May 9 for Belarusians and Russians: A Stolen Holiday

Renowned Belarusians have told what the day of May 9 means to them.

charter97.org website has asked public persons, political figures and workers of culture of our country, what Victory Day means to them, and how their attitude to this holiday has changed in connection with the events in Ukraine and the use of the World War II issue as a instrumet for its aims by the official propaganda.

Yury Khashchevatsky, a documentary filmmaker:

- My father returned from war with medals. When I was just a boy of 5, I put on the Order of Glory and medals for Bravery and went outside to the yard. My family and neighbours gathered under an apricot tree in a yard of central Odessa near the New Market, and everyone brought what he could. They all gathered around the table, drank a little and recalled how they escaped and survived. And that’s exactly what the Victory Day is associated with for me.

And then this holiday was stolen. It was stolen by Chekist junta. Vakhtang Kikabidze told me his father was a volunteer, he was almost blind, but he went to war and died near Kerch. He told that with resentment, explaining what he felt when Russian planes were bombing Gori. There is a George’s ribbon on the Orders of Glory of my father, but now I cannot stand looking at these ribbons. This symbol has been demeaned by bastards, who had stolen the victory from veterans and are able to lie and steal only”.

Maryna Lobava, mother of Eduard Lobau, a political prisoner:

- I have always had mixed feelings on the matter. On the one hand, a victory over the Nazi Germany is a very good thing, but on the other hand, after this victory many countries, including Belarus, have not received freedom as such, but were simply passed from the hands of the Nazi invaders to the hands of the Communist occupiers. And in connection with the recent events in Ukraine the sense of victory has disappeared altogether, and the attitude has become more negative.

Today patriotism and praise to expansionist ideas of Putin are stirred up in Russia on this day. They have just turned the Victory Day inside out. People with St. George ribbons look laughable, as these ribbons were used by Russian troops who fought with Hitler. Russia, which had made a great contribution to the Victory, has become an aggressor and occupier itself, and spat in the face of Ukraine, which population also fought against the Nazi Germany together with Russians.

Paval Sevyarynets, co-chairman of the committee for creation of the Belarusian Christian Democracy party:

- The day of Victory over the Nazi is celebrated on May 8 all over Europe. That is why it seems to me it would be appropriate. And to celebrate Victory Day on May 9 is rather a political decision of the Soviet Union to stress the role of the USSR in this war and in this victory. May 9 is a holiday with tears in one’s eyes, as we cannot be joyful on this day. Millions of people sacrificed their lives, as the two bloody regimes, the regimes of Hitler and Stalin, had incited this war and were tearing to pieces Europe and the whole world in a deadly fight. That is why it is a day of remembrance about a great tragedy, and the tragedy of the Belarusian nation as well.

What I do not want to see in Belarus on May 9 are St. George’s ribbons. They have become a symbol of occupation, and it is simply disgusting when we see people attaching them to aerial of their cars and so on. It evokes parallels with Crimea, Donbas and Russian occupation. Belarusians should deny using this symbol, as now it only demonstrates Russia’s imperial ambitions.

Zmitser Bandarenka, a coordinator of “European Belarus” civil campaign:

- Today is a holiday of my father, my older family members who survived during occupation and were partisans or served in the army throughout the war. First of all it’s their holiday. In my live it happened so that I was a Soviet patriot up to the end of 1980ies, and then I became a Belarusian patriot, after I learnt the truth about the history of my country and my people. As a patriot of Belarus, I understand that there are no eternal enemies and eternal allies. The English and French were Russia’s allies in the first two world wars. Today they are Russia’s greatest foes, at least as the population is led to believe. When I was a Soviet soldier, the US and the NATO were the chief enemies. Today the US and the NATO are guarantors of freedom and democracy in the world for me.

We should proceed from the fact that Belarusians have their own holidays, while Russians have their holidays. They may coincide sometimes, but we have different attitude to them. For instance, November 4 is a great holiday for Russians. On this day Minin and Pozharsky expelled the “Poles” from the Kremlin, though every historian knows that the “Poles” who seized Moscow, in fact were Belarusians-Litvins and Cossacks of Zaporizhia (the citizens of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth). It is a holiday for Russians, while for us and Ukrainians it symbolizes that our ancestors had a powerful army which conquered Moscow once.

For millions of people all over the world May 8-9 is a Victory Day, the day of triumph of Allies over the Nazism. But only the regimes of Belarus and Russia use May 9 for their mercenary purposes of propaganda: in order to stay in power, to discourage people from analyzing where such regular guys like Lukashenka and Putin have gained such huge capitals. According to international experts, Lukashenka’s wealth is about 9 billion dollars, while Putin possesses several dozen billion dollars.

Russia is conducting another aggressive war today. Putin’s imperial regime is the major threat for physical existence of our state and for survival of Belarusians as a nation. At the order of the Kremlin Lukashenka had been destroying Belarusian schools, language, culture, persecuted Belarusian patriots. There is not a single university with the Belarusian language of instruction in Belarus in the 21st century, the only Belarusian Lyceum is closed… The aim of Russia is simple – using the means of propagandistic war, to occupy our country and turn Belarusians into Russians. It has happened to Belarusians of Smolensk region. The descendants of proud Kryvichs of the Belarusian Smolensk Duchy now are calls population of the Nonblack Soil Zone. The recent events in Ukraine demonstrate that the threat from the East has returned. Belarusians together with Ukrainians and the entire civilized world must stop this invasion.

Every generation has its particular war and its victory. It was the Great Patriotic War and the victory over fascism for our grandfathers, and for us it is the struggle for independence and freedom of Belarus, for return of our state to Europe.