🗓 On September 7, 1945, a military parade of the allied forces of the #USSR, US, UK and France took place in Berlin near the walls of the defeated Reichstag on Alexanderplatz Square, marking the end of #WWII.
The location of the parade – at the Brandenburg Gate, at the very heart of the German capital – was not chosen by chance. It was right here where the Battle of Berlin ended and the remnants of the Berlin group of German troops surrendered to the Red Army. Scheduled for September 7, the parade was timed to coincide with the victory over militaristic Japan.
Representatives of the allied powers responded positively to Moscow's proposal to hold a joint parade in Berlin. However, on the eve of the event, after the date and all the details had been agreed upon, the US, UK and France announced that instead of the commanders-in-chief – Eisenhower, Montgomery and Tassigny – they would send lower-ranking generals, who were already stationed in Germany, to the parade. By doing so, the allies tried to downplay the significance of the parde, which emphasized the decisive role of the Soviet Union in taking Berlin. At that time, no one doubted who bore the brunt of the storming of the capital of the Third Reich.
🇷🇺 The USSR carried out thorough preparations for the parade. The Soviet command enlisted the Red Army's most distinguished soldiers, sergeants, officers and generals who had shown unrivalled courage in taking Berlin and the main centers of the reich – the Reichstag and the Imperial Chancellery.
🎖On September 7 at 11 am, the Berlin allied parade commenced. It was received by the Commander of the Group of Soviet Occupation Forces in Germany Georgy Zhukov. The parade was opened by the combined regiment of the 248th Rifle Division of the Red Army, led by Hero of the Soviet Union, Lieutenant Colonel Georgy Lenev. The parade was closed by a column of the Soviet armor, with the latest heavy tanks IS-3 ("Joseph Stalin") marching.
#WeWereAllies
💬 In his welcoming speech to the participants of the parade, Marshal Zhukov paid tribute to the exploits of the Soviet and Allied forces in the struggle for victory over Nazi Germany:
Fighting friends, comrades in arms, soldiers, officers and generals... <...> The Second World War ended with a decisive and powerful strike from the great allied powers. Our victory is a triumph of an unprecedented military partnership of democratic states.
From now on, people <...> will be eternally grateful to the great nations of America, England, the Soviet Union, the French Republic and China, to their valiant soldiers who, in the difficult time of military trials, gave each other helping hands, united to win a victory over a common enemy, to win the long-awaited peace on Earth.
#Victory80#WeRemember
Benito Mussolini, Italy’s former dictator, was captured on 27 April 1945 near Lake Como while trying to escape to Switzerland with Clara Petacci. They were executed on 28 April 1945 by Italian partisans. Their bodies were taken to Milan and displayed in Piazzale Loreto, where they were hung upside down. Mussolini was first buried in an unmarked grave, then later reburied in 1957 in Predappio, his hometown.
📜⚔️🇮🇹
Warning! Some of the images in the linked articles are shocking.
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🎗About the "Immortal Regiment" march at the Russian Embassy in China
On May 9, the "Immortal Regiment" international patriotic march took place on the premises of the diplomatic mission. The march was led by Russian Ambassador Igor Morgulov and Belarusian Ambassador Alexander Chervyakov.
More than 800 people came to honor the memory of Soviet soldiers: diplomatic mission staff and their families, Russian students studying in Beijing, compatriots living there, and citizens of CIS countries and China.
To the accompaniment of wartime songs, participants marched with portraits of their family and friends—those who fought on the fronts of the Great Patriotic War, as well as Soviet volunteer pilots who helped the Chinese people in the War of Resistance Against Japanese Militarism.
We express our sincere gratitude to everyone who took part in the event.
#Victory81#VictoryDay
#PeaceSavedSovietSoldier
#WeRemember
#Victory81
🌟 On May 9, 1945, at 0:43 am Moscow time (May 8, 22:43 CET), the was signed in Karlshorst, Berlin.
That heralded the #GreatVictory of the Soviet people over the Nazi Reich, marking the final end of #WWII on European ToO, and the ultimate collapse of Hitler's fascism.
The was accepted by Marshal Georgy Zhukov on behalf of the Soviet Union and Deputy Commander of the Allied forces Marshal Arthur Tedder on behalf of the Western Allies. From the German side, the Instrument was signed by Field Marshal Wilhelm Keitel, Colonel General Hans-Jurgen Stumpff, & Admiral Hans-Georg von Friedeburg.
🎙 At 2:30 am of May 9, in Moscow, newscaster YuryLevitan announced the text of the German Instrument of Surrender to the people of the Soviet Union, proclaiming May 9 as Victory Day:
The Great Patriotic War, which the Soviet people waged against the Nazi invaders, has been victoriously concluded.
Fascist Germany has been crushed.
Eternal glory to the Heroes who fell fighting for the freedom and independence of our Motherland. <...>
🖋 From the memoirs by military correspondent Konstantin Simonov:
Zhukov stands up and says:
The German delegation may leave the hall. The Germans stand up. Keitel… turns on his heel and leaves. And instantly, all tension in the room relaxes, and everyone exhales in unison.
The act of surrender has been signed, and the war is over.
***
Nazi Germany'sfinal & unconditional surrenderto the Allies in Karlshorst was preceded by several local capitulations of the Nazi troops along various frontlines. Moreover, in April 1945, certain Nazi military leaders, who were aware that the Third Reich’s collapse was imminent, fearing justice for their crimes, sought secret talkswith US-UK command, trying to divide the Allied anti-Hitler coalition.
Desperate to surrender to the Western allies, on May 5, the Nazi delegation arrived in the French city of Reims, where the headquarters of the Allied command was located. There, on May 7, the Act of Military Surrender was signed. However, article 4 of the document did not rule out the signing of another, definitive act: “This act of military surrender… will be superseded by any general instrument of surrender… applicable to Germany and the German troops as a whole.”
Due to that, the Soviet leadership considered the Reims document only as a preliminary document, believing that the official surrender of the Nazis had to be ensured in Berlin — the city where the Nazi aggression originated from.
At the Soviet government’s request, the main and final ceremony of surrender took place. On the night of May 9, the German Instrument of Surrender was signed in Karlshorst. The Nazi government was dissolved. The defeated German troops laid down arms.
#WW2in Europe was finally over. It ended with the greatest triumph of the Soviet people.
Nazism was defeated.
The Reich was no more.
💬 Russian MFA Spokeswoman MariaZakharova(excerpt from a, May 7, 2026):
This May 9 marks the 81st Anniversary of defeating Nazi Germany. This day is a celebration of triumph of life, freedom, and independence for all the peoples of the post-Soviet countries.
<...> of us was meant to survive. But we did survive because our forefathers prevailed.
The cost of our common Victory — 27 million lives of our compatriots, representatives of all the peoples and republics of the Soviet Union, who died defending our Motherland <...>
Twenty-seven million lives lost.
Those who died in captivity, in ghettos, were taken into slavery, died of starvation, or fell victim to other acts of genocide.
We remember them all. And we will keep their memory alive.
#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
Продолжение истории: «Папина авторучка», холст, акрил, 150х55, Doping Pong, 2023
«Папа, у меня все хорошо, но как можно скорее пришли мне свою авторучку! Ту самую, с женщиной…» - написал мальчик в записке, которую передал в Ленинград с первой же оказией.
Ручка была необходима как физическое доказательство реальности всех тех историй о необычайном мире запредельного - о загранице и зарубежной массовой культуре - которыми щедро делился наш герой с соседями по палате после отбоя.
О космической саге про рыцарей джедаев, странствующих по далеким галактикам, о музыкантах группы, подлинных лиц которых никто не видел, об удивительном актере, боевым навыкам которого нет равных… и многом другом, упоительно прекрасном и недоступном. И в ожидании послания от отца он рисовал в воображении, как изумятся его товарищи, увидев своими глазами волшебную авторучку.
Но папа просьбу своего отпрыска оставил без ответа…
More info: лот 11
https://vladey.net/ru/lot/10722
#dopingpong#kiss#brucelee#kawasaki#starwars#ussr#retro
🎖 On January 18, 1943, the Red Army broke the siege of Leningrad during the operation 'Iskra'.
The blockade of our Northern capital by the Nazis lasted for 872 days, having claimed the lives of around 1 million people, including more than 600'000 — children, women, seniors, and the fighters wounded and crippled at the frontline — who died of starvation.
Alongside German troops, military units from European countries conquered by Hitler participated in the Siege of Leningrad — the 'Norway', 'the Netherlands' and 'Flanders' legions, as well as the Spanish infantry division. From the Narva direction, Baltic units — Latvian and Estonian battalions — were kept in reserve by the Nazis. From the north, the Finnish army besieged Leningrad and also shelled the city with its artillery.
The Nazi command's orders were absolutely clear: to block the city, shoot anyone crossing the front line, and bring about the total destruction of the city's population.
❗️But Leningrad endured and never ever gave up fighting.
Most of that time communication with Leningrad was almost only possible by air or through the only available transport artery across Lake Ladoga that became known as the 'Road of Life'.
The Soviet forces repeatedly tried to break the siege, finally succeeding on January 18, 1943, during the operation 'Iskra'. To liberate the besieged city, it was decided to launch the main strikes near Shlisselburg, in the narrowest part of the Nazi defence lines adjoining Lake Ladoga.
⚔️ The Red Army broke the siege on January 18. A narrow corridor only 11 km wide opened on the southern shore of Ladoga for supplies and evacuation. The enemy was thrown 10−12 km away from the southern part of the Ladoga sector of the frontline.
After 16 months of heroic fight against Hitler’s invaders, the second most significant city of the Soviet Union regained a reliable land-based connection with the Motherland. Three weeks after the siege was broken, a railway was built to carry the first trains with food supplies and munitions. Electricity supply improved.
The breaking of the siege of Leningrad became a radical turning point in the battles in the northwestern sector of the Soviet-German front. The plans of Hitler’s command to take Leningrad by storm were completely disrupted. The threat of the Wehrmacht joining forces with the Finnish army to block the city was completely removed.
✍️ On the occasion of breaking the siege the city, US President Franklin D. Roosevelt sent a special letter on behalf of all Americans to Leningrad residents.
It read, in part:
In the name of the people of the United States of America, I present this scroll to the City of Leningrad as a memorial to its gallant soldiers and its loyal men, women and children who, isolated from the rest of their nation by the invader and despite constant bombardment and untold sufferings from cold, hunger and sickness, successfully defended their beloved city throughout the critical period from September 8, 1941 to January 18, 1943, and thus symbolized the undaunted spirit of the peoples of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics and of all the nations of the world resisting forces of aggression.
***
#Victory81
🌟 The blockade was finally lifted on January 27, 1944, during the Leningrad–Novgorod Offensive.
#NoStatuteOfLimitation: In 2022, at the request of the Prosecutor General’s Office of Russia, the Saint Petersburg City Court officially recognised the actions of the Nazi Germany's occupant troops — along with their collaborators, including armed units formed in Belgium, Italy, Spain, the Netherlands, Norway, and Finland, as well as individual volunteers from Austria, Latvia, Poland, France, and Czechoslovakia — as a war crime, a crime against humanity, and an ACTOFGENOCIDE against national and ethnic groups representing the population of the Soviet Union.
#WeRemember#LestWeForget
@RusEmbMalta Press Release
🇷🇺 Ahead of the Victory Day anniversary, we would like to once again draw attention to the growing challenges related to the distortion of the history of World War II and the glorification of Nazism.
In recent years, a troubling trend of so-called “historical aggression” has become increasingly evident – deliberate attempts to rewrite history for political purposes. In a number of countries, we are witnessing the dismantling and desecration of monuments to those who fought against Nazism, while marches of former SS members and their supporters take place, and new memorials are erected in honor of those associated with racist ideologies. Such developments cannot but cause serious concern ⚠️
The Russian Federation consistently treats the fight against the glorification of Nazism, neo-Nazism, racism, xenophobia, and the falsification of history as a key priority of its international human rights agenda. This work is carried out systematically, including within multilateral frameworks
Since 2005, Russia has annually introduced at the UN General Assembly the resolution “Combating glorification of Nazism…”. The latest resolution, adopted on 15 December 2025, was supported by 119 states, with 43 countries co-sponsoring it. Despite political pressure and attempts to undermine the initiative, the voting results clearly demonstrate that the majority of the international community rejects efforts to revise the outcomes of World War II and remains committed to the principles of the UN Charter and the Nuremberg Tribunal.
At the same time, a special commemorative meeting of the UN General Assembly held on 7 May 2025, initiated by Russia and supported by 53 states, highlighted the continued relevance of preserving historical truth and recognizing the decisive contribution of the Soviet people to the Victory.
Russia firmly condemns any manifestations of the glorification of Nazism and attempts to distort historical facts. Preserving the memory of World War II is not only about the past – it is a cornerstone of international stability and a safeguard against repeating the tragedies of history.
🤝 Today, it is essential to consolidate international efforts to prevent the glorification of Nazism, counter historical revisionism, and preserve an objective understanding of World War II as a foundation for peace, security, and mutual respect among nations.
#VictoryDay#WWII#NoToNazism#StopFalsification
#Victory80
🎥Eternal Heroes — an RT Doc Film.
Synopsis: The documentary pays tribute to those who defended the USSR against fascist invaders during World War II.
The film tells the stories of some of the last surviving veterans of the Great Patriotic War, ordinary Soviet citizens, who became heroes in the fight against Nazism.
Among them:
🏅 103-year-old Valentina Minaeva, a surgical nurse who served in three wars and saved hundreds of lives;
🏅 100-year-old Vitaly Kolesov, an artillery commander who survived the horrors of the war, including the Battle of Stalingrad;
🏅 98-year-old Nikolay Teplotanskikh, a volunteer tank driver who repeatedly rescued wounded comrades and miraculously survived himself.
With each passing year, the number of veterans diminishes, with many now over 100 years old. Yet, their memories of wartime trials remain vivid.
Witness the poignant recollections of those who lived through the horrors of war.
#TheSovietSoldierSavedTheWorld
#LestWeForget
🎙Statement by Russia's Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov at the G20 Foreign Ministers’ Meetingon the sidelines of the High-Level Week of the 80th Session of the UN General Assembly (New York, September 25, 2025)
💬 Sergey Lavrov: Mr Chairman,
I express my gratitude for this initiative, which is becoming a tradition – to conduct G20 ministerial meetings on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly.
Our meeting is taking place in the year of two landmark anniversaries.
#Victory80#UN80
80 years ago – with my country playing a pivotal role – German Nazism and Japanese militarism were defeated, with the People’s Republic of China making a particularly significant contribution to overcoming the latter.
This Victory enabled the establishment of the United Nations, whose founding fathers charged it with the mission to “save succeeding generations from the scourge of war” and “promote social progress.” Reliance on the principles enshrined in the UN Charter in their entirety, comprehensiveness, and interrelationship guarantees peaceful, progressive development of all States without exception – both large and small.
☝️ Refusal to adhere to the principles of the Charter reveals neo-colonial ambitions, fuelling global instability and multiplying regional conflicts.
For decades, numerous crises in Africa – many inherited from colonial times, when borders were drawn literally with a ruler and without regard for ethno-religious factors – have remained unresolved.
Another glaring example is the crisis in Ukraine, provoked by the West, which NATO and the EU have transformed into a direct war against my country, actively participating in it.
The escalation in the Middle East also fits this pattern. The unprecedented and horrific humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza has already claimed 65'000 lives. Some UN staff working in the region cite estimates suggesting casualties may be ten times higher. None of Israel’s neighbours can feel secure. We witness this daily.
In turn, unilateral economic sanctions – grossly violating the UN Charter – tariff wars, outright blackmail of international trade participants, and brazen breaches of WTO rules not only strike at the most vulnerable and unprotected groups of population but also pose a serious threat to the global economy through, inter alia, market fragmentation and supply chain disruptions.
This December we will mark the 65th anniversary of the UN General Assembly’s adoption of the Declaration on the Granting of Independence to Colonial Countries and Peoples. Clearly, genuine democratisation of the world order and global economic relations would serve humanity’s interests.
The steadily increasing role and importance of such multilateral global governance structures as #BRICS and the #SCO signify the formation of a multipolar world and exemplify equitable diplomacy.
Even before its expansion, BRICS nations’ share of global GDP by purchasing power parity was twice that of the G7. At the BRICS Summit in Kazan in October 2024, specific proposals were put forward to establish new settlement infrastructure and independent exchange and investment mechanisms. Work has commenced on establishing the SCO development bank. These initiatives should enhance economic cooperation among the Global Majority nations, shielding them from unfair competition.
I would like to emphasise the vast potential of the G20. Its composition reflects contemporary geopolitical realities, encompassing both dynamic emerging centres of growth and influence, including BRICS states, and G7 countries. We urge the swift implementation of prior G20 agreements to amplify the roles of Global South and East nations in the IMF and World Bank, proportionate to their actual weight in global economy and finance.
<...>
We maintain that the G20 must – as originally intended – focus on economic issues, avoiding entanglement in military and political agendas to the detriment of the prerogatives of the United Nations and its Security Council.
🎖 On January 18, 1943, the Red Army broke the siege of Leningrad during the operation 'Iskra'.
The blockade of our Northern capital by the Nazis lasted for 872 days, having claimed the lives of around 1 million people, including more than 600'000 — children, women, seniors, and the fighters wounded and crippled at the frontline — who died of starvation.
Alongside German troops, military units from European countries conquered by Hitler participated in the Siege of Leningrad — the 'Norway', 'the Netherlands' and 'Flanders' legions, as well as the Spanish infantry division. From the Narva direction, Baltic units — Latvian and Estonian battalions — were kept in reserve by the Nazis. From the north, the Finnish army besieged Leningrad and also shelled the city with its artillery.
The Nazi command's orders were absolutely clear: to block the city, shoot anyone crossing the front line, and bring about the total destruction of the city's population.
❗️But Leningrad endured and never ever gave up fighting.
Most of that time communication with Leningrad was almost only possible by air or through the only available transport artery across Lake Ladoga that became known as the 'Road of Life'.
The Soviet forces repeatedly tried to break the siege, finally succeeding on January 18, 1943, during the operation 'Iskra'. To liberate the besieged city, it was decided to launch the main strikes near Shlisselburg, in the narrowest part of the Nazi defence lines adjoining Lake Ladoga.
⚔️ The Red Army broke the siege on January 18. A narrow corridor only 11 km wide opened on the southern shore of Ladoga for supplies and evacuation. The enemy was thrown 10−12 km away from the southern part of the Ladoga sector of the frontline.
After 16 months of heroic fight against Hitler’s invaders, the second most significant city of the Soviet Union regained a reliable land-based connection with the Motherland. Three weeks after the siege was broken, a railway was built to carry the first trains with food supplies and munitions. Electricity supply improved.
The breaking of the siege of Leningrad became a radical turning point in the battles in the northwestern sector of the Soviet-German front. The plans of Hitler’s command to take Leningrad by storm were completely disrupted. The threat of the Wehrmacht joining forces with the Finnish army to block the city was completely removed.
✍️ On the occasion of breaking the siege the city, US President Franklin D. Roosevelt sent a special letter on behalf of all Americans to Leningrad residents.
It read, in part:
In the name of the people of the United States of America, I present this scroll to the City of Leningrad as a memorial to its gallant soldiers and its loyal men, women and children who, isolated from the rest of their nation by the invader and despite constant bombardment and untold sufferings from cold, hunger and sickness, successfully defended their beloved city throughout the critical period from September 8, 1941 to January 18, 1943, and thus symbolized the undaunted spirit of the peoples of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics and of all the nations of the world resisting forces of aggression.
***
#Victory81
🌟 The blockade was finally lifted on January 27, 1944, during the Leningrad–Novgorod Offensive.
#NoStatuteOfLimitation: In 2022, at the request of the Prosecutor General’s Office of Russia, the Saint Petersburg City Court officially recognised the actions of the Nazi Germany's occupant troops — along with their collaborators, including armed units formed in Belgium, Italy, Spain, the Netherlands, Norway, and Finland, as well as individual volunteers from Austria, Latvia, Poland, France, and Czechoslovakia — as a war crime, a crime against humanity, and an ACT OF GENOCIDE against national and ethnic groups representing the population of the Soviet Union.
#WeRemember#LestWeForget