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Unprecedented crowds flock to Saur Grave height in Donbass for Victory Day anniversary (video)

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So many people — there must have been far more than 5000 people — standing for freedom. They paid a horrible price during the Great Patriotic War and also now.

Meanwhile in America, how many knew it was Victory Day or what that meant?

Posted on Fort Russ

May 8, 2015

Locals came out in unprecedented numbers (estimated at 5 thousand) to Saur Grave (“Saur Mogila”) on May 8 on the eve of V-day anniversary to commemorate those lost in WWII battles and in fierce battles between Novorossia militia and Ukrainian forces for this strategic height just past year.

Transcript of President Vladimir Putin’s Victory Day speech: 70th Anniversary of “Victory in the Great Patriotic War”

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Speech at military parade on Red Square in Moscow to mark the 70th anniversary of Victory in the 1941–1945 Great Patriotic War.

Dear veterans,

Distinguished guests,

Comrade soldiers and seamen, sergeants and sergeant majors, midshipmen and warrant officers,

Comrade officers, generals and admirals,

I congratulate you all on the 70th Anniversary of Victory in the Great Patriotic War!

Today, when we mark this sacred anniversary, we once again appreciate the enormous scale of Victory over Nazism. We are proud that it was our fathers and grandfathers who succeeded in prevailing over, smashing and destroying that dark force.

Hitler’s reckless adventure became a tough lesson for the entire world community. At that time, in the 1930s, the enlightened Europe failed to see the deadly threat in the Nazi ideology.

Today, seventy years later, the history calls again to our wisdom and vigilance. We must not forget that the ideas of racial supremacy and exclusiveness had provoked the bloodiest war ever. The war affected almost 80 percent of the world population. Many European nations were enslaved and occupied.

The Soviet Union bore the brunt of the enemy’s attacks. The elite Nazi forces were brought to bear on it. All their military power was concentrated against it. And all major decisive battles of World War II, in terms of military power and equipment involved, had been waged there.

And it is no surprise that it was the Red Army that, by taking Berlin in a crushing attack, hit the final blow to Hitler’s Germany finishing the war.

Our entire multi-ethnic nation rose to fight for our Motherland’s freedom. Everyone bore the severe burden of the war. Together, our people made an immortal exploit to save the country. They predetermined the outcome of World War II. They liberated European nations from the Nazis.

Veterans of the Great Patriotic War, wherever they live today, should know that here, in Russia, we highly value their fortitude, courage and dedication to frontline brotherhood.

Dear friends,

The Great Victory will always remain a heroic pinnacle in the history of our country. But we also pay tribute to our allies in the anti-Hitler coalition.

We are grateful to the peoples of Great Britain, France and the United States of America for their contribution to the Victory. We are thankful to the anti-fascists of various countries who selflessly fought the enemy as guerrillas and members of the underground resistance, including in Germany itself.

We remember the historical meeting on the Elbe, and the trust and unity that became our common legacy and an example of unification of peoples – for the sake of peace and stability.

It is precisely these values that became the foundation of the post-war world order. The United Nations came into existence. And the system of the modern international law has emerged.

These institutions have proved in practice their effectiveness in resolving disputes and conflicts.

However, in the last decades, the basic principles of international cooperation have come to be increasingly ignored. These are the principles that have been hard won by mankind as a result of the ordeal of the war.

We saw attempts to establish a unipolar world. We see the strong-arm block thinking gaining momentum. All that undermines sustainable global development.

The creation of a system of equal security for all states should become our common task. Such system should be an adequate match to modern threats, and it should rest on a regional and global non-block basis. Only then will we be able to ensure peace and tranquillity on the planet.

Dear friends,

We welcome today all our foreign guests while expressing a particular gratitude to the representatives of the countries that fought against Nazism and Japanese militarism.

Besides the Russian servicemen, parade units of ten other states will march through the Red Square as well. These include soldiers from Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan. Their forefathers fought shoulder to shoulder both at the front and in the rear.

These also include servicemen from China, which, just like the Soviet Union, lost many millions of people in this war. China was also the main front in the fight against militarism in Asia.

Indian soldiers fought courageously against the Nazis as well.

Serbian troops also offered strong and relentless resistance to the fascists.

Throughout the war our country received strong support from Mongolia.

These parade ranks include grandsons and great-grandsons of the war generation. The Victory Day is our common holiday. The Great Patriotic War was in fact the battle for the future of the entire humanity.

Our fathers and grandfathers lived through unbearable sufferings, hardships and losses. They worked till exhaustion, at the limit of human capacity. They fought even unto death. They proved the example of honour and true patriotism.

We pay tribute to all those who fought to the bitter for every street, every house and every frontier of our Motherland. We bow to those who perished in severe battles near Moscow and Stalingrad, at the Kursk Bulge and on the Dnieper.

We bow to those who died from famine and cold in the unconquered Leningrad, to those who were tortured to death in concentration camps, in captivity and under occupation.

We bow in loving memory of sons, daughters, fathers, mothers, grandfathers, husbands, wives, brothers, sisters, comrades-in-arms, relatives and friends – all those who never came back from war, all those who are no longer with us.

A minute of silence is announced.

Minute of silence.

Dear veterans,

You are the main heroes of the Great Victory Day. Your feat predestined peace and decent life for many generations. It made it possible for them to create and move forward fearlessly.

And today your children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren live up to the highest standards that you set. They work for the sake of their country’s present and future. They serve their Fatherland with devotion. They respond to complex challenges of the time with honour. They guarantee the successful development, might and prosperity of our Motherland, our Russia!

Long live the victorious people!

Happy holiday!

Congratulations on the Victory Day!

Hooray!

http://en.kremlin.ru/events/president/transcripts/49438

http://www.globalresearch.ca/transcript-of-russias-president-vladimir-putins-v-day-speech-70th-anniversary-of-victory-in-the-great-patriotic-war/5448502

On this May 9, the 70th anniversary of the defeat of Nazi Germany

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Congratulations and thank you to Russia and all the nations of the former Soviet Union for your incredible sacrifice and your leadership role in defeating Nazi Germany.

The suffering that you endured makes this day especially sacred.

We must never forget. We must always honor your sacrifices and the many who lost their lives. We must always remember.

And to all the veterans and civilians from many countries that fought to end this horrible reign of terror, thank you. To all those who died, may we always remember.

May all of us work together for peace and to insure that never again does this happen.

A warning from the generals of the former GDR: “Haven’t the recent US/NATO wars brought enough grief ?”

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Posted on Fort Russ

Die Junge Welt May 6, 2015
May 7, 2015
Translated from German by Tom Winter
Translator’s note: News of this warning from the generals of the former DDR has been all over the European press. Here is the actual document.
Documented: The leadership of the former East German Forces warns of war and calls for cooperation rather than confrontation with Russia

As military personnel who held responsible positions in the DDR armed forces, we have turned to the German public in great concern over the maintenance of peace and the survival of civilization in Europe.
In the years of the Cold War, in which we lived through long stretches of confrontation and militarization right up to the edge of open conflict, we employed our military expertise for the maintenance of peace and the protection of our socialist German Democratic Republic. The National People’s Army was not involved for a single day in armed conflict, and in the events of 1989-90 it played a leading role in seeing to it that no arms came into use. Peace was always the number one maxim of our dealings. And that is why we firmly oppose using the military factor as an instrument of policy. Experience makes clear that the burning questions of our time are not to be solved by military means.
It is worth remembering that the Soviet Army bore the brunt of the demolition of fascism in the Second World War. Alone 27 million Soviet citizens gave their lives for this historic victory. We owe them, and the allies, our gratitude here on this 70th anniversary of the liberation.
Now we note that war has again become mankind’s constant companion. The new world order run by the US and her allies has in recent times led to wars in Yugoslavia, Afghanistan, Iraq, Yemen and Sudan, in Libya and Somalia. About two million people are victims of these wars, and millions have become refugees.

Now the vents of war have reached Europe. It is plain to see that the US strategy is to eliminate Russia as a competitor and to weaken the EU. In recent years NATO has crept ever closer to Russia’s borders. With the attempt to put Ukraine into NATO, the cordon sanitaire would be locked in from the Baltic States to the Black Sea, in order to isolate Russia from the rest of Europe. By the American planning, any German-Russian alliance would be difficult or impossible.
In order to influence the public in this direction, an unprecedented media campaign is in full swing, where the incorrigible pols and the corrupt journalists are beating the drums of war. The Federal Republic of Germany, in this heated-up atmosphere ought to be playing a role for the advancement of peace. Germany’s geopolitical placement and its historical experience and the objective interests of her people all demand this, just the contrary to the bundespresident’s calls towards greater military responsibility, and the war hysteria and russophobia stirred up by the media.
Putting the spurs to the militarization of eastern Europe is not playing with fire, it is playing with war!
With awareness of the destructive nature of modern war and in fulfillment of our responsibilities as citizens, we say in plain clarity: here, already, there begins a crime against humanity.
Are the many dead of the Second World War, the huge destruction throughout all Europe, the refugee streams and the endless sorrow of humanity forgotten already? Haven’t the newest wars of the US and NATO brought enough grief ? Haven’t they already demanded enough human life? 
Don’t we understand what a military conflict in the densely populated continent of Europe would mean? Here would come warplanes in their hundreds, armed drones laden with bombs and rockets, thousands of tanks and armored vehicles, artillery systems. In the North Sea, the Baltic Sea, the Black Sea the most modern warships would fight, and, waiting in the wings, atomic bombs.
There would be no distinction of front and not-front. Mothers, by the million would mourn their children and their husbands, their fathers, their brothers. The landscape of Europe would be that of a wasteland.
Should it come to this? No, a thousand times, NO!

Therefore we turn to the German public:

Any such scenario must get stopped.

We don’t need any rhetoric of war, we need instead polemics of peace.

We don’t need any missions abroad for the Bundeswehr, and we don’t need any EU Army.

We don’t need more funding for military goals; we need funding for social needs and humanitarian needs.

We don’t need any war fever against Russia; we need more mutual understanding, coexistence and neighborliness.

We don’t need any military dependence on the US; we need our own answerability for peace.

Instead of a “NATO Rapid Reaction Force” on the eastern borders, we need more tourism, youth exchanges, and steps toward peace with our neighbors to the east.

We need a peaceful Germany in a peaceful Europe.

May our children, our grandchildren, our great grandchildren, remember us this way.

Because we know all too well what war means, we raise our voice against the war; we raise our voice for peace.

Signed:
Armeegeneral a.D. Heinz Keßler
Admiral a.D. Theodor Hoffmann
Die Generaloberste a.D. Horst Stechbarth; Fritz Streletz; Fritz Peter
Die Generalleutnante a.D. Klaus Baarß; Ulrich Bethmann; Max Butzlaff; Manfred Gehmert; Manfred Grätz; Wolfgang Kaiser; Gerhard Kunze; Gerhard Link; Wolfgang Neidhardt; Walter Paduch; Werner Rothe; Artur Seefeldt; Horst Skerra; Wolfgang Steger; Horst Sylla; Ehrenfried Ullmann; Alfred Vogel; Manfred Volland; Horst Zander
http://www.fortruss.blogspot.com/2015/05/a-warning-from-generals-of-former-gdr.html

US State Department attacks the St. George ribbon in Kazakhstan and other former Soviet republics

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Posted on Fort Russ

May 5, 2015

Regnum
Translated by Kristina Rus
Opponents and defenders of St. George ribbon clash in Kazakhstan

Prime Minister of Kazakhstan Karim Masimov will receive more than a thousand signatures of citizens who do not agree with the replacement of St. George ribbon for stripes with colors of the republican flag.

The campaign against the St. George ribbon was launched in the Republic in April, when a representative of the “Liberty” movement Botagoz Zarykhankyzy called the golden-black ribbon “a symbol of colonization of Kazakhstan in the period of Tsarist Russia” on air of the Kazakh edition of radio “Svoboda” (“Liberty” or “Freedom”). The “civil activists” sent a letter to the akim (mayor) of the city Almaty, Akhmetzhan Yesimov, calling to replace the unwanted symbol with blue and white stripes, and distribute them to the citizens on the streets on the eve of May 9 anniversary celebration.

The letter was signed by only 20 people, but the “gesture” of Kazakh opposition has made a lot of noise — the Russian media immediately found the main “masterminds”. Earlier REGNUM explicitly named the promoters of the idea – the U.S. Department, recalling the direct financing by the Americans of radio “Svoboda”. In the campaign for a ban on the traditional symbols the “civil activists” did not hesitate to involve school age children.

See also: The U.S. State Department promotes the ban of St. George ribbon in Kazakhstan http://www.regnum.ru/news/polit/1914351.html

The response of the defenders of St .George ribbon was a counter measure to collect signatures. A letter to the Prime Minister of Kazakhstan Karim Massimov was signed by more than 1,000 people. Authors of the appeal recalled that “St. George ribbon is a symbol of remembrance of the price of Victory in the most terrible war of the last century”, and reminds the new generations, “whose beneficiaries we are, what and who we should be proud of and whom we should remember.”

Social activists emphasize that the more extensive use of this symbol in Kazakhstan is “a response to an increasingly powerful attempts to distort the history of the Great Patriotic War and to split the Kazakh society”. The patriots say that “the public is in a “St. George mood, but not everyone understands the real meaning of what is happening”. And draw parallels with the situation in neighboring Ukraine where it all began “with attempts to insult or distort the memory of the great Victory of the Soviet Union over the Nazi invaders”. In the end, the statement says, “such actions have led to the exile of the legally elected government, the murder by pro-fascist forces and the Nazi wing of peaceful citizens who attempted to express an alternative opinion, and plunging the country into the chaos of civil war and devastation”.

The authors of the letter asked Karim Massimov to “take measures to prevent the desecration of the memory of the Great Victory and a cultivation of division and antagonism in society.” Karim Masimov was reminded about the April incident with the beating of a 67-year-old granddaughter of the hero of Soviet Union, Ivan Panfilov — Aigul Baikadamova. In the media and in social networks there was a version about possible involvement in the beating of a woman of her opponents in the online discussion about the use of St. George ribbons. Baikadamova on her page on Facebook made a post calling the attempts to substitute the symbols of Victory and rewrite the pages of history of the Great Patriotic war – an “attack on the sacred” and the desire “for PR and cheap fame”.

Collected in defense of St. George ribbon signatures will be taken to Astana and passed to the Prime Minister.

Note, the anti-St. George initiative in Kazakhstan is not unique. Reports about the rejection of traditional symbols in post-Soviet republics poured from the horn of plenty long before the anniversary of May 9. In Belarus some used a red-green ribbon as a symbol of Victory Day last May 9, decorated with apple blossom. There was no official ban on the St. George ribbon by Belarussian authorities, but here the Belarussian opposition is also active in setting the tone. The activists are calling on the authorities to ban the symbol of “Russian aggression” in Southeast Ukraine, and proposed that Belarussians use other national symbols on Victory day.

Kyrgyzstan has also decided to abandon the ribbons. According to a statement by the vice-mayor of Bishkek, Aigul Ryskulova, “this year we want to use the colors of the Kyrgyz flag — red and yellow. We called it “the ribbon of Victory”. According to one authoritative Kyrgyz news agency, the order to abandon St. George ribbons came to the mayor’s office of Bishkek from office of the President of Kyrgyzstan, Almazbek Atambayev. The presidential press service denied this information, but it should be noted that the decision on red-yellow ribbons came not from the street, but was adopted by the authorities of Bishkek. A number of experts classify this as a “sabotage of the officially declared line of rapprochement with Russia,” paying attention to the presence of about 16 thousand Western NGOs, operating on the territory of the republic, 200 of which are “working at full capacity of their ability.” And at the same time, noting the lack of adequate control of activities of these organizations from the leadership of the country, and a general pro-Western attitude of a large part of the Kyrgyz elite.

Additionally, tensions around the symbolism of the celebration of the 70th anniversary of Victory Day in a Great Patriotic War on the eve of May 9 also began in Russia — the public protested online against the gradual displacement of traditional Soviet symbols by a “faded remake”. Especially controversial is the new logo with a white dove on a blue background and a small strip of St. George ribbon in the upper right corner, which apparently was developed by the office of the press service and information of the President of the Russian Federation. Many drew attention to the complete lack of similarity with the heroic Victory of the Soviet people over fascism, calling the logo “absolutely toothless and empty”, “ideological sabotage,” an attempt “to steal the country’s history, replacing the symbols of Victory.” Online users opened the electronic collection of signatures for a petition addressed to the President of Russia, Vladimir Putin, urging him to keep the Red banner and a red star as immutable symbols of Victory in the Great Patriotic war.

KR: It looks like the St. George ribbon is gaining a new meaning – as a symbol against US imperialism

http://www.fortruss.blogspot.com/2015/05/us-state-department-attacks-st-george.html

The Victory banner is unfurled at the top of Mount Elbrus

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From Fort Russ

March 6th, 2015
– From RT Russia and Novorosinform – translated by Joaquin Flores –


In honor of the 70th anniversary of victory in great Patriotic war, members of the mountain survival training Center, ФАУ МО РФ ЦСКА, made an ascent to the top of mount Elbrus and deployed a copy of the Victory banner.

Mount Elbrus is a dormant volcano located in the western Caucasus mountains, in Kabardino-Balkaria and Karachay–Cherkessia of Russia, near the border with Georgia. Mt. Elbrus’s peak is the highest in the Caucasus Mountains and in Europe, and it is the tenth most prominent in the world.

Elbrus stands 20 km (12 mi) north of the main range of the Greater Caucasus and 65 km (40 mi) south-southwest of the Russian town of Kislovodsk. Its permanent icecap feeds 22 glaciers, which in turn give rise to the Baksan, Kuban, and Malka Rivers.

http://www.fortruss.blogspot.com/2015/05/the-victory-banner-is-unfurled-at-top.html

 

Russian diaspora in Canada to celebrate Victory Day on May 9

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Posted on Sputnik News, May 9, 2015

Spokesman for the Russian embassy in Canada said that Canadian capital Ottawa and the most populous city of the country Toronto will hold events dedicated to the 70th anniversary of Nazi defeat in the World War II on May 9.

WASHINGTON (Sputnik) – Canadian capital Ottawa and the most populous city of the country Toronto will hold events dedicated to the 70th anniversary of Nazi defeat in the World War II on May 9, a spokesman for the Russian embassy in Canada said Friday.

“We will honor our veterans who live in Ottawa, at a ceremonial reception at the embassy on May 9, there are not so many of them, only 15 people,” Kirill Kalinin said.

Officials from the embassies of China, Germany and countries of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) will participate in the reception, according to the spokesman. Canadian officials have also been invited, although they have not confirmed their participation.

Russian embassy workers and Russian nationals plan to visit Canadian War Museum in Ottawa and lay flowers at the T-34 tank which is a part of museum’s exposition.

Toronto’s initiative group will hold a parade of World War II veterans from the former Soviet Union countries and from allied nations, workers of the rear, survivors of the siege of Leningrad (modern St. Petersburg) and the Holocaust. The group has also organized an event in a city park where everyone will be able to meet veterans. Representatives of the local authorities and organizations are expected to congratulate veterans.

Montreal’s initiative group plans to fly a plane with a 70-meter (229-foot) St. George ribbon that symbolizes the Soviet victory over Nazi Germany. The Montreal group said, they have already handed out 6,000 ribbons preparing for the Victory Day.

On May 9, extensive events are planned in Russia and other former Soviet states to celebrate the 70th anniversary of Nazi Germany’s capitulation.

http://sputniknews.com/us/20150509/1021906488.html

The role of Soviet soldiers is something we tend to forget – interview with Dutch researcher

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From Sputnik News, May 8, 2015
by Svetlana Ekimenko

Remco Reiding is a Dutch writer and a researcher who has covered the topic of Soviet graves abroad during his decades-long career. He’s the author of the book “Child in the Field of Honor”, which refers to a World War II-era Dutch concentration camp where 101 Soviet prisoners of war were sent to die.

The world is celebrating the 70th anniversary of the victory of the allied forces in World War II. And this means a lot especially for Russian people. This is a very special day…

Remco Reiding: Absolutely, and I has everything to do with more than 26 million of war victims in the former Soviet Union, something we tend to forget in the West, because we were liberated by Americans, Canadians, British, so the role of the Soviet Union is sometimes forgotten. But that is one of the reasons I think it’s very important that there is a book now about Soviet soldiers in this case Soviet soldiers buried in the Netherlands.

Why “Field of Honor”? Of course people don’t know what this refers to.

Remco Reiding: It’s a cemetery, where 865 Soviet war victims have been buried in the center of the Netherlands. And it was created because during the war in this town, my home town of Amersfoort there was a concentration camp where 101 soviet soldiers were sent to. These were mostly soldiers from Uzbekistan, so they had Asiatic look, they were very poorly dressed, they didn’t get any food during transport to this camp in the Netherlands and their fate in the camp was also terrible – all 101 died in Amersfoort. And the idea then was that we as Dutch people, as you could say brotherly, friendly people to the Germans, from the same branch of peoples. And they had that crazy idea that the Dutch would choose the German side, if we would see what kind of ‘Unter-menschen’ a kind of lower kind of people Soviet soldiers were. And this propaganda was actually meant to make us change sides and fight against Bolshevism.

Do we know at what stage of the war, what year concentration camp was set up there?

Remco Reiding: Yes, this story starts in 1941. Those soldiers arrived only a couple of month after the camp opens. And by then the population was only Dutch or mostly Dutch and most of the prisoners were actually Dutch communists, because they have been resisting the German occupation from the beginning, and they were arrested after the start of operation Barbarossa – the attack on the Soviet Union. And the idea is probably that the communists were meant to be shown what kind of bad people they were supporting. That was an unrepeatable propaganda campaign, because they brought prisoners all the way from Smolensk to a country in the West. So they were in cargo trains for two weeks before they arrived in Amersfoort.

It’s interesting that you mention this, because so many people I’ve been talking to here in Russia don’t understand how is it that there were concentration camps in such odd places? Now we understands why.

Remco Reiding: That is one of the reasons. Actually after the war Amersfoort was chosen as a meeting point a collection point for other Soviet soldiers buried in the Netherlands. And most of those soldiers actually also ended up in the West, in Germany, but still the west of Germany, where many Prisoner-Of-War camps were and a lot of forced labors were, because there were mines, there were factories – that is why they sent those Soviet soldiers, prisoners of war to the west of Germany, so they could work there. And unfortunately they died of illnesses and ended up in the Netherlands as well.

In that particular camp they all died towards the end of the war or else?

Remco Reiding: No, the first group, 24 of them died within half a year, because they were treated very badly and the other 77 they were hardly alive – but they decided to tell them that the climate was not right for them and they would be transported to France, but in fact they were transported 500 meters further – where they were executed in groups of four, which is a huge war crime, by the way, you cannot just shoot POW without any court decision. And it’s also the second biggest massacre in the Netherlands, and therefore it’s a group that should not be forgotten.

Was that something that became known immediately after the war or a whole period of time had to pass before it actually surfaced?

Remco Reiding: Yes, it was known right after the war. It was not covered up at all – they tried to prosecute everyone who was involved and they managed to for a big deal of them. Some were not alive or not caught right away. But the later commander, at that moment he was actually lowest in rank, and he did many things wrong during the next years – he was executed after the War, and mainly because of the execution of these 77 Soviet soldiers.

How did your interest and your involvement actually start, I believe you were journalist at that time?

Remco Reiding: You could say I was a student of Journalism; I was already working for a local newspaper, the one in my home town, and I got the opportunity in an exchange program with the possibility to go to New York. But I thought that New York is the place I will visit one day – so let’s go to Moscow. I had no connection to Moscow at that time, and as a student of Journalism I was very curious. And I can tell you now that it’s been 17 years, and I’ve never ever been in New York. I’ve lived in Moscow for 8 year.

What was your first impression of Moscow?

Remco Reiding: That first impression changed my life, I was very much impressed by Moscow and it seemed to be completely different world with positive and negative sides, but still I was impressed. That was 1998. It was a difficult time, but also a bit crazy time, wild time… I was a 21 year old student. And I fell in love with the city, but not only the city – that’s how it goes. And I came back in the Netherlands – and that’s how it started. They told me you are crazy about Moscow, about Russia, you have an interest, you’re curious, you’re young, you have all the time in the worlds, because you are a student, we don’t have to pay you – so maybe then go and investigate those Russian graves that we have. So the idea to investigate those graves came from the local newspaper. It was an old idea. The idea was also very vague, because they did not tell me it was a complete cemetery, they didn’t tell me how they ended up there, they didn’t tell me who they were. The only thing they told me – was: “We have Russian graves and they are kind of forgotten”.

What was the cemetery like at the time? Were there gravestones?

Remco Reiding: Yes. It’s absolutely amazing that those graves were forgotten, because it’s a complete cemetery, it’s next to the entrance of the general cemetery, there are individual graves and they are very well taken care of by the Dutch government. However none of the relatives of those 865 soldiers have ever been traced. So you can imagine the cemetery is already a place of death, and if no relatives come to put flowers, it’s even more and easier to become a place of death and of forgotten soldiers. My task was to give this forgotten cemetery a face, to trace relatives of those soldiers – that was the idea.

Did your heart ‘warmed’ to the project immediately?

Remco Reiding: Yes, but there was certain development and motivation, because my first motivation was curiosity, which is normal for anyone and certainly for a 21 year old student of journalism. And the second thing – it was a challenge, ambition. I had difficult years, my mother have died and I felt kind of lost in the world and here I saw a project that could help me also do something special, and mean something in life. Then of course I realized I was not looking at stones but I was looking at people, people of my age that fought in the war that they hoped never to fight, people who were buried thousands of kilometers from home. And their families didn’t know. I felt it was a moral obligation for all of us, and for me to investigate and try to inform the relatives.

How did you start, what was the first thing you were able to do?

Remco Reiding: It started with that first group and those Uzbek soldiers, but already pretty soon I found out that they have all been buried as unknown soldiers, because the Germans had destroyed the administration. I understood that this group is not the group with the biggest chance of success. So I started to find out where did the others come from, how did they ended up in Amersfoort and after about one and a half years of searching the archives finally I found out additional information that helped me to identify soldiers, because the name is not enough. With this information I was able to start tracing relatives.

What kind of response you got when you made the enquiries?

Remco Reiding: It’s hard to give an answer, because in the end archives are not archives, its human beings working there and most of them understand. And they find a way if it’s not within the rules directly to help. And sometimes there are human beings that don not understand, do not care and they don’t help, and you find those human beings in Germany. And then I try to explain that it’s not about me or about them – it’s about helping people who have been without news about their relatives for 50, 60 now already 70 years. This emotional appeal often helps, maybe it’s needed a bit more in the Netherlands and Germany than here, because here every family understands what the war has done to a regular family.

Did you ever think your project was an example for someone else to follow in other countries?

Remco Reiding: It’s a bit difficult to find similar situations; it’s a bit unusual that there are Soviet graves in the West, because the Soviet army was fighting in the east. However, Germany is full of such graves, and it would be great if the German society also takes part in tracing relatives. In Belgium there are certain people having similar situations. In Russia there are many people the so-called ‘searchers’, who are searching in the woods and fields for remains of soldiers.

Any particular story, any emotional part of it?

Remco Reiding: All 865 for me they all are evenly important, but the story I tell in my book is very important for me – it’s the first family I traced and it’s also the son of the soldier Vladimir Botenko – his son Dmitry, he was the first ever to visit the cemetery. I was lucky also to receive his photograph, so we now know how the family looks like. And I managed to get a lot of information about his life; I visited his place of birth, the house he was living in, the house he built himself just a year before he had to go to the front. It was very emotional for me. Now we have our own child of the ‘Field of Honor’ and we named him Dima, after Dmitry the first traced relative. My life will always be connected to this story.

Do you something to sum up for the people around the globe marking this great anniversary? What should they not forget?

Remco Reiding: Let me answer it for us… We have started a program called ‘Grave adoption’, we ask people to adopt a grave to adopt a soldier, and by doing this we try to find 865 people who want to do this. By doing this we want to preserve the memory of each soldier. I think such initiatives can take place everywhere. And if one person takes care of a soldier, then all of them will not be forgotten.

http://sputniknews.com/analysis/20150508/1021883103.html

Putin “all by himself in Red Square” — with the leaders of half the planet

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“The insult to Russia… a denial of history”
Dominique Jamet
in Boulevard Voltaire, May 3, 2015
May 4, 2015
Translated from French by Tom Winter
So it is confirmed: No head of state, no chief of government from either North America nor from the EU (Greece being the sole exception) will honor with his presence the grandiose ceremonies that will mark, on the 9th of May in Moscow, the 70th anniversary of the surrender of the Third Reich, and therewith mark the victory of the nations, whatever their regimes and their legitimacy, that were united against nazism.
The reason is known. This slap is to punish the foreign policy of Vladimir Putin, and more precisely his intervention if the interior conflict of Ukraine. Yesterday’s ally is treated and punished like a rebellious brat by leaders whose policies of varying geometry nonetheless accommodate ententes, alliances, deals and conversations with countries and people who are no more commendable than the Russian president.
The promoters of this boycott and the ones responsible for it not only err in the most elementary courtesy by not returning the favor to Vladimir Putin, for attending the commemoration of the Normandy landings last June, where he crossed paths for the first time with his Ukrainian counterpart Poroshenko. They not only err at the foremost principle of diplomacy, as General DeGaulle professed it, to put reality in front of feelings, and states in front of friendships; their insult to Russia constitutes first off, an outrage to history, practically a denial of history. Is the present to erase the past, as with Big Brother in Orwell? Should politics be trumping the truth?
Mssrs Obama, Hollande, Cameron and other western leaders — whose names, if not already forgotten, soon will be — are too quick to hold cheap the frightening tribute of the twenty million lost that Russia and Stalin payed for the common cause at the time of world war. These people, all things considered, are seeing only the short term. Yesterday’s headline in Le Journal du dimanche: “Putin all alone in Red Square.”
Alone? Really?
This calls to mind the old and well-worn joke on the British point of view: “Fog in the Channel; the continent is isolated.” Beyond the presence of eleven African heads of state, a dozen heads of asiatic states, and the Venezuelan and Cuban presidents, Vladimir Putin will welcome under Kremlin walls these second-string players: the number one of China and the number one of India.
What does this mean? It means that half of the planet at the highest level will be represented one week from Sunday in Moscow. It will be, perchance, time to view the world not as it was, nor as one dreams that it will remain, but as it is.
http://www.fortruss.blogspot.com/2015/05/putin-all-by-himself-in-red-square-with.html