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The exposition "Victory May"

PRESS RELEASE

to the exposition "Victory May",

dedicated to the Day of Remembrance and Reconciliation

and the 74th anniversary of the victory over Nazism

in the Second World War 

 

On May , 2019 the exposition "Victory of May", that dedicated to the Day of Remembrance and Reconciliation and the 74th anniversary of the victory over Nazism in World War II, was launched at the Regional Art Museum.

The celebration of this literally  great victory  in the European context and Ukrainian completely  takes place under  diametrically opposed, but equally false judgments regarding its gala.Unfortunately, much of modern Ukrainian society considers  that the theme of World War II  is irrelevant in the context of the modern Russian-Ukrainian war, it’s a kind of Soviet archaism that is also used by our enemy for an ideological war against Ukraine and must therefore remain in the past.But on the contrary, this  attitude just plays into the hands of the Moscow Horde that is an odious state that  combining elements of Eastern despotism, Soviet Stalinism, and neo-fascism, and  decisively destroyed the remnants of Orthodox Russia and embarked on the path of reviving the Soviet Reich, disguising its bondage and spiritual degradation by fables about "God-chosen people", "great blooming country", "spiritual fastenings", etc.

The ideological machine of this country is working hard, making a lot of efforts to downplay or completely negate the contribution of Ukraine and even the Allies to the overall victory over the Third Reich. We hear constantly  and especially on the eve of May 9, when the manifestations of Soviet schizophrenia reach their climax  about regular accusations against Ukrainians of the slow "betrayal" and "cooperation with the enemy" during the German invasion. Incidentally, this applies concerns  not only  Ukrainians, because the modern Kremlin vision of history automatically places these stigmas on all non-Russian peoples of the former Soviet Union. And despite the fact that thorough research on this issue has long proven that Russians were the undisputed leader in the war in that (at least half a million), in the second place are the peoples  of Central Asia (the so-called Muslim Legion), in the third place are  the peoples of the Caucasus.Ukraine ranks only fourth, and despite the size of the territory, population and rabid fury to the Soviet fascists after the Red Terror, the destruction of the nation's elite, genocide of 1932-1933 and more.

We Ukrainians must remember and be proud that during the Second World War, more than 7 million Ukrainian soldiers fought in the ranks of the Soviet Army and Navy fighters in spite of  contemporary Russian propaganda aimed at discrediting Ukraine in the eyes of the world community, Muscovites and Little Russians.Every other one of them who  perished at the front  and one in two survivors returned home with a disability.

 The total number of killed Ukrainians is 8 to 10 million, which is every sixth Ukrainian.Most of the Soviet fronts in that war were again headed by Ukrainians with the number of honorees and those who received the title of Hero of the Soviet Union the Ukrainians took second place. Many things have also been researched and written about the anti-fascist struggle of the UPA fighters, the activities of the OUN underground in various (not only western) regions of Ukraine, and much more, which mercilessly destroys the old Soviet myths. We are proud of the feat of Ukrainians, who, side by side with other nations, saved humanity from the "brown plague", as we are proud today of their glorious descendants, standing on the eastern borders of our country against the hordes of Moscow and their associates. Relay of courage, torture, irresistible Cossack spirit, hostile to any manifestation of tyranny, violence, totalitarian system of the state and so on. This is why Ukraine is strong and invincible today .Wе must evaluate the events of that war from a Christian and European civilizational point of view, (a prayer, a bell, etc.) Contrary to another chauvinistic and revanchist sentiment in Muscovy on the eve of May 9, aptly called "victory" and "bone dancing". This also applies to the issue of the price of victory, which is very inconvenient for the country where they like to say "We can repeat!", Bearing in mind the next occupation not only of Ukraine but at least of the whole of Eastern Europe. Recent groundbreaking studies reveal a terrible picture of the true price paid by the Soviet people for the victory over Nazism. Some uninvolved historians claim that at least 10 Soviet guys are killed per enemy killed on the Eastern Front. A more plausible figure for the joint loss of the Soviet border guards, the military and the guerrillas, about 25 million, has emerged. After that, even the official Kyiv figure of 28 million killed by the USSR is beyond doubt. The number of Soviet military casualties in that war - 8.5 million - claimed by official Moscow cannot be taken seriously, since the similar losses of only one Ukraine in recent studies amounted to 7 million. And how many are buried in the 28,000 known and many unknown mass graves? No one will ever know this. And where are the 157,000 Red Army soldiers and commanders (almost 20 rifle divisions) who have fallen victim to the death sentences executed by the Soviet punitive bodies?

It is no coincidence that the Soviet emperor Joseph Stalin banned the celebration of May 9 as Victory Day, and only 20 years later, when a large number of veterans who died from the wounds of veterans were replaced by "parquet heroes", this day became celebrated as a national holiday.

Yet the holiday remains a holiday, giving us in the conditions of another war the much needed positive emotions and confidence that the victory over fascism of any national origin - German, Italian, Spanish, Russian, is inevitable.

A peculiar artistic symbol of the victory over Nazism in the Second World War and the sincere and light emotions it evokes can be considered the picture of Tatiana Yablonskaya "We are from Berlin" presented in the exhibition "Victory May". Two more paintings of the exhibition - “May 1945” (1975) by Alexander Logvinyuk and “Return” (2008) by Felix Polyansky create a kind of emotional contrast, as one of them reflects the joy of meeting his native man, and the other - the grief of the seen ruins and the unknown fate of relatives.

Traditionally, a separate block of exposition consists of works devoted to the theme of memory - "Fighters Remember" (1973) by Vladimir Volokhov, "Memories" (1976) by Love Kiryanov and "Veterans" (1982) by Mykola Bondarenko.