70 YEARS SINCE VICTORY OVER NAZI GERMANY
At 2:10 am Moscow time on May 9, 1945, the sonorous, measured voice of radio announcer Yuri Levitan declared: “Germany has been entirely vanquished.” The final treaty had been signed in Berlin. At first, figures tentatively emerged into the balmy Moscow morning, some in pajamas, others in suits. By evening, Red Square was heaving – people dancing, kissing and laughing, fireworks flashing above. However, the festivities did not obscure the costs: In the Soviet Union, at least 27 million people had been killed (out of a total of 55 million fatalities in WWII), while many cities, towns and villages lay in ruins. After the iconic parade in June, there were no celebratory marches for two decades. Yet the Great Patriotic War, which started for the Soviets in 1941, united the entire nation and remains a centerpiece of Russia’s consciousness.