Thursday, May 8, 2008

Victory day!

Today is a holiday. The Victory day! Hmm…here are some history about the victory day. Victory Day in Russia, a national holiday which remembers the defeat of Nazi Germany in World War II and honors 20 million Soviets who died in the war.
The fighting of WWII tn Europe ended on May 2nd, 1945. The surrender of German troops was signed on May 4th and 5th but officially the war ended at midnight on May 8th 1945. To remember this important event, the Russians created a national holiday called Victory Day which is celebrated on May 9th in Russia.
When Nazi Germany attacked Russia or the Soviet Union, as it was known then, the Russian army pushed the Germans all the way back to Berlin which helped to defeat Hitler's forces.
The main reason for the celebration of Victory Day was to remember the people who died in the war. On that day, flowers are laid on their graves and veterans that are still alive go out on the streets wearing their medals and orders. There are few of them left now days and the number is getting smaller every year.
Russia mainly fought a war to defend itself, which is called a "patriotic war". That is what most Russians call WWII. In Russia almost all the families have at least one person who took part in the war. The other old citizens who did not fight during the war had to work in factories to make guns and preparations, which wasn't easier than fighting. They too are honored on Victory Day.

Here, the people of Kursk had a great celebration in conjunction to this special day. there were many special programmes lining up for this celebration.

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