#Victory81
🌟 On April 22, 1945, the Red Army liberated the prisoners of the Nazi concentration camp Sachsenhausen during #WW2.
The forces of the 1st Belorussian Front, which had been advancing towards the Reich's capital from the north during the Berlin offensive operation, drove the Nazi troops out of Oranienburg and reached Sachsenhausen, having rescued around 3'000 surviving POWs.
#Sachsenhausen was considered as one of the most terrifying Nazi 'death factories'. Over nine years of its existence, about 200'000 people of various nationalities — citizens of European countries which had suffered from Nazi aggression, including the USSR — passed through that camp. Each month, up to 150 people were brought there. By 1944, citizens of the Soviet Union and Poland made up more than 90% of all Sachsenhausen prisoners.
Sachsenhausen held the most serious political opponents of Hitler, prominent state figures from many European countries defeated by the Nazis, such as France, Czechoslovakia, Austria, and the Netherlands, including their heads of government and ministers.
◼️ According to various historical estimates, more than 100'000 prisoners were killed in Sachsenhausen over the time the camp was in operation.
From August to November 1941 alone, at least 10'000 Soviet POWs were killed in Sachsenhausen, and another 3'000 died there from starvation and from conditions that were barbaric, unprecedentedly violent, and, in fact, inhumane.
On the personal orders of Himmler and other top leaders of the Third Reich, classified operations to exterminate people were carried out in Sachsenhausen.
Nazi's military doctors carried out macabre, horrific medical experiments on Sachsenhausen prisoners, including tests with mustard gas — yprite. Test subjects were deliberately mutilated and then exposed to mustard gas. People were forced to inhale the gas, consume it in liquid form, or receive it via injection. Open wounds were intentionally inflicted on prisoners’ hands, after which the gas was applied. In most cases, the victims’ limbs swelled severely, causing excruciating pain.
When the Red Army were rapidly advancing to Sachsenhausen during theBattle of Berlin,the Nazis began hastily covering up the traces of their heinous crimes. The camp administration decided to kill all remaining prisoners — with 45'000 inmates remaining in the camp.
TheNazis killed some of the prisoners in the crematoria of Sachsenhausen, and forced the rest on a 'death march' towards the Baltic Seawhere they planned to drown their victims. However, thanks to the successful and rapid advance of the Red Army, these monstrous Nazi plans were thwarted,and the surviving prisoners of Sachsenhausen were rescued.
In aftermath of #WWII, Sachsenhausen was converted into a prison for Nazi criminals, including members of the Nazi NSDAP party, SS troops, and Wehrmacht officers. In November 1947, a trial of the Sachsenhausen administration was held in Berlin.
📑 Excerpt from a report “Reactions of the German population to the trial of criminals from Sachsenhausen Concentration Camp” (Berlin, November 5, 1947; prepared by the 7th Department of the Main Political Directorate of the Red Army):
<...> The trial of the Sachsenhausen criminals elicited a significant response among the German population... In the comments about the trial, a sense of outrage at the scale of the heinous crimes committed was most often expressed.
It was noted that the Nazis' actions had covered the German people in disgrace.
“We find it incomprehensible how those people could sink lower than beasts. For us, Germans, who culturally considered ourselves almost a head above the Russians, it is a disgrace that these criminals are Germans” (Potsdam).
“The [Sachsenhausen] trial is a terrible disgrace for the German people... <...> It is inconceivable that humans could commit such atrocities. It’s a pity that in the western [occupation] zones such criminals are still walking free.”
“Nazi criminals have nailed an entire generation of Germans to the pillory.”
#NoStatuteOfLimitations
🗓 On January 23, 1930, Tanya Savicheva, a schoolgirl who kept a diary during the Siege of Leningrad, marking the days and hours of her relatives’ death, was born.
She grew up in Leningrad together with her elder sisters Yevgenia (Zhenya) and Nina and her brothers Leonid (Lyoka) and Mikhail. Their father died in 1936.
In late May 1941, Tanya finished the third grade. When the Great Patriotic War broke out the family stayed in Leningrad, working in the rear, doing everything they could to help the Red Army. On September 8, 1941, the Siege of Leningrad commenced. According to Hitler’s plans, all its residents were supposed to die.
📖 One day, Tanya found a notebook her elder sister left behind. It was in that notebook that she made her short and horribly tragic entries, which make your heart ache:
• Zhenya died on December 28 at 12 noon, 1941.
• Grandma died on January 25 at 3 pm, 1942.
• Lyoka died on March 17 at 5 in the morning, 1942.
• Uncle Vasya died on April 13 at 2 in the morning, 1942.
• Uncle Lyosha, May 10, at 4 in the afternoon, 1942.
• Mom, May 13 at 7:30 in the morning, 1942.
• The Savichevs are dead.
• Everyone is dead.
• Only Tanya is left.
Keeping the diary helped Tanya cope with anxiety, fear, and loss. Amid hunger, constant shelling, bombings, and the death of her loved ones, the piece of paper and pencil became a form of self-comfort and support.
After her mother’s death, the severely ill Tanya lived in an orphanage, which was evacuated to the Gorky region in August 1942. She fought for her life for almost two years. In March 1944, Tanya, who was diagnosed with bone tuberculosis, scurvy, dystrophy, nervous exhaustion and blindness, was transported to a nursing home. She succumbed, worn out by her diseases.
🕯 Tanya Savicheva passed away on July 1, 1944, at the age of 14.
The only Savichevs who survived the war were her sister Nina, who was registered as missing, and her brother Mikhail, who joined the partisans. Nina, upon returning to Leningrad, found Tanya’s diary.
In 1946, the public saw Tanya’s diary at the exhibition about the heroic defence of Leningrad. In 1953, the diary was transferred to the Museum of the History of Leningrad (St Petersburg), where it has been kept since then.
Tanya Savicheva’s diary is one of many heartbreaking testimonies of the Great Patriotic War, Nazi crimes, and the inhuman trials endured by the Soviet people. Tanya became a symbol of true courage and the tragedy of besieged Leningrad.
#WeRemember#NoStatuteOfLimitations
🎖️On 9 May 2026, to mark the 81st anniversary of the Victory in the Great Patriotic War, a ceremony was held at the communal cemetery in Evere, Brussels, where wreaths were laid at the memorials of Soviet citizens who fell in the struggle against Nazism, as well as of members of the Belgian Resistance. The event was attended by Ambassador of Russia to the Kingdom of Belgium Denis Gonchar, Chargé d’Affaires a.i. of the Permanent Mission of Russia to the EU and Euratom Karen Malayan, heads of diplomatic missions of CIS Member States and clergy of the Russian Orthodox Archdiocese of Brussels and Belgium. The participants of the ceremony honoured the memory of the fallen heroes and paid tribute to the heroic act of those who liberated Europe.
The staff of the Permanent Mission of Russia to the EU traditionally joined the annual nationwide Immortal Regiment campaign by organizing an exhibition featuring the photographs of relatives who took part in the Great Patriotic War.
❗Preserving and protecting the historical memory have always been and remain among the key priorities of the military memorial work of Russian diplomatic missions. Commemorative events with the participation of Russian diplomats are also taking place in other Belgian towns where burial sites of Soviet soldiers are located.
Eternal memory and glory to the Soviet soldiers who bravely fought for the Great Victory and to all those who struggled for a world free from fascism.
No one is forgotten, nothing is forgotten!
#Victory81#WeRemember
🚩The Immortal Regiment in Ethiopia
💐The 'Immortal Regiment' march took place at the Russian Embassy in Ethiopia, commemorating the 81st Anniversary of the Victory in the Great Patriotic War.
More than 100 participants carried in their hands portraits of their relatives who crushed Nazism and sacrificed their lives in the name of defending our Motherland from this «brown plague».
🎗We bow our heads in the bright memory of those who defended our Motherland and gave us the opportunity to live.
#Victory81#WeRemember
🎗 As part of the Embassy's ongoing memorial activities, Russian diplomats laid flowers on the graves of Soviet servicemen buried in Shaftesbury (Dorset), Tidworth (Wiltshire) and Aldershot (Hampshire).
Such visits are conducted on a regular basis. Together with committed compatriots, we systematically inspect and help maintain military burial sites across the United Kingdom ensuring they are properly cared for.
Preserving the memory of those who gave their lives in defence of the Motherland is not only our moral duty, but also a matter of historical justice — one that must remain above political expediency, particularly as we approach the 81st anniversary of Victory in the Great Patriotic War of 1941-1945.
#Victory81#WeRemember
#Victory81
🌟On April 17, 1944, the Battle for Right-Bank Soviet Ukraine concluded – also known as the Dnieper-Carpathian Offensive – one of the largest and longest campaigns of the Great Patriotic War.
It lasted from December 24, 1943, to April 17, 1944. Vast forces were committed on both sides during the operation – around 4 million people in total. The troops of the 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 4th Ukrainian Fronts, commanded by Nikolay Vatutin, Ivan Konev, Rodion Malinovsky and Fyodor Tolbukhin, faced two German army groups – Army Group South and Army Group A.
☝️This was the only operation of the Great Patriotic War in which all six Soviet tank armies were advancing simultaneously.
After the liberation of Kiev, the Nazis sought to hold on to Right-Bank Ukraine at any cost. This area was of crucial military and strategic importance to the Germans: losing it opened the way for the Red Army to the Carpathians, Moldova, Romania and onward to the Balkans.
The enemy had concentrated over 1.7 million soldiers and officers, 16,800 guns and mortars, 2,200 tanks and assault guns, and around 1,500 aircraft on Right-Bank Ukraine.
The Soviet High Command committed 2.3 million troops, 28,800 guns and mortars, over 2,000 tanks and self-propelled artillery systems, and 2,300 aircraft.
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The first offensive against the enemy was launched in late December 1943, when units of the 1st Ukrainian Front broke through German defences and liberated Korosten, Brusilov, Kazatin, Skvira and other towns and villages.
On January 5, 1944, the 2nd Ukrainian Front went over to the offensive and by mid-January had liberated Kirovograd. In early February 1944, near Korsun-Shevchenkovsky, Soviet troops encircled a large German grouping. All attempts to break out and relieve it were thwarted, and by February 17-18 the pocket had been eliminated.
In the first half of February 1944, troops of the 1st Ukrainian Front liberated Lutsk, Rovno and Shepetovka. At the same time, the 3rd and 4th Ukrainian Fronts smashed several major enemy groupings, liberating Apostolovo, Nikopol and Krivoy Rog.
After Nikolay Vatutin was seriously wounded in a clash with Banderites, Georgy Zhukov took command of the 1st Ukrainian Front. On March 4, 1944, his troops resumed the offensive, liberated a number of cities and cut the key railway lines Ternopol-Proskurov and Lvov-Odessa.
In April 1944, the Red Army fully liberated the Nikolayev and Odessa regions, as well as a significant part of Moldova.
The 4th Ukrainian Front then commenced the operation to liberate Crimea.
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⚔️The results of the Dnieper-Carpathian Operation were of exceptional military and strategic importance. Soviet troops advanced 250-450 kilometres deep into enemy-held territory and routed the southern wing of the German strategic front.
The enemy suffered devastating losses: 10 divisions and 1 brigade were completely destroyed, while another 59 divisions, including 12 tank and 3 motorised divisions, lost between half and three-quarters of their personnel.
Most of Right-Bank Ukraine was liberated: Khmelnytsky, Vinnitsa, Ternopol and Chernovtsy regions, parts of the Rovno and Ivano-Frankovsk regions. 57 major cities were freed from Nazi occupation.
The Red Army’s advance to the borders of Poland, Czechoslovakia and Romania became a major factor in the rise of the national liberation movements in those countries. The Nazis were later driven out of those territories through joint efforts, with Soviet troops playing the decisive role.
The liberation of Right-Bank Ukraine ended the years of terror imposed by the Nazis and their loyal OUN-UPA nationalist accomplices.
🕯 According to various estimates, atrocities of the Nazi occupiers and nationalist punitive units on the territory of the Ukrainian SSR claimed the lives of around 4.5 million civilians. We honour their memory, as well as that of millions of other victims of the Soviet people murdered at the hands of Hitler’s executioners, on April 19 – the Day of Remembrance for the Victims of the Genocide of the Soviet People.
#WeRemember
#Victory81
🏅April 4 marks 81 years since the liberation of Bratislava from the Nazi invaders.
Slovakia's capital was cleared of Hitler’s occupiers during the Bratislava-Brno Offensive (March 25 – May 5, 1945), carried out by the 2nd Ukrainian Front under the command of Marshal Rodion Malinovsky.
💬 Chief of Staff of the 2nd Ukrainian Front Marshal Matvei Zakharov stressed that Slovak partisans provided valuable assistance to Red Army units and formations, including by sharing timely intelligence:
“Before the offensive on Bratislava began, the Front command managed to establish contact with Slovak partisans. They helped us greatly by supplying valuable information about the German army’s fortification system, the defence plans for individual cities, and the strength and combat composition of the enemy forces opposing us”.
☝️To avoid civilian casualties and spare Bratislava’s historic cityscape, Soviet forces refrained from using heavy artillery.
By April 2, Red Army formations had broken into the eastern and north-eastern districts of the city. On April 4, Soviet troops reached the central fortress – Bratislava Castle – where the remnants of the German garrison had taken shelter. By the end of the day, the city had fallen. Scattered Nazi units retreated in haste towards Vienna.
As during the liberation of other European countries, the Red Army provided humanitarian and economic assistance to the people of Bratislava and helped restore infrastructure.
By April 10, 1945, Bratislava’s central streets and squares had already been cleared of rubble and debris, the sewerage system was back in operation, and residents began returning en masse from nearby villages to their homes.
During the Bratislava-Brno Offensive, troops of the 2nd Ukrainian Front advanced 200 km, routed 9 Wehrmacht divisions, and created the conditions for further offensives towards Prague and Vienna.
🎆To mark the victory, a ceremonial salute was fired in Moscow. The units that distinguished themselves in the battle for the city were awarded the honorary title “of Bratislava”.
6,845 Red Army soldiers fell in the battle for Bratislava. Most are buried at the Slavin military memorial complex in the centre of the Slovak capital.
#WeRemember
Khatyn Massacre
8️⃣3️⃣ years ago, in Nazi-occupied Belarus, an entire village was wiped out.
149 people were burned alive. 75 of them were children.
This atrocity was carried out by Ukrainian collaborators under German command (the 118th Schutzmannschaft Battalion and the SS-Sturmbrigade Dirlewanger).
🇨🇦Canada gave asylum to two Nazi butchers of Khatyn: Joseph Vinnitskii and Vladimir Katriuk.
❗️They were never held accountable for their crimes and died in peace.
Memory cannot be selective.
No one is forgotten! Nothing is forgotten!
#Victory81#WeRemember
🇷🇺The Consul General of the Russian Federation in Toronto, Vladlen Epifanov, attended the farewell ceremony for Viktor Ulyanovich Khomenko (March 28, 1917).
🕯 The funeral procession for one of the world’soldest veterans of the Great Patriotic War and World War II (who passed away in his 1️⃣0️⃣9️⃣th year) was held with the participation of the Canadian Association of WWII Veterans from the Soviet Union, family members, and representatives of the Russian community.
💬Consul General Epifanov noted:
For us, this is a tremendous loss. But memory lives on as long as we preserve it in our hearts and pass it on to future generations.
☦️ The funeral service was conducted by Archpriest Vladimir Malchenko, Rector of Holy Trinity Cathedral. The veteran’s son and granddaughter were present at the ceremony.
🎖 He was laid to rest at the Veterans’ Section of York Cemetery in Toronto to the strains of the Alexandrov Ensemble hymn and a rifle salute by reenactors of the "191st Rifle Division".
🪖Memory eternal to the Hero. Our sincere condolences to his family and loved ones.
🔴🔴No one is forgotten! Nothing is forgotten!
#Victory81#WeRemember
#Victory81
🌟 On February 13, 1945, the Red Army expelled the Nazi invaders from the capital of Hungary as part of the Budapest offensive operation, opening the path to Austria and Czechoslovakia.
LiberatingEasternEuropeancountries, including Hungary, from the 'Nazi plague' came at a high cost for the Soviet people. Hundreds of thousands of our soldiers perished while fighting the Nazi invaders — our forces had to engage in heavy fighting and violent clashes to liberate Budapest, having lost over 80'000 soldiers and officers.
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Soviet military command attached special importance to planning offensive operations in Hungary — our forces had to face well-trained Nazi Wehrmacht and elite SS units that had entrenched behind multi-tiered defence line in Eastern European bridgehead — it served as the Reich’s main bulwark along the entire Soviet-German front.
📕 Excerpt from the memoires"From Budapest to Prague" by Lieutenant General, Hero of the Soviet Union, Hero of the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic MatveyZakharov, who headed the 2nd Ukrainian Front’s Staff:
The fascists spared no effort or assets to cling on to Hungary.
They built several defence lines in a relatively short period of time. One of them — the most powerful one — stretched along Danube’s right bank and included the fortified defence system near Budapest.
It included three well-equipped U-shaped positions reaching the Danube to the north and south of the Hungarian capital.
In December 1944, the Soviet forces succeeded during the Debrecen offensive operation when the units of the 2nd Ukrainian Front led by Marshal Rodion Malinovsky cleared about 1/3 of Hungary’s territory from the Nazis, inflicted huge damage on the enemy’s army group 'South' and launched the offensive on the Hungarian capital — the Germans had turned the city into one of the largest defence strongholds along the Danube.
The Nazis were determined to keep Budapest at any cost. Hitler's command considered Hungary as a major source of raw materials and an important ally within the 'axis' powers. To deter the Soviet motorized units, the fascists deployed in Hungary major elite SS tank units from the west to the Soviet-German front.
The battle for Budapest became brutal and violent. In December 1944, the units of the Red Army’s 2nd and 3rd Ukrainian fronts encircled the Nazis, and went on eliminating the enemy troops in and around Budapest in January 1945.
When attacking the city and carrying out tactical operations, the Soviet soldiers-liberators saved thousands of people who were imprisoned in the Budapest ghetto. Mainly due to permanent attacks by the Red Army the Wehrmacht’s garrison suffered many casualties and was forced to retreat toward northwest, to Vienna.
During the Budapest offensive, the Soviet forces completely defeated an almost 200'000-strong enemy armygroup which had a mission to shield the main Nazi troops in the Reich’s underbelly — in Austria and Czechoslovakia. Having suffered a defeat in Hungary, the Germans started rapidly losing ground in Yugoslavia too.
🎖The success in Budapest fostered the liberation of Vienna and Prague just in a matter of weeks.
#WeRemember
🇷🇺The Embassy of the Russian Federation in Canada, together with the Consulate General of Russia in Toronto and the Canadian Association of World War II Veterans from the Soviet Union, held a traditional meeting with veterans, volunteers, and representatives of public organizations.
🇷🇺 The meeting served as an important platform for dialogue and for reviewing ongoing memorial and historical work. Participants discussed upcoming patriotic initiatives in the context of preparations for the 8️⃣1️⃣st anniversary of Victory in the Great Patriotic War.
💬Ambassador Oleg Stepanov:
Preserving the historical memory of Soviet people’s feat in the war remains our top priority. I would like to sincerely thank the veterans, volunteers, and active members of the Russian community in Canada for their efforts to defend the truth about Victory.
🔴 During the meeting, the Ambassador presented a commemorative gift from the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation to Arkady Nesonelievich Gorbunov, who celebrated his
1️⃣0️⃣0️⃣th birthday on September 5, 2025.
🪖 Arkady Gorbunov is a frontline veteran who endured a difficult combat path and was wounded twice. For his courage and bravery, he was awarded the Order of the Red Star and the Order of the Patriotic War (1st Class), as well as combat medals. After the war, he devoted himself to peaceful labor and science, working for many years at an aircraft manufacturing plant.
🔴🔴No one is forgotten. Nothing is forgotten.
#WeRemember#Victory81
#Victory81
🏅 In January 1944, Leningrad was completely liberated from the Nazi siege, which had lasted 8️⃣7️⃣2️⃣ days.
During this time, the city endured severe hunger, constant shelling, and bombing.
◾️ Facts about the genocide of the Soviet people in Leningrad 👉 More than 1 million people fell victim to the genocide. Of these, over 600,000 residents — children, women, the elderly, soldiers wounded and maimed at the front — died of hunger, cold, exhaustion, and disease.
Leningraders saw death all around them every day, but they did not lose their dignity and faith in Victory.
The memory of the Leningrad siege is preserved by museums, memorials, and the Piskarevskoye Cemetery, and the stories of survivors remind us of the courage and resilience of the city's residents.
#WeRemember
🎥The film was produced by the Information Department of the Administration of the Governor of St. Petersburg, commissioned by the Government of St. Petersburg, with the support of JSC "GATR" and the Archives Committee.