This weekend marks the 65th anniversary of V-E Day, the end of the Second World War in Europe. In Russia, and other countries of the former Soviet Union, May 9 marks the capitulation of Nazi Germany. Victory Day (День Победы) is a major public holiday there, vested with almost sacred meaning.
But this year's military parade in Red Square is particularly unusual: It's the first time active-duty U.S. troops have been invited to march in the ceremony. Pictured here are soldiers of Co. C, 2nd Battalion, 18th Infantry Regiment, part of the 170th Brigade Combat Team, in front of St. Basil's Cathedral in Moscow. They took part in the parade as part of a contingent of troops from the nations that defeated Hitler.
For millions, the war in Europe did not end in 1945: Vicious guerrilla warfare continued in the Baltics and Ukraine until the early 1950s; ethnic groups deported by Stalin during the war remained in exile; and German POWs were kept for years as forced laborers in the Soviet Union. But Victory Day is not an occasion for ambivalence. It marks the final collapse of a genocidal regime, a victory that would not have been possible without the sacrifice of millions of Soviet lives.
And for a child of the Reagan era, it's always heartwarming for me to see U.S. and Russian soldiers meeting as friends and allies. It's an image reminiscent of the famous Meeting on the Elbe, the photo opportunity that foreshadowed the end of the Cold War. And it's a reminder of the hope for peace and reconciliation.
[PHOTO: U.S. Army Europe via flickr]
