#9th of May

[anifaz]

I congratulate everyone on the Great Victory Day! Hurray!

[kneedeepincynade]

Do not forget your roots comrades! As yesterday so today the enemy is the same!

[bobbie-robron]

On this day… 9th of May

[ketrindoll]

Just a reminder that there were no 9th of May Victory parades in russia till 1965 - two decades after the war has ended.

Stalin attempted to organize one, but realized that the subject caused too much pain to people. Terror and grief, instead of rejoycing.

Veterans, those who came back from the West, having seen the wonders of the world outside the Soviet curtain (like running water or wrist watches), were dangerous to the regime, rather than heroes. So many later perished in Gulags.

Stalin hated the subject of war. He banned memorials, destroyed museums which showcased tragedies, like the one in Leningrad. The idea of him as this great hero came later, after his death.

After the war the streets of Moscow were full of wounded veterans. People missing limbs, mutilated, abandoned by the regime and unable to support themselves. Trauma and PTSD haunting their psyche. In 1946 the regime came after them, exiling many to an island in Lake Ladoga. Their various disabilities did not match the idea of hopeful and prosperous socialism and its iconic physically fit worker man.

Stalin's successor also did not attempt to revive the past. Too many who suffered through it were still alive. Time chiseled the grief, turning it into an echo. And Brezhnev, the second one to rule after Stalin had passed away, started the tradition of parades, pumping into the minds of Soviet citizens the idea of mighty russia defeating fascism.

Putin perfected that ideal, really cranking up the importance of 9th of May parades.

And the voices of those to whom that day was just a continuation of tragedies fell silent against the frenzy of the generations raised on messianism and xenophobia.

But I'll leave it up to those silent witnesses to describe this day. In russian, for russians:

[crawfishcomic]

Research

[topchubashi]

[hamletthedane]

Love that Oppenheimer is a deeply disturbing horror movie about a man forced to accept that he is, in a person, the representative manifestation of mankind’s evil in committing one of the greatest horrors of human history - LITERALLY acting as the modern Prometheus, tormented by his sins for the remainder of time. Knowing that he will never be pitied and his actions will forever be utterly unforgivable because the blood of genocide and the potential of total human annihilation will eternally drip from his hands.

But also the simultaneous indictment by the film that to blame a single person for the Manhattan Project is to refuse to accept your own capacity for great evil if the ends ever seem to justify the means, and the culpability of every member of a species that lets itself create something so unspeakably terrible.

Hate that twitter’s take on such a nuanced and brilliantly handled examination of those issues is “movie bad because protagonist not evil enough.”

[homestuckenjoyer666]

YOURE KIDDINNGGG MEEE youre fucking KIDDING ME

THATS WHY KIRIONA WANTED TO GO BACK SO BADLY. THATS WHY. WHAT THE FUCK

[greypistacchio]

"It must be so nice to see strange countries. I wonder if we—I mean Jonathan and I—shall ever see them together."

Mina my dear you might want to take a seat

[localmonstersmoocher]

[ghostapple8]

Letter from Miss Mina Murray to Miss Lucy Westenra.

HAPPY FIRST LETTER FROM MINA DAY

[kneedeepincynade]

Photos from the immortal regiment of Rome,later in the day I will release an article about it and about the Odessa massacre

Veteran of aviidiivka and artevemosk,great guy, didn't manage to interview him unfortunately

Father of an Italian volunteer who died in Donbass fighting the kiev junta, may his son rest in peace

Count Antonov, his father fought in the great patriottic war as a sailor on a patrol boat. I kinda relate to him, I have a noble title just like him, and just like him, I'm a communist, I just wish I had such a heroic heritage as well

An Italian comrade remembering 2 family members who fought as partisans during the Second World War and the Italian liberation

Unfortunately, among the many names I learned during the immortal regiment, I lost hers. However, I remember one thing she wanted me to stress. When her grandparents lived under the occupation in Odessa, they were so desperate for food that they had to eat tree leaves. Not much is known about said grandparents because they didn't want to tell their story after the war, but this one detail was told and she wanted me to tell it to you all

The immortal regiment marching, the original immortal regiment flag, the Russian flag with the coat of arms, and a slogan against the west support for the Ukraine war

[lady-dulcinea]

There are so many great character details crammed into this one letter, but I feel like this is what gets me thinking the most no matter how many times I read it. Mina actively chose to write ‘lady journalists’ when just ‘journalists’ would serve the exact same purpose. She knows of other working women like herself, and has paid attention to them enough to copy their methods when doing something as simple as a personal journal. It’s a subtle but effective way to show that not only she acknowledges women that are probably career oriented - and does not phrase it in any way that implies derision or disapproval - but also admires them enough to find inspiration in the work they do.

[ketrindoll]

2022 vs 2023 russia's 9th of May Victory parade

They sure are winning alright :DDDDD

[arrakisser]

you’ve heard of “may the 4th be with you” — now get ready for “may thy 9th chip and shatter”

[thewales-family]

HAPPY 9TH BIRTHDAY TO PRINCESS CHARLOTTE ELIZABETH DIANA OF WALES -May 2nd 2024.

It is hard to believe this little girl (not so little now) is already 9. I remember the first time we saw her a few hours after her birth and how William and Catherine were so happy to have a daughter. A few months later, her proud dad even said she was “a little joy of heaven” and now calls her “Mignonette” because she's so cute. Charlotte is so kind, beautiful and sweet but she also has a strong character and is the boss with her brothers. Charlotte, it's a real pleasure to see you growing up and we all love you so much.