Victory Day is a holiday that commemorates the Soviet victory over Nazi Germany in 1945. It was first inaugurated in the 15 republics of the Soviet Union following the signing of the German Instrument of Surrender late in the evening on 8 May 1945 (9 May Moscow Time). The Soviet government announced the victory early on 9 May after the signing ceremony in Berlin. Although the official inauguration occurred in 1945, the holiday became a non-labor day only in 1965, and only in certain Soviet republics.

The German Instrument of Surrender was signed twice. An initial document was signed in Reims on 7 May 1945 by Alfred Jodl (chief of staff of the German OKW) for Germany, Walter Bedell Smith, on behalf of the Supreme Commander of the Allied Expeditionary Force, and Ivan Susloparov, on behalf of the Soviet High Command, in the presence of French Major-General François Sevez as the official witness.

Since the Soviet High Command had not agreed to the text of the surrender, and because Susloparov, a relatively low-ranking officer, was not authorized to sign this document, the Soviet Union requested that a second, revised, instrument of surrender be signed in Berlin.

A second surrender ceremony was organized in a surviving manor in the outskirts of Berlin late on 8 May, when it was already 9 May in Moscow due to the difference in time zones.

During the Soviet Union’s existence, 9 May was celebrated throughout it and in the Eastern Bloc. Though the holiday was introduced in many Soviet republics between 1946 and 1950, it became a non-working day only in the Ukrainian SSR in 1963 and the Russian SFSR in 1965

The celebration of Victory Day continued during subsequent years. The war became a topic of great importance in cinema, literature, history lessons at school, the mass media, and the arts. The ritual of the celebration gradually obtained a distinctive character with a number of similar elements: ceremonial meetings, speeches, lectures, receptions and fireworks.

Victory Day in modern Russia has become a celebration in which popular culture plays a central role. The 60th and 70th anniversaries of Victory Day in Russia (2005 and 2015) became the largest popular holidays since the collapse of the Soviet Union.

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    • mkultrawide [any]@hexbear.net
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      2 months ago

      It’s always funny to see which subs are reactionary shitholes and which ones are actually kinda based, because it often does not line up at all with IRL political perception of those cities. Some of the ones for cities in the South are more based than like deep blue coastal cities.

      • zed_proclaimer [he/him]@hexbear.net
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        2 months ago

        Deep blue states like California and New York are corrupt shit holes where the “Democratic Party” has a monopoly on power so all the chuds just join the Democrats. These places are way more reactionary than the average rural or suburban midwesterner imagines, all the shit about California having homeless and crime and stuff isn’t because they have leftwing leaders like they tell themselves. They would be in for a shock if they actually went there and talked to cops, landlords, mayors, judges, etc. that actually run the place and find out they are more reactionary than themselves

        • Frank [he/him, he/him]@hexbear.net
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          2 months ago

          I’m trying to explain to someone why homeless people don’t “just go to california” and it’s clear they believe 100% in the propaganda view of california as an enlightened progressive bastion.