What does Victory Day mean to you? What does Victory Day mean to us? Paid ad placement services.

“Our newspaper says that soon the only oral evidence about the Great Patriotic War will be the stories of those who were also told about the war at one time. Today, the GENERATION OF GRANDCHILDREN OF VETERANS are people aged approximately from 50 to 30. And our grandchildren will be able to hear family legends only from us. And it is important that SPKU cadets have time to more often touch, both here and in their families, such evidence that cannot be replaced either by films or official documents,” say the editors of “Cadet Outpost” S.V. Stepanov and E.E. Hermann.

Colonel A.I. Zlagodukhin, teacher-organizer

This is a milestone and date in World War II, and therefore this day is significant not only for Russia! In this war, the greatest courage and heroism was shown by all those who fought on the side of the just cause. The Second World War showed the line by crossing which it is possible to completely destroy humanity on Earth. The tragedy of the Russians and the pride of the Russians - that’s what this day means to me...

M.V. Lukyanova, mathematics teacher

Of course, I did not experience the severity of losses or fear of the enemy, but I know about them: my grandfather, a tank driver, fought. He is no longer alive...

But on May 9th I am always captivated by this inexplicable, warmth- and light-filled delight of Victory! For me, this day is a celebration of the happy faces of those veterans who are still with us. They go to the parade with medals, their faces glow, many have flowers in their hands. Their smiles make it even warmer! On this day, everyone congratulates each other on Victory Day! They sincerely hug and kiss, as if just yesterday they were not working together at work, but in the trenches, under fire...

T.V. Lubchuk, computer science teacher

Victory Day…

Firstly, it is gratitude for life - the life of my parents, mine, our children.

Secondly, these are memories of my two grandfathers, who went through the entire war and then did not want to tell me about it.

Grandfather Nikolai Nesynov, awarded the medal “For Courage,” met the Great Victory in Europe on a “Katyusha”, restored two captured cars under fire and drove them to our trenches. And grandfather Mikhail Zinchenko escaped from German captivity twice as a 13-year-old boy, twice from a train that was carrying prisoners to a concentration camp.

Thirdly, this is the strongest desire for our children to remember the GREAT feat in order to be worthy, real people.

E.A. Zhivolupov, English teacher

My great-grandfather went missing in the first days of the war and his fate was never found out... My great-grandmother received only a short notice. My great-grandfather's brother died in a prisoner of war camp. This became known recently due to the discovery of documents from “Stalag” (as the Germans called the camp for prisoners of war soldiers). My grandfather and grandmother also fought. They went through the whole war and survived. No, that's wrong - WE WON!!!

And since then, people of the military generation have had the saying “If only there was no war,” which they suffered through and felt through personal experience.

Victory Day for me is the victory of good over evil, life over death. And this victory was given to humanity at the highest price - at the cost of tens of millions of lives of people all over the world, at the cost of enormous grief, universal grief...

I wish everyone only peace, good thoughts and deeds!

E.V. Cherkasova, Head of the Educational Department

This is joy! This is pride for the unusually strong Russian people, all Soviet people! This is hope for a long peaceful life! In general, this is a great happiness!!!

L.D. Shutova, Russian language teacher

May 9 is an indescribable emotion... This is a military parade, the strong shoulders of my father, and me, sitting on them with multi-colored balloons and a bouquet of flowers, usually tulips or lilacs... This is an endless, mournful column of people to the Eternal Flame, people with tears in their eyes and pain in the voice, when there is such silence that only the ringing of medals on the chests of veterans can be heard... This is a very tasty, scalding soldier’s porridge straight from the field cauldron, which can only be tasted on May 9... This is the pain that is forever ingrained in the heart from seeing it for the first time on this day of the film “Cold Summer of ’53” - a film about the fate of many veterans who were captured... And also - and this is the main thing - pride in the entire people who did not break, survived and won. No matter what.

B.V. Prishchep, head of the Department of SPKU

May 9 is a day of pride for my grandfather, who went through the entire war. Being part of a great people and a great state, he contributed to the victory by saying firmly and unequivocally “no” to fascism. Only over the years did I begin to understand what our ancestors did for us - they saved us from direct slavery and humiliation, from gas chambers and the loss of our native language. Low bow and boundless gratitude to everyone who was involved in the Great Victory!

I.P. Rogozhina, natural history teacher

What does Victory Day mean to me? First of all, a mournful tribute to memory... I remember, as a child, when on Victory Day I came to my grandfather to congratulate him on the holiday and listened to a meager story about the war, a picture of how soldiers died, defending their Motherland, their family, flashed before my eyes. people... They fought for the lives of others. This is a sacred thing!

Victory Day symbolizes the greatness and feat of the Russian people on a scale that changed the fate of the whole world. The war once again showed how in times of troubles the strength of the Russian spirit and unity rises and rises!

I.N. Goncharova, teacher of German language

Of all the public holidays in the USSR, this was the most solemn and beautiful! The day before on television (black and white) the concert was the MOST interesting! In the morning, songs on the radio that lift your spirits! There is always a solemn rally and - run home to watch the PARADE in Moscow! And this is also the holiday of my grandfathers, who “have orders all over their chests,” a wounded body, a hole on their head from a wound - there is no cranial bone there. It’s scary to look at, but grandpa says: “Touch it, it doesn’t hurt me!” But they always refused to talk “about the war”! It's HARD to remember...

Grandfathers are no longer with us, but the holiday remains just as bright and majestic for me and now my family!

N.A. Yashchenko, head of the OD "Mathematics, Computer Science"

Although with age and experience a person’s number of different feelings, opinions, thoughts about our historical past increases, this is great pride for Russia, for my people, for my belonging to this people. This Victory gives me confidence in the current generation: they will not let you down, they will stand. They shouldn't!

E.V. Shcherbakova, geography teacher

Every family hears the echoes of war, and every year it becomes more and more painful to realize that there are fewer and fewer people on whom the future of the country depended. My grandfather Ivan Mikhailovich Poddubny (b. 1923-d. 2010) served as a signalman during the war. He was wounded near Brest and met Victory in the hospital. Great-grandfather Grigory Mikhailovich Shcherbakov died at the front, his name is immortalized on one of the pylons of the Veterans Memorial in Novosibirsk. Grandfather Nikulin Dmitry Ivanovich fought under the command of Marshal of the Soviet Union Rokossovsky and was wounded in 1943 near Kursk. Every year our family remembers all the Heroes with our loved ones...

S.V. Popova, biology teacher

Victory is PRIDE: pride for our grandfathers-heroes who gave their lives for a clear sky above their heads, for confidence in the future, pride for the courage of our people, pride for my Fatherland.

E.K. Levinskaya, head of the OD “Physics. Chemistry. Biology"

For me, the victory in 1945 is personal memories associated with my family: about my great-grandmother and her tears, her stories about how she survived during the war, about the joy she experienced upon learning that the war was over, and especially the way she was fiddling with her apron at that moment, trying to calm down after the heavy memories that came flooding back... These are the medals that I played with as a child, a blue box with letters from my great-grandfather, and a recipe for buckwheat porridge brought from the front. Maybe this does not reflect the great FAITH and HOPE that everyone who fought and died in this war gave us, but my May 9th is very personal and very family.

A.A. Nazarkov, English teacher

For me, the Victory of May 9, 1945 is life. The life of my parents, relatives and friends. The life of the great sons of the twentieth century - people of various nationalities (some of them could not become such under Nazism). In the end, this is my life, given to all of us by our great ancestors. Heroes.

N.S. Petrova, head of the methodological office

In short, it's pain. Pain for those who could have lived but had to die...

Pain in the heart, which becomes stronger every year, because you understand more and more that time has passed, taking with you family and friends who gave you the opportunity to live, and you were too young and selfish to understand how they were waiting for your attention . The pain is that history is being “revised” and “rewritten” and even today in many countries the Victory itself is being called into question.

It becomes difficult to breathe when the march “Farewell of the Slav” sounds.

The first week of May is always very difficult for me. Willy-nilly, you are “immersed in the topic.” The media in a huge volume begin to “honor” and “remember”, every year adding “truthfulness” and fantasizing on the topic of patriotism: films, concerts, productions on every radio and television channel. Undoubtedly, this is necessary for the education of young people. This is important. But!.. Participants in the war, children of the post-war period, today also old people, require daily attention and protection from modern “evaluators” of their actions during the war years. I’m scared that in 20-30 years their “war” will be viewed through the prism of new times and they will try to find self-interest in their actions, condemn and evaluate them.

Probably, those who survived the Great Patriotic War would like more than anything else for the war not to happen again. So that there are no wars at all. Maybe we don’t need to repeat the mistakes made by politicians, and start appreciating and respecting all those people who risked their lives, protected the world, and today work next to us as a teacher, educator, coach...

N.V. Korolevskaya, head of the OD “History. Geography. Social science"

For me, Victory Day is the only national holiday when you are truly proud of the feat of your people. This war became a test for the Soviet Union, a very young country. When I was at school, veterans often came to us and talked, always trying to avoid death and the horrors of war in their stories. It seemed to us, Soviet teenagers, that it would be like this for a long time: veterans would always come to school on Victory Day. By historical standards, very little time has passed, and there are no more veterans - those real front-line soldiers who knew first-hand what an attack under machine-gun fire is like, when you are paralyzed by animal fear for your life...

Now the moment has come when it is important not to distort the history of the war, to preserve the truth about it and to explain to modern teenagers what freedom is. Freedom to live on your own land. The Generalized Data Bank “Memorial” is located on the website of the Ministry of Defense, which contains information about the defenders of the Fatherland. Here I found information about Private Royal Nikolai Ilyich (this is my father-in-law), his Award Certificate and personal information. In 1942, while serving on the Southern Front near Taganrog, he suffered three wounds, fixed a telephone line problem, neutralized three fascists and was awarded the Order of the Patriotic War, II degree. He himself never told the details of his feat; real veterans have always been distinguished by personal modesty. Perhaps our cadets will find the names of their loved ones on this site, then we will be able to compile lists of our ancestors - heroes of the Patriotic War.

E.E. German, methodologist of the Educational Department

For me, Victory Day is a medal with two sides. On the one hand, I am the granddaughter of a Ryazan native, an artilleryman-order bearer, shell-shocked, wounded... On the other hand, I am the granddaughter of a Russian Volga German who spent the entire war in the Altai mines, maimed there and repressed only because he was German by blood...

I saw in Berlin the graves of our 18-year-old lieutenants who were killed on May 14, 1945, after the Nazis surrendered! I personally know a 93-year-old native Berliner who has been going to the grave of her 19-year-old German husband, who was killed in 1945 in Romania for 70 years...

Victory Day or Memorial Day? A day of joy or a day of sorrow?

This day could not fail to happen in the history of the great Russian people! Who are we if not winners? And truly, who are the winners if not WE? After all, “our cause is right”!

But there is also a PRICE... If this war had not happened in the history of Russia, that would be good! This is what any mother, wife, sister, daughter will tell you, who gave the most precious thing to the war - a loved one. Any man who has buried a friend or brother will say this.

Patriotism is not only about winning, but also about KNOWING. To UNDERSTAND. So as not to FORGET. To NOT ALLOW.

E.G. Boyko, Candidate of Historical Sciences, Senior Methodologist of the Educational Department

No matter how much one talks about this holiday, it will sound either too modest or too pretentious. Victory Day is a truly national holiday that unites different generations of Russians. On the ninth of May, patriotic feelings intensify, and you feel proud of the great people who have accomplished an unprecedented feat. I am proud to be born in this country and belong to this people! In addition, on this day I remember my grandfathers who went through the war, and grandmothers who survived this terrible time in the rear. I always regret that I learned so little from them about the war, since they did not like to talk about it... The awareness of the importance of their memories, unfortunately, came over the years. Happy Victory Day everyone!

Imagine a family of five: father, mother and three children, me the youngest and older sisters. In 1942, my father went to the front, and in 1943 he died on the right bank of Ukraine. The mother had to somehow feed her three children. She did this, not only raised everyone, but also gave everyone a higher education. By those standards, she did not have the education to occupy any position. She had a Tatar school education, almost a secondary one, but as they say, honere bulmagan ( there was no profession – approx. ed.).

There were a lot of such families, then people lived together, everyone knew everything about each other, everyone had someone in the war, everyone worried about each other. Funerals came one after another; my mother received a funeral in 1943, but she didn’t show it to anyone. The older sisters found her by accident. They started asking her why she didn’t show it, she replied that it would have been a blow to us. In short, everyone was crying, I was with the company, although I didn’t understand everything. And we had to be fed every day. Mother was looking for something to feed us, and suddenly a message came that the war was over. Imagine what it was like. People began to return, my mother did not believe the funeral for a long time, because the people who had attended the funeral were also returning. But our father did not return.

Imagine how people felt when they announced that the war was over. Moreover, it went somewhere here, and ended there with Victory. I cannot convey this feeling that people had. It was some kind of indescribable psychological thing. It was a great joy; people lived with this feeling not for one day, not for two days, not for a week, not for a month, but for several years.

Immediately after the war, life became different. Bread was sold according to lists, each family was assigned to a store. When people came to the store, it was already known what the composition of the family was; they sold bread by weight, not in rolls. Then aluminum bowls and spoons appeared, then enamel teapots appeared. Every year in the spring there was a decline in prices for essential goods. Compare that to today.

May 9 will be relevant as long as we remain human. I recently watched a documentary about Germany, about what the Germans did during the war in Europe. They showed a photograph of a concentration camp, it is comparable to the largest poultry farm, multiplied by an order of magnitude. They showed gas chambers and furnaces where people were burned. This is me answering the question about the relevance of Victory Day. About 40 million people were killed in this concentration camp, a third of them were Jews. They showed photographs, including children, that is, adults and children standing behind barbed wire. I heard that there are people who say: “How long can this topic be exaggerated?” What was done by the Nazis in a factory to exterminate people, does it have a statute of limitations? How can a normal person forget this? We defeated the one who destroyed up to 40 million people in one place on an area 3 by 2 kilometers. There are factories for production, but this is a factory for destruction. Victory Day will be relevant as long as people retain the thinking inherent in normal people.

What's the lesson? We must always be like this so that war does not happen again for us. And for this, Russia must be strong, it is impossible to be weak, Russia is too attractive for everyone. In order for us all to be freed from those horrors forever, we must be strong. We must be able to withstand modern threats that arise from scientific and technological progress. We must have the most modern army. If we do not have an army capable of confronting a modern enemy, such horrors could happen again.

Maxim Speransky– Chairman of the Association of Furniture Manufacturers of the Republic of Tatarstan, General Director of Stilrex-2 LLC:

For me, May 9 is the day of remembrance of my grandfathers. One of them burned down in a tank near Minsk, the second was blown up by a mine in Poland. On Victory Day, every year I definitely go myself and take my children to the memorial, always with flowers. This is a mandatory program, but this year, unfortunately, I ended up in Germany, now I am at an exhibition in Hannover.

Perhaps over time, in 50 years, the significance of this holiday for Russians will diminish, but so far not much time has passed. For many people, the memory of war stories is still fresh; their lives are somehow connected with the war - through their parents, through their grandfathers. I don’t know whether great-great-grandchildren will widely celebrate this day.

Here in Germany, May 9 is not particularly commemorated. The only thing I saw on TV yesterday was documentary programs about the war. About how Germany was bombed in 1945. Hanover, for example, was practically wiped off the face of the earth. Out of curiosity, I translated what was said - that about 150 thousand people died in Hanover, the Warta plant was destroyed, and so on. It was the Allies who bombed, they loved carpet bombing.

Sergey Akulchev– co-owner and general director of the Akulchev confectionery factory:

May 9th is a holy holiday for me. Saved nations - that's the point. Therefore, its relevance is eternal. The war left its mark on my family - my grandfather lost his arm.

Fandas Safiullin– ex-deputy of the State Council of the Republic of Tatarstan and the State Duma of the Russian Federation:

May 9th is a day of difficult memory for me: about innumerable losses at the fronts, inhuman suffering in the rear, about the broken destinies of an entire generation of children of the war, about the sad Victory in a war that could not have been so tragic. For me, this is not a holiday, but a day of respect, worship and respect for two generations of Soviet people at the front and in the rear, who endured what the most terrible war brought. And it is only in this sense that I consider it to be enduringly relevant. I see in the date May 9 more the moral significance of a correct and complete assessment of the Victory. This is the historical meaning of this date, and not its “patriotic” politicization with the “privatization” of only one of the former republics of the USSR.

The war scorched the childhood of my generation – the fatherless generation. In 1942, at the age of 33, my father died as an ordinary soldier near Leningrad. In 1941, my uncle, my mother’s younger brother, Lieutenant Anvar Abiy, died near Smolensk. There were also non-frontline losses of the war in our family. Both of my little sisters died when they were young. Salima apa, my mother’s younger sister, a 20-year-old girl, a beauty, a young primary school teacher in one of the villages of the Aznakaevsky district, died. In the spring of 1944, a terrible fatal disease began in several regions of Tatarstan. Death decimated entire villages. People died from sudden bleeding from the nose and throat. It did not immediately become clear that this was not an epidemic, but mass food poisoning from the collected ears of last year's harvest. After spending the winter under the snow, they become infected with a deadly fungus. In the village where Salima apa taught, almost her entire class died. When everyone in the family where she rented a corner died one morning, Salima apa, mad with fear, ran home to her parents, in our Aktyuba. On the way, she was overwhelmed by the spring flood. She got out, but soon died of pneumonia. If she had remained among the dying, she would have survived. After all, no one treated her to wheat soup made from poisoned ears.

I can’t help but recall two other incidents that left lifelong trauma in my childhood memory. The village, which fed the front and the cities, itself was starving. One winter evening, I don’t remember exactly the year, our neighbor Gaziza apa came running to us. Her eyes are bulging, it’s scary to watch, she laughs loudly and tells at the top of her voice how she learned to put her children to bed hungry. She put a cast iron pot of water in the stove, sat the children next to her in front of the burning stove, and repeated to them that the potatoes would soon be cooked. When they were tired from the warmth and fell asleep, she put them to bed. Fortunately, Gaziza apa's madness passed. Soon the head of the family returned from the war. Mohassana apa, the widow of a front-line soldier, left with two children, went crazy for the rest of her life. For failure to pay some taxes, in front of her half-starved children, the state took their only breadwinner, their goat, away from the yard. I remember how Mohassana apa cried, scratching the ground with her hands. She's gone crazy. This was after the end of the war.

It was no easier for women, nurses of the country and the front, to see the suffering of hungry children, closing their eyes after their death by starvation, risking going to prison for a spikelet brought from a collective farm field, than for their husbands - front-line soldiers.

Victory was forged by everyone - at the front and in the rear, in factories and collective farm fields. Tens of millions of women, who bore no less of the burden of war than the male soldiers, became widowed and lost both husbands and sons. But they were forgotten. If we talk about military benefits, then the widows and mothers of fallen soldiers deserved them. The returning winners already received a one-time and highest “benefit” - the happiness of returning alive. Dear veterans, you are indebted to your fallen comrades and their mothers.

We are beginning to forget that the victory was won not only by one of the republics of the USSR, which is now called Russia, but by all 16 republics of the country.

In short, in the current celebration of the Victory, I do not see justice, sincerity, pain of memory, indivisible respect and reverence for everyone involved in the Victory.

Midhat Kurmanov– Minister of Justice of the Republic of Tatarstan:

May 9th for me is a Victory Day. But, on the other hand, this day is very sad for me. My mother’s grandfather, Zakir, died in 1943 near Stalingrad. He was killed in the first days. We know where he is buried. My second grandfather, Mukhametvali, died the same year in which I was born. I was born on August 2, 1959, and he passed away in December of this year. The consequences of the war destroyed him. It turns out that I grew up without grandfathers...

When I meet veterans, either on duty or just because, I always imagine what my grandfathers would be like now if they had not died then.

Victory Day must be celebrated even when there are no veterans left. Unfortunately, veterans are dying at an exponential rate. From the village in the Ulyanovsk region, where I come from, 355 people went to war, of which 188 returned home. Just two years ago there were 10 war participants in the village. Today there are only three of them left. One of them is paralyzed. There is practically no one to invite to schools on May 9...

I believe that the participants in the war are underestimated. We have not fulfilled our debts to them in full. The fact that they decided to give them apartments is correct. But veterans receive them too late.

Anatoly Artamonov – Deputy General Director of JSC ICL-KPO VS:

May 9th is the most important holiday for me, since I know very well the price of this Victory. I think that everyone living in the post-Soviet space knows it, at least those who were born before the 60s. There is not a single family that did not fight or die in that terrible war. And even those who did not participate in the battles had enough trouble for the rest of their lives. In our village, 80 people died, and the same number returned crippled, scorched by the war. I know everyone and remember everyone.

The old people, children, and women who remained in the village worked in such a way that the consequences of that work still make themselves felt. In the autumn and winter of 1941, in the cold, they manually dug anti-tank ditches across the Volga near Kazan.

You need to know history so as not to step on the same rake. As soon as the holiday becomes irrelevant for us and begins to be forgotten, we will again not be immune from the same evil.

As for my family, my father fought from July 41 to July 45. Although the war was over, people in his unit continued to die while clearing mines. The father, fortunately, survived, although he returned disabled. My mother was a tractor driver throughout the war and for several years after it, and these are not today’s tractors. Now it’s hard to imagine how they, young girls, managed this technology. My mother’s brother, my uncle, died in Myasny Bor in the Second Shock Army; search engines in the 80s found his remains and a posthumous medallion. Like many fallen, he left behind a small daughter. It is impossible to forget all this. Such a brutal war, a war for survival, will forever remain in the memory of the generations who witnessed it.

Nikolay Rybushkin- Deputy of the State Council of the Republic of Tatarstan:

For me, May 9 is a holy day. My maternal grandfather and two uncles died in the Great Patriotic War at Stalingrad. If there had not been this Victory, there would have been no Russia.

As long as Russia exists, this holiday will be celebrated. He will be forever. Because the people who accomplished this feat will never be forgotten. Our generation, the next generation will bow low at their feet. It is thanks to them that today we have what we have: we have a peaceful sky above us, we have an independent Motherland, country. It was the Victory in the Great Patriotic War that showed what Rus' is capable of and, most importantly, what its citizens are capable of. This holiday emphasized that Russia was strong and will remain strong.

Marat Galeev- Deputy of the State Council of the Republic of Tatarstan:

This is a great day. Every family has losses. In our family too, but I don’t want to talk about it. On this day we honor those who survived and remember those who did not return from the war.

Inna Balabanova– General Director of the Air Force:

May 9 for me is not a day off and not just a holiday, since my grandmother Amina Shakirzyanovna Balabanova and grandfather Ivan Vasilyevich Balabanov are front-line soldiers. This used to be our family's favorite holiday. I remember how my grandmother assembled a large table, how she and my grandfather put on their awards. Unfortunately, they are no longer alive, but on this day I always visit the cemetery and place carnations tied with St. George’s ribbon on the graves.

It is difficult for modern youth to feel the historical meaning of the holiday. But for those who have participants in this terrible war among their immediate relatives, such a question does not arise.

Victory Day is relevant as long as at least one veteran is alive. I think that later this event will be celebrated on a smaller scale, and then it will completely turn into a tradition like the one in my family. But the main thing is that this day will always be remembered.

Why have people forgotten the War of 1812? Because the society of the 20th century is very different from the society of the 19th century. The spirit of unity instilled by the communist system will not disappear from our blood for a long time. I think this is the difference that no one celebrates, and never has celebrated, the victory over Napoleon.

The Great Patriotic War affected my family. One of my great-grandfathers went missing, the second served on the Katyusha in the Battle of Stalingrad, where he lost an arm and a leg.

My grandfather reached Berlin. He met his grandmother at the front. He is from Smolensk, she is from Baltasi. After the war they ended up in Kazan. Grandfather had the honor of lighting the eternal flame in our village. I have photographs that I treasure very much. But, unfortunately, there are no front-line photographs. My grandparents did not like to talk about the war. But one day my grandmother mentioned that a friend had blown herself up on a tripwire before her eyes... My grandfather answered all my questions about the war with the same answer: “As it’s written in your textbooks, that’s how it happened...” As a child, I was very upset that he didn’t care doesn't tell. But now I can understand him.

Nail Valeev– Deputy of the State Council of the Republic of Tatarstan, ex-Minister of Education:

My father was a war invalid of group II, he was called up to the front in 1943, in the same year he was seriously wounded near the Kursk Bulge, and until 1949 he walked on crutches. My uncle disappeared in July 1941. This holiday is one of the most important for me. Because it is directly connected to the family. And then, we were brought up in a patriotic spirit, we knew what the Motherland was, what it meant to give one’s life for the Motherland. Naturally, this is one of the greatest holidays for us. I would very much like to wish the surviving veterans health, longevity, as far as possible, and all sorts of joys, because they suffered a lot for us. The boys endured what adults were unable to endure. My father went to the front at the age of 19, and at the age of 20 he was already crippled. This is the greatest holiday for our people. We must not allow anyone to reshape history, to those who are somehow trying to downplay this event, to increase the role of the allies, although it was negligible. America and England did not actively participate, they resolved their issues, and we shed blood. We sacrificed tens of millions of lives, and our allies sacrificed hundreds of thousands. This is also important, but it cannot be compared with what our country has experienced.

We are accustomed to measuring our history by major events - the First World War, the Second World War. The Second World War plays one of the key roles in world history, after this event the world took a different path. The country of the Soviets, the USSR, became powerful, healed the wounds of war and became a giant power. It was all turned to dust in the 90s. Plants and factories, what our ancestors built, were taken away by those who were closer, and the people remained below the poverty line.

It seems to me that as long as people live on earth, as long as Russia exists, this holiday will exist, and it is very relevant. Now the country's leadership is pursuing a very correct policy, directing efforts to explain to the whole world how we feel about this war and its events. We value them very highly and will not allow anyone to desecrate this event with all sorts of fabrications. The correct orientation is now underway. Putin’s speech and his answers on the “straight line” are also very important. This is a great historical date for our people, we will always celebrate it and honor our veterans.

Marat Khairullin- Deputy of the State Council of the Republic of Tatarstan:

This is an event in Soviet history that does not cause fierce ideological disputes; it is a great achievement of that state and people. Indeed, then the question of life and death was decided. To be our people and state or not to be. For me, this is a reason to be proud of our country, our history, for the fact that our ancestors so courageously endured all the hardships, endured and won. First of all, I am grateful to those who have provided us with calm and peace for almost 70 years. I think it is largely thanks to them that they are afraid to touch us, to go into military conflict with us. There are, of course, attempts to push us back. But the Victory still gave us a guarantee of this peace for decades.

This is a holiday not only for Russia, but also for all countries that united in the fight against fascism. Probably, the historical meaning of this holiday is the Victory of the forces of good over evil in world history. We stopped those who wanted to divide the world in their own way, who tried to impose racist ideology. Attempts by some Western countries to equate the Soviet Union and Hitler's Germany are completely wrong and incorrect. These states had completely different natures. The historical significance of the Victory is not in the past, it is of great importance in the present and future.

From my point of view, this date is No. 1 in the history of Russia. As long as our generation and the next are alive, I think they will not forget the significance of this holiday. I think that the current government wants to be involved in this holiday and use it to promote patriotic ideology. In any case, May 9 has become part of our national idea, our historical identity. I don’t think that we will soon forget May 9, and the modern generation, at least 30- and 40-year-olds, understands the importance of the great Victory. Our task is to ensure that new generations are imbued with this attitude towards May 9.

Artem Prokofiev- member of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation:

May 9 is a great day in the history of our country and humanity. In our history, this day has a special meaning, we defended our country, the right of our people to exist, and at the same time we saved Europe and all of humanity from a threat that had never loomed over humanity before. We must remember those heroes who are not with us, and, of course, those who survived. We must appreciate that we found those who were in this war. Future generations will no longer be able to see living witnesses.

The meaning of Victory Day is immense, because humanity has never encountered such a scale before. There were many wars, there was a lot of cruelty. For the first time, humanity was faced with the creation of death factories. When cars of people are brought to the factory and they are exterminated there. This is a plan to cleanse the territories, this is some kind of dimensionless cruelty. It’s amazing that this was in the 20th century, when everyone already thought that the world was civilized. This veneer of civilization was swept away in a second by fascist barbarism.

As long as humanity exists, this Victory will have significance.

We recently celebrated May 1, but there are different approaches: some believe that it is not a holiday, others think it’s the opposite. And the same attitude towards Christmas, New Year, and so on. There are always different points of view. And May 9 is a date that unites our entire country.

Of course, the war did not spare my family either. Two of my great-grandfathers did not return from this war. One of my great-grandfathers was captured, escaped captivity, was mobilized again and died in battle. My grandmother, fortunately, she is alive, is disabled during the Great Patriotic War. When she was 16 - 17 years old, she and other girls were involved in the creation of defensive structures on the eastern bank of the Volga. Then there was a threat that the Germans would cross the Volga.

When I look at 16- and 17-year-old kids today, I think how such kids were able to cope with this then, and whether today’s youth can cope with this. In this sense, I am an optimist and I believe that young, carefree people will be able to take on this challenge in the event of war.

Rafail Nurutdinov– Deputy of the State Council of the Republic of Tatarstan from the Communist Party faction:

I'll start with the First World War. No one attacked Russia or encroached on our independence. The government of Tsar Nicholas II itself declared war on Germany and Austria-Hungary. There was no need for Russia to enter this war.

If we had lost the Great Patriotic War, not only the Soviet Union, but also the Russian Federation would not have been on the political map of the world. It was a war for the freedom and independence of our Motherland. Therefore, the great Victory Day will be celebrated as long as Russia is alive.

Dear comrades, dear veterans! Congratulations on the 68th anniversary of the Victory over Nazi Germany!

The Great Patriotic War showed an example of heroism and fortitude of the entire Soviet people unprecedented in world history. Mass heroism is evidenced by the fact that 11,575 soldiers were awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union. More than 70 percent of them were communists. And the only privilege that the communists had at the front was to be the first to attack. The assertion of official propaganda that the Victory was won in spite of the Communist Party and Stalin is a blatant lie!

Denis Nitenko– Director of LLC “Business Center Fort Dialog”:

May 9, in my opinion, is the only public holiday that unites everyone: reds, whites, nationalists, liberals, Westerners, and adherents of the mysterious sovereign democracy. This is its uniqueness, it is a bright holiday that allows you to be proud of your history, your grandfathers and fathers. The undeniable darkness of the war itself does not cancel the celebration of Victory in it.

There has been and continues to be a search for a single historical meaning of Victory, but I would note one very important aspect for me - our country was able, despite isolationism, leaders looking for enemies around the world (this, by the way, strongly resembles the current time), for the sake of Victory over It is an absolute evil to unite with our allies - Great Britain, the USA. This means that we are not such enemies, we have a lot in common, although at that time we had opposite ideologies.

The relevance of the Victory Day lies precisely in this. In my family, among the relatives, as in the vast majority of families, there were those who fought and those who died in this war... We honor them and remember them.

Evgeny Andreev– General Director of Velograd LLC:

– May 9th is a holiday with a capital “F” for me. My mother is alive, she fought in the war, she is 91 years old, and my aunts and uncles died in those years. My mother, Ekaterina Aleksandrovna, guarded the sky of Moscow, served as an anti-aircraft gunner, including during the defense of the capital, when Nazi troops stood several kilometers away.

This holiday will forever remain significant for people who love their country. Of course, today the War of 1812 is celebrated on a smaller scale than the Great Patriotic War, but wars are also different. Hitler was an ideologist of genocide, aimed at the destruction of entire races, and Napoleon was simply a conqueror who wanted to elevate his republic to the level of a European empire. In 1812 there were no concentration camps or mockery of the enemy, it was a war of honor. And, of course, now there are no grandchildren or even great-grandchildren of the participants in that war, this also makes itself felt.

Ruslan Zinnatullin- Chairman of the regional branch of the Yabloko party in the Republic of Tatarstan:

– May 9 is a real national holiday. It was the people who defeated fascism - our fathers and grandfathers, not Stalin. At the beginning of the war, the Soviet Union found itself in a difficult situation, not having enough equipment by the time the Nazis advanced deep into the country in the first days of the war. But the people managed to mobilize and defend the right to life and freedom.

Perhaps Victory Day has lost something in the parades by now, and there are few witnesses to the war left. We all see what is happening in the army now. The ideology in the country has changed. When I was at school, we knew more about the war; veterans were invited to our lessons. Now, probably, there is no such thing, although it would be nice to maintain these traditions. Today's schoolchildren must understand the scale of this event. But nevertheless, this holiday remains great for Russia.

My relatives on my mother’s side lived in the occupied territory, in Belarus, and my grandfather fought in the infantry. He returned from the war with several wounds and with orders, including “For Courage”. My grandfather died in civilian life when I was little.

Venera Ivanova- Chairman of the Board of JSC Avtogradbank:

– For me, Victory Day is a great holiday. There is probably no family in our country that was not affected by the Great Patriotic War. My grandfather and father fought, and my grandmother and mother worked in the rear, running the household in the absence of men, malnourished, sleep-deprived and working hard from morning to night. Therefore, for me this is not just a day off. Previously, when dad was alive, we went to him every year to congratulate him on the holiday, now we go to congratulate mom.

Our grandfather told us a lot about the war years, who reached Berlin and returned home as a winner. My father returned from the war earlier, after being wounded in the battles for Stalingrad. But my grandmother’s brother, unfortunately, did not return from the front.

Over time, as veterans, participants of the Great Patriotic War and home front workers leave us, probably the very form of celebration will somehow change. But I believe that we have no right to forget about the lessons that the Second World War, the bloodiest in the history of mankind, taught the world, about the many millions of victims that our people brought to the altar of Victory.

It is very important to explain to the younger generation that war always means sacrifices, war is bad, war means hunger and cold. Through films, performances, photo exhibitions, television, and the press, we need to show young people the enormous will to Victory that our people had during the war years. After all, the technical equipment of our army was worse than that of Germany, but, it seems to me, it was thanks to this enormous will that our fathers and grandfathers, mothers and grandmothers would have defeated the enemies even with their bare hands. Using their example, we need to explain to young people that they should never give up, they need to fight and become a winner. After all, in this war our people defended their right to freedom and independence of the country, the right to be called human. And it seems to me that if the time ever comes when Victory Day becomes an irrelevant holiday, then there will be a real threat of a repetition of this horror...

Marcel Gabdrakhmanov– Chairman of the LDPR Control and Audit Commission:

– My grandfather died in December 1941 near Leningrad. He also went through the Finnish war, and in 1941 he was called up as an officer. His name is recorded in the Book of Memory of Tatarstan. Two of my uncles also died at the front. One uncle returned without an arm and died in 1976. There are no living witnesses of the war left in my family today. And in general, the soldiers who spent the entire war in trenches and dugouts returned sick and died quickly.

May 9 remains a national holiday, despite the total destruction of traditions in the last 15 - 20 years. We have lost more than 20 million citizens of the country, more than any other state. The whole country worked for the Victory and won it - how else can one treat this day if not as a national holiday? I admire the participants in the war and am disgusted by the way the state treats veterans today. By May 9, they supposedly begin to give them housing and care... So these issues should have been resolved long ago, but we have some money at the right time, and then again it disappears somewhere. Can’t we really provide decent social conditions for our veterans, of whom there are only a few left? Some of our veterans today go to Germany for free treatment. To Germany! Well, that's not possible. The eternal fires are either extinguished or relit, monuments are removed or returned. Russia is like this in everything - it moves from side to side, and cannot find a national idea. But the winners should live the best life. Long life to veterans and low bow.

Alexander Sergeev– General Director of the management company “Alexander LTD”:

May 9 is a Victory Day, a day of remembrance for those who gave their lives for our Motherland, and those who were lucky to survive. And whatever the Motherland is, good or bad in socio-economic terms, its main advantage is its independence. This is the historical meaning of the holiday.

Victory Day is a relevant holiday today. We must remember to whom and what we owe. The war ends when the last dead soldier is buried. And the holiday will be relevant as long as the last man who fought is alive and as long as people’s memory lives on.

For our family, Victory Day is not just a day off. My grandfather, my father's father, disappeared at Stalingrad. His brother said that he saw him alive in 1945, somewhere in battles with the Japanese, apparently as scouts. He officially disappeared in 1942. There is no other information about him.

My father ended up in an orphanage, lived with the last name Besfamilny, then received the last name Sergeev. All his cousins ​​on his father’s side have the surnames Khisamutdinov and Khisamov. All relatives remember and honor the memory of Rashit Khisamutdinov. In addition, all serving officers drink a third toast on Victory Day for those who did not make it. And not only for those who died in the Great Patriotic War, but also for all the soldiers and officers who died for their Motherland.

Dmitry Bobrov- General Director of Travel Company Royal-Travel LLC:

My great-grandfather went to the front in the first days of the war, and is currently listed as missing. Eternal memory to him and to all those who died defending our Motherland.

May 9th is a working day for me; there are no days off in my field. We are open every day except January 1st.

I start every Victory Day by watching the parade on Red Square on TV. But it seems that in recent years these parades are held more “for show”, and there is no longer such awe in the soul that there was 10 - 20 years ago. It is incredibly painful to look at the faces and tears of veterans, of whom there are fewer and fewer every year. It's a shame that our government doesn't take care of them.

They say that if it were not for Stalin, we would not have won this war. No, it’s not about Stalin, but about our people. There was unity then, faith and general dedication.

If this war had happened today, we would have lost it... Therefore, this date must be remembered while we are alive.

Shamil Ageev– Chairman of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of the Republic of Tatarstan:

Victory Day is the day of independence from nationalism. It's a pity that there are fewer and fewer veterans. They all deserve respect, they were winners. The most important thing was that there was unity during the war. Of course, this holiday is warm and bright, but at the same time... God forbid that something like this happens now.

On Victory Day I usually congratulate veterans and those who lived during this period. There are several grandparents to whom we always give gifts. Maybe I'll go to the cemetery. Also on this holiday I will try to perform the song “Victory Day”, the music for which was written by David Tukhmanov. I met him in 1976 at a youth camp.

Whether this holiday will be remembered depends on how much time the topic of war is devoted to in school. Our task and the task of the authorities is to prevent information about the war from being “washed out” from schools.

I would also like to see the old tradition revived - the relay race for the prize of fellow countrymen, which was held from 1968 to the 80s. Every May 9th there were competitions in kayaking, running, throwing, etc. Everyone was busy with sports.

Alexey Martynov– General Director of ArtInfo-M Group LLC:

May 9 is a bright day. For the first time in history, the price of Victory was the preservation of the lives of entire nations. Of course, this day will be relevant for many years to come. The war of 1941 - 1945 cannot be compared with those wars that came before; it is more cruel and bloody. Nazism then, like international terrorism today, was an enemy of human dignity, the most sacred freedoms and values, first of all, the right to life. He did not hide his goals regarding the peoples of Europe and the whole world - enslavement, assimilation, ethnic cleansing. For our people, defeat meant the loss of national sovereignty, statehood, and physical extermination. In this struggle, the united nations were obliged to win and they won. This is the meaning of the Great Victory for Russia, Europe and the whole world.

The war also affected my family. My great-grandfather participated in the war, and, according to my grandmother, he was shot by the Nazis. Unfortunately, I don’t remember his name, I only remember that his last name was Morozov. He was a resident of Alapaevsk, before the war he worked as a school director.

Natalya Gaptrakhmanova – General Director of the advertising agency "AtriA":

May 9th for me is a very bright and sad holiday. I perceive it not so much as a holiday of Victory in the Great War, but also as a day of remembrance for millions of people who died.

Victory Day is relevant. And, in my opinion, its relevance is only increasing every year. I look at children and teenagers and I get lost at how much lack of spirituality there is in them, and there is a complete lack of connection with the past! How then can one be a strong people if no one relies on their history and feels gratitude to their ancestors for their lives? And this holiday, with all its traditions and attributes, even if only for a day, creates this connection of times, allowing us to allow ourselves gratitude to the people who died for our future.

Of course, I didn’t want to think so, but based on reality, probably in 50 years this holiday will be forgotten. Now there are still veterans who personally participated in the war, and people who lost loved ones in it are still alive. But in a few years there will be none left...

For me, the meaning of this holiday is to stop in the hustle and bustle of everyday life and feel gratitude to your ancestors for your life and the lives of your children. And just remember, say thank you...

As far as I know, no one in our family died during the war. But the grandfather who took part in it received a bullet in the thigh, which they could not remove. Because of this, his legs initially gave out, and then he died at the age of 68. I was 12 years old then, I remember him very well...

Edgar Shamsutdinov- Director of JSC Altais:

May 9th for me is the day of Victory and freedom. This is a bright holiday! I believe that this is the most important event in the history of our country, and its significance is very great, because if it had not happened, it is unclear what would be happening now and what our country would be called, and whether we would be... This is the Victory of the whole country and our grandfathers!

The holiday is, of course, relevant, and will always be so. I am raising my children so that they remember the war and are grateful to those who gave peace.

There were no losses in our family during the war, but there were heroes. I am proud of my grandfather, who went through the entire war and did not die. Thanks to him, our family exists.

We asked students of the Novoshakhtinsky branch of the Shakhty Regional College of Fuel and Energy named after Academician P.I. about this. Stepanov and other educational institutions. Here's what they replied:

	Valeria Fisunova: On May 9, our entire country celebrates Victory Day. It is difficult and scary for me to imagine those difficult years when men went to the front, women hid their children from the Germans so that they would not be killed or taken away, and in the rear they worked for five people. For me, May 9 is not just Victory Day, but a day of pride for those people who, at the cost of their lives, fought for our happy future. A low bow to the veterans for the great Victory, for the opportunity for us, their great-grandchildren, to live peacefully under a peaceful sky. You are our pride! I wish all participants in the war health, happiness and long life! We will always remember your feat!
	Anastasia Kirgizova: May 9 is the most important, great holiday for each of us. On this memorable day, the whole college must go to the park for a rally and honor our dear veterans, of whom there are not so many left. Together with them, we remember those whose lives were taken by the war and who remained on the battlefields. Tears always come to my eyes when front-line songs are played. The feat of our grandfathers and great-grandfathers does not fade with the passage of time, we will never forget it. Because they fought so that we, their grandchildren and great-grandchildren, would live calmly and happily. I sincerely congratulate our beloved veterans and home front workers and all Novoshakhty residents on Victory Day in the Great Patriotic War!
	Seytutdin Sheikhgasanov: There are many holidays in our country, but the greatest one is Victory Day in the Great Patriotic War - May 9, 1945. The path to Victory was long and difficult. For many days and nights our country lived in terrible tension. Thousands of people died every day. And on May 9, we attach the St. George ribbon to our shirt, and the whole college goes to a solemn meeting to honor the memory of the fallen and say thank you to the veterans for the victory over the Nazis. Because thanks to veterans we now live peacefully. Congratulations to the residents of Novoshakhtiny and veterans on the 68th anniversary of the Great Victory!
	Nikita Smirnov: There are no people in Russia whose relatives, even distant ones, did not fight in the Great Patriotic War. I have two great-grandfathers who fought. One was an artilleryman, the other carried ammunition in a car. Every year on May 9, my grandfather and I go to a rally in the city center and lay flowers on the mass grave in the park. To survive and defeat the fascists is a great feat that we will always remember, we will tell our children that the Russians are strong and invincible. Congratulations to all residents of Novoshakhtinsk on the most important holiday for everyone - Victory Day in the Great Patriotic War! And to the veterans - a deep bow, your feat will always be an example of courage for us. Happy holiday!

Elena Nikolaenko, 23 years old, resident of Novoshakhtinsk:

If it weren't for Victory Day, we simply wouldn't exist. Our parents would not have been born, our grandparents would have been killed. Fascism would rule the world, all other nations would be slaves. Russians as such, and with them the rest of the nations of the entire USSR, would no longer exist. This is what Hitler planned. May 9 is the greatest day, it is the day when life took precedence over death. May 9th is a holy holiday, and the older I get, the more I love it. Glory to the Soviet people! Glory to the victorious people!

Nikolay Zhurba, 11th grade student at school No. 4:

In one word WAR lies so many tears and grief. One word hurts. The war destroyed everything, sparing no one. But our people managed to survive, no matter what. People who gave their lives for the sake of their Motherland will never be forgotten.

Heroes, war workers who are now with us, we say to you: “THANK YOU.” To all those who are with us today and who, unfortunately, died, THANK YOU for the LIFE you gave us. For smiles, for a carefree childhood, for a clear sky above your head!

AlexeyRomanchenko, 24 years old, graduate of SRSTU:

The worst thing that can befall humanity is war. She spares neither the elderly nor children. The crime that the Nazis committed during the Great Patriotic War against the peoples of the USSR cannot be justified by any words or historical facts. I am grateful to my great-grandfathers for the fact that I now live in the world. To all those who survived the war, I want to wish you long life, may every day you live give you the smiles of loved ones and a lot of joy, peace and harmony! I want to say thank you to all veterans and war workers! We will never forget your feat!