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 ( Read more... )

Yesterday, Aunt Anya sent me a video via Facebook Messenger, urging me to figure out some way to show it to Grandma Nina on Victory Day. And, after I watched it, I could see what she meant.

"Dark is the Night" is one of those classic Soviet songs where, even if you have no idea what movie it was originally written for, you at least know it exists ( Read more... )

This year marks the 75th anniversary of the Nazi Germany’s surrender. But with the shadow of COVID-19 hanging over the world, VE Day/Victory Day commemorations have been scaled back significantly in Europe and the parts of former Soviet Union that still celebrate it. (Except, God help us all, in Belarus)

In Chicago, the big banquet that would ( Read more... )

Chicago area has more than its share of immigrants from Russia and other parts of the former Soviet Union those lives have, one way or another, been touched by World War II. Soviet military veterans, guerilla fighters and survivors of many stripes - Siege of Leningrad survivors, survivors of Nazi prison and/or labor camps and, of course, Holocaust ( Read more... )

This May 9 marked the 71st anniversary of the end of World War II in Europe - the anniversary that Russia and much of former Soviet Union celebrate as Victory Day (European countries celebrate it on May 8).

Last year, I went on a long rant about how the United Russia apparatus profaned not just the holiday, but the collective memory of World War ( Read more... )

On May 9, Russian Federation and most other ex-Soviet countries celebrated the 70th anniversary of Nazi Germany's surrender, and, with it, the end of World War II in Europe. In the former Soviet Union, it's a holiday that's known as Victory Day ( Read more... )

I feel like the celebration of Victory Day has been tainted for me this year. The holiday is supposed to celebrate the victory over Nazi Germany, honor all the people that made it possible and mourn all the people that perished. But between the fighting in Ukraine, the increased politicization of the holiday and some family stuff I'd rather not ( Read more... )

And, in honor of Victory Day, allow me to (belatedly) repost a comic I posted on the original scans_daily - a story of Alexander Chekalin, originally published in 1942 on the pages of Boy Comics #5. Writing by Dick Wood, art by David Smalle.
( In real life, it was a bit gorier. Just a bit (5 pages under the cut) )

Victory Day is almost over, so I guess I better write something before it ends and my post fades into irrelevance ( Read more... )