May 9

The information was used:

http://prezi.com/vxqquqr1dmde/may-9/

http://images.yandex.ru/yandsearch?text=%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BD%D1%8C%20%D0%BF%D0%BE%D0%B1%D0%B5%D0%B4%D1%8B&uinfo=sw-1135-sh-704-fw-910-fh-498-pd-1

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Victory_Day_(9_May)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moscow_Victory_Parade_of_1945

World War II casualties of the Soviet Union from all related causes are commonly estimated in excess of 20,000,000, both civilians and military, although the statistics vary to a great extent. The current assessment by Russian Government is that total losses were 26.6 million both civilians and military, with military dead at 8.7 million.

(cc) photo by tudor on Flickr

Thank you for your attention!

Victory Day (9 May)

Stalin's order for the observance of the parade

Some Information

To mark the victory over Germany in the Great Patriotic War, I order a parade of troops of the Army, Navy and the Moscow Garrison, the Victory Parade, on June 24, 1945, at Moscow's Red Square.

Marching on parade shall be the combined regiments of all the fronts, a People's Commissariat of National Defense combined regiment, the Soviet Navy, military academies and schools, and troops of the Moscow Garrison and Military District.

My deputy, Marshal of the Soviet Union Georgy Zhukov will be the parade inspector. Marshal Konstantin Rokossovsky will command the Victory Parade itself. I entrust to Col. Gen. Pavel Artemyev, the preparations and the supervision of the parade organization, due to his concurrent capacities as the Commanding General of the Moscow Military District and Commanding Officer in charge of the Moscow City Garrison.

June 22, 1945. Order #370

(signed) MARSHAL OF THE SOVIET UNION JOSEPH V. STALIN

Supreme Commander-in-Chief, Armed Forces of the USSR

And concurrent People's Commissar of National Defense of the USSR

Moscow Victory Parade of 1945

Victory Day

The Moscow Victory Parade of 1945 was a victory parade held by the Soviet army (with a small squad from the Polish army) after the defeat of Nazi Germany in the Great Patriotic War. It took place in the Soviet capital of Moscow, mostly centering around a military parade through Red Square. The parade took place on a rainy June 24, 1945, over a month after May 9, the day of Germany's surrender to Soviet commanders.

In communist Eastern Germany, a Soviet-style "Victory Day" on May 9 was an official holiday from 1975 until the end of the republic in 1990. Prior to that, "Liberation Day" was celebrated on 8 May, between 1950 and 1966, and again on the 40th anniversary in 1985. Since 2002, the German state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern has observed a commemoration day known as the "Day of Liberation from National Socialism, and the End of the Second World War".

Celebration

During the Soviet Union's existence, May 9 was celebrated throughout the USSR and in the countries of the Eastern Bloc. Though the holiday was introduced in many Soviet republics approximately between 1946 and 1950, it only became a non-labour day in Ukrainian and Russian SSRs. In the latter one, a weekday off (usually a Monday) was given starting 1966 if May 9 was to fall on a weekend (Saturday or Sunday).

Countries in which 9 May is celebrated:

Armenia;

Azerbaijan;

Belarus;

Poland;

Bosnia and Herzegovina;

British Channel Islands of Jersey and Guernsey ;

Georgia;

German Democratic Republic;

Federal Republic of Germany;

Israel;

Kazakhstan;

Kyrgyzstan;

Moldova;

Serbia;

Tajikistan;

Turkmenistan;

Ukraine ;

United Kingdom;

Uzbekistan;

Yugoslavia.

The date

Victory Day or May 9 marks the capitulation of Nazi Germany to the Soviet Union in the Second World War.

After the fall of the communism in Central and Eastern Europe, most former USSR countries retained the celebration, though it was not formally celebrated by some of them. In Russia during 1990s the May 9 was not celebrated massively because Soviet-style mass demonstrations did not fit in with the way in which liberals who were in power in Moscow communicated with the country’s residents.