natural causes. There has always been talk about heroism of soldiers, guerrilla fighters and civilians, but at least when I was growing up in the 1990s, I remember being told that World War II was an ugly, cruel thing, the sheer toll it took on everyone involved, and how important it was to make sure that nothing like this happened again.
The point of the remembering was not only to remember the sacrifices, but remember what to avoid, what we must never allow to happen. And now, especially in the post-Bucha era, more than anything, I feel like we failed.
I feel like my generation failed the most. The generations before us are blinded by Soviet nostalgia, but my generation is old enough to see the collapse and young enough not to hold any such nostalgia. We, out of all people, should have gotten a life-long lesson at the poisonous power of propaganda, the importance of not trusting the government. And, in fairness, many people in my generation have marched, and protested, or just left the country in disgust (and/or out of justifiable fear for their safety)... but I feel like it wasn't enough.
Of course, the current government is exploiting the idea that we must never allow it happen again by framing the current war as a fight against Nazis. But that, I feel, is another way we failed. I remember when "Nazi" was about the worst thing one could call someone, that it wasn't something we were supposed to use lightly. But the aftermath of the 2014 Maidan protests, I feel, opened the floodgates, as both sides called each other Nazi invaders. And now, it got even worse.
Russians who swallow what state channels show uncritically are convinced that Ukraine is ruled by Nazis who committed atrocities against Russians aren't going to be easily swayed from their position, especially when the reports of death and destruction get labeled as fake news. But for anybody else - yes, there are Nazis on Ukraine's side, and, in some ways, right-wing nationalism has never been stronger, but considering the rise of right-wing nationalism in Russia, we are really not the ones to talk. If the Russia's mission was really so righteous, why are most people fleeing in the other direction? Why is it that Russia is trying to suppress Ukrainian and any sign of Ukrainian culture and language in the occupied territories? And why is it that the Russian government is afraid of calling a war a war, in spite of it clearly being one?
But I digress, ever so slightly.
Even if, for the sake of the argument, the memories of World War II weren't used as justification, we still failed to prevent the war on the Eastern Slavic lands. We still failed.
it seems absurd to celebrate anything about the end of the war when there is another war going on near the Russian border, where Russian soldiers are still fighting and dying, when, just like 80 years ago, people lost their homes and their loved ones.
And yet... It feels like it's wrong not to do something, to mark it somehow. Four years ago, attending a Victory Day banquet organized primarily by Russian Jews showed another side of that anniversary - a celebration of life, a giant, defiant middle-finger to the all who tried to exterminate them and their ancestors. And there is still something to be said about remembering those who fought, those who suffered and those who died.
I agreed to do what has become traditional toast with Grandpa Gena P. over Skype because he survived the occupation and he lost his mom to that war. And I do have a vague notion of doing something in front of one of this painting on the stone steps of Loyola Beach.
I don't know how I'm going to mark Victory Day going forward. Dong it the usual way isn't an option anymore, especially not in post-Bucha world.
And the time will come where we will have to start thinking about how to honor those who are currently dying and suffering in Ukraine. Clearly, the way we marked World War II hasn't worked. Maybe try not to lose sight of the devastation, and the toll the war took.
Maybe, next time, we wouldn't let nationalism creep in.
And I still hold out hope, however faint, that May 9 wouldn't become associated with an escalation of another war entirely.