Zakharova's remarks about the Anglo Americans.

[Slavic Italian]

I'm very aware of the Soviet sacrifice and contribution to the Allied victory but these remarks are unfair. The Anglo Americans "liberated" western Europe and the Slavs eastern Europe. In reality many were pro Nazi so we have an argument there as well. Was it really a liberation? Anyways we were also in North Africa, Mid East, and Pacific all at the same time. The Soviets fought on one front at a time. Yes I am aware of the Soviet effort in Manchuria.




http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/...LfbBftk3dKnZaY

[Sarmatian]

Well I don't like all this contest measuring who did more for victory. Regardless of where it coming from it always diminishes sacrifices of those who fought on front lines.

But lets be honest here, we see a lot of trash info coming against Soviets for decades. There is massive propaganda campaign going on against USSR in general and part of it is smearing campaign against Red Army. How do you expect me to react on it? That's my grandfathers and great grandfathers we talking about. Especially since 99% of what's being told is a lie.

Now you can understand how it feels when your heroic ancestors are being smeared for decades. Such official response is long overdue, it has been expected by Russian public for many years. If some loud mouths on the West want to question Soviet contribution to outcome it has to be addressed. Screaming out propaganda lies shouldn't go unpunished.

[unseen]

I'm very aware of the Soviet sacrifice and contribution to the Allied victory but these remarks are unfair. The Anglo Americans "liberated" western Europe and the Slavs eastern Europe. In reality many were pro Nazi so we have an argument there as well. Was it really a liberation? Anyways we were also in North Africa, Mid East, and Pacific all at the same time. The Soviets fought on one front at a time. Yes I am aware of the Soviet effort in Manchuria.

Now what Zakharova said:

"On June 6, the world marks the beginning of Operation Overlord, which is the landing of the Allies in Normandy on June 6, 1944. Thus, the second front was opened, which the Soviet political leadership and military commanders insisted on. We pay tribute to the memory of all those who fell in battles on the second front in Europe.

The contribution of the Allies to victory over the Third Reich is clear, but it should not be exaggerated and, even less so, the significance of the titanic efforts of the Soviet Union, without which this victory simply would not be possible, should not be belittled. I have to mention this, as we are witnessing a catastrophic rewriting of history. This is happening not only in historical almanacs, but everywhere else. Monuments [to Soviet soldiers and military commanders] are being demolished, pseudoscientific conferences are being held, and films are being made about alleged events that completely distort reality.

According to historians, the landing in Normandy did not have a pivotal impact on the outcome of World War II and the Great Patriotic War. The outcome was already predetermined as a result of the Red Army’s victories, primarily, at Stalingrad and Kursk. For three years, the United Kingdom and then the United States delayed in every way possible the decision to open a second front, limiting their involvement to military operations of local importance. Clearly, they were waiting for Germany’s military might to weaken in the wake of its enormous losses in the East, and thus reduce their own losses in the West. There were political considerations as well.

The opening of the second front, even belated, was supposed to help the Soviet army in its combat missions. In fact, we had to come to the rescue of our Western allies, who were defeated by the Nazis at Ardennes. We hope our partners remember this.

To reiterate, today we are paying tribute to the memory of all those who fell in battles on the second front in Europe. The memory of the heroes who fought against Nazism and fascism regardless of their political views, who stood up and never asked the person fighting next to them about their ethnicity or religion, and just went into the breach – this memory is eternal."



The source of information





And isn't it in the US now issue coins where among the winners there is no USSR?

[Slavic Italian]

Now what Zakharova said:

"On June 6, the world marks the beginning of Operation Overlord, which is the landing of the Allies in Normandy on June 6, 1944. Thus, the second front was opened, which the Soviet political leadership and military commanders insisted on. We pay tribute to the memory of all those who fell in battles on the second front in Europe.

The contribution of the Allies to victory over the Third Reich is clear, but it should not be exaggerated and, even less so, the significance of the titanic efforts of the Soviet Union, without which this victory simply would not be possible, should not be belittled. I have to mention this, as we are witnessing a catastrophic rewriting of history. This is happening not only in historical almanacs, but everywhere else. Monuments [to Soviet soldiers and military commanders] are being demolished, pseudoscientific conferences are being held, and films are being made about alleged events that completely distort reality.

According to historians, the landing in Normandy did not have a pivotal impact on the outcome of World War II and the Great Patriotic War. The outcome was already predetermined as a result of the Red Army’s victories, primarily, at Stalingrad and Kursk. For three years, the United Kingdom and then the United States delayed in every way possible the decision to open a second front, limiting their involvement to military operations of local importance. Clearly, they were waiting for Germany’s military might to weaken in the wake of its enormous losses in the East, and thus reduce their own losses in the West. There were political considerations as well.

The opening of the second front, even belated, was supposed to help the Soviet army in its combat missions. In fact, we had to come to the rescue of our Western allies, who were defeated by the Nazis at Ardennes. We hope our partners remember this.

To reiterate, today we are paying tribute to the memory of all those who fell in battles on the second front in Europe. The memory of the heroes who fought against Nazism and fascism regardless of their political views, who stood up and never asked the person fighting next to them about their ethnicity or religion, and just went into the breach – this memory is eternal."



The source of information





And isn't it in the US now issue coins where among the winners there is no USSR?

Here is the deal. Do you realize how weak we were initially? We got our clocks cleaned initially in North Africa. Even the French(Vichy) kicked our asses in a few battles. Yes. We were having our issues in the Ardennes but we were not defeated. We won the Battle of the Bulge. We were also in the Pacific getting our asses kicked their especially Britain. Did Operation Bagration help our cause? Yes it did. Also, you need to visit the World War Two monument in D.C. There are photos of Russian soldiers on this monument so we are aware of the Soviet contribution. Collectively are Americans aware? No. Americans do not even know what their own grandfathers contributed to the war. Americans are a disconnected people because we never had war on our territory.

[Not a Cop]

That's all because of Putin being upset with not being invited to celebration.

[Slavic Italian]

That's all because of Putin being upset with not being invited to celebration.

There could not be a greater tribute to the Soviet soldiers than the fact they are engraved on an American World War Two monument. Maybe Putin and that speaker need to visit and see it for themselves??

[unseen]

Here is the deal. Do you realize how weak we were initially? We got our clocks cleaned initially in North Africa. Even the French(Vichy) kicked our asses in a few battles. Yes. We were having our issues in the Ardennes but we were not defeated. We won the Battle of the Bulge. We were also in the Pacific getting our asses kicked their especially Britain. Did Operation Bagration help our cause? Yes it did. Also, you need to visit the World War Two monument in D.C. There are photos of Russian soldiers on this monument so we are aware of the Soviet contribution. Collectively are Americans aware? No. Americans do not even know what their own grandfathers contributed to the war. Americans are a disconnected people because we never had war on our territory.

You do not understand what Zakharova and I tell you. We are talking about the modern actions of the United States and Europe at the international level against Russia. And diminishing the role of Russia in World War 2, as part of this strategy of the West. And Zakharova is responding precisely to these attempts by the West to downplay Russia's role in the war. Why should we silently look at how we are ignored in matters related to the Second World War?

[unseen]

That's all because of Putin being upset with not being invited to celebration.

And monuments to Soviet soldiers in Europe are being demolished and vandalized, too, in order to upset Putin?

[unseen]

There could not be a greater tribute to the Soviet soldiers than the fact they are engraved on an American World War Two monument. Maybe Putin and that speaker need to visit and see it for themselves??

About who should to come to understand what is happening in our days:



Maria Zakharova:

"On May 18, Director of the Museum of the Second World War in Gdansk, ‎Karol Nawrocki, literally sent the Polish band playing Dark is the Night off the stage, calling the world-famous Russian war song the group chose for the European Museum Night concert a “Bolshevik” song. Please note that it was a Polish band. Perhaps, with all the wildness and absurdity of what happened, it would have remained an internal affair of the Polish cultural space, but the museum administration did not stop there and reinforced the absurdity by publishing an official statement insulting the Red Army soldiers the song is dedicated to. I will not quote their news release here. Some things just should not be quoted. Some countries have laws that prohibit quoting Nazi or fascist documents and manifestos. The museum’s statement is not only offensive, but extremely nationalist and verging on racist in tone and message, which makes it impossible to quote directly.

It describes the song as propaganda and the band’s performance, “a staged political provocation.” I would like to note that the director’s demarche and the museum’s boorish statement are quite in the spirit of the institution’s policy. For reference, in recent years, virtually all objective materials that reveal the Soviet Union’s role in defeating Nazism have disappeared from the Gdansk museum’s displays.

I would like to say that Dark is the Night was written by composer Nikita Bogoslovsky and poet Vladimir Agatov literally overnight during the difficult war year 1943. Since actor Mark Bernes first sang it in the film Two Fighters, it has truly become one of the favourites for generations of Russian viewers.

I could talk for a long time about what a lyrical and emotional song it is; I don’t think I need to, because it immediately gained huge popularity in the country fighting Nazism, both at the front and in the rear. So why do people love this song so much? The reason is simple. Its meaning is clear and relatable for any person, regardless of what language they speak and what political views they have. This song rallied the nation and explained why people of different political views closed ranks and went to fight fascism and Nazism. There is no doubt that those people really had different political views – some publicly, some at heart, but they understood that the threat was so great and monstrous that everything else faded by comparison. It is a song about how people were unified by a human motivation.

The manager of the band, musician Piotr Kosewski, perfectly summarised the essence of the song that they were trying to perform: the soldier at the front is yearning for his beloved.

The song’s popularity has extended far beyond the Soviet borders. There are versions in Hebrew, Finnish, Serbian and other languages. The Polish version that caused the scandal was written by Julian Tuwim, a renowned author both in Poland and in Russia, and became his valuable contribution to the rapprochement of the two cultures. He translated into his native language many pieces of Russian and Soviet literature. His poetic translation of Dark is the Night became a real hit in Poland in the 1950s and 1960s, performed by popular Polish vocalists. I feel strange having to explain this to the Polish museum director; perhaps he will read it on the internet himself.

The incident at the Gdansk Museum is another manifestation of the policy pursued by the Polish authorities, aimed not so much at desecrating the memory as at dehumanising the 600,000 Red Army soldiers who died liberating that country from the “brown plague.” For many years, anti-Russia forces in Poland have been fighting with the fallen, destroying the Soviet war memorials. Now they seem to have started on songs and poems. Where is the limit to the absurdity and baseness, attempting to extricate the role of the Soviet Union and the Red Army in liberating Poland from fascism and Nazism in people’s memory?

It is important that many Poles condemned the museum director’s deed, uncivilised for the 21st century, a century of tolerance. We have noted that the newspaper Gazeta Wyborcza criticised the authorities for trying to decide what Poles should listen to. Through the efforts of the Polish media and bloggers, a large audience learned about the song, including young people who had been unaware of it. At least in this sense, the museum director should be thanked. The Polish media noticed the absurdity of his boorish accusations.

If Warsaw is truly interested in, as they said lately, moving relations with Russia from the “freezing point,” they should respond to such deeds without a reminder. Unfortunately, none of the officials in Warsaw has commented.

I would like to add that this is not the only case of the WWII results being revised, and the Soviet Union’s contribution to the victory over fascism questioned. Another example has shaken the media landscape. An American souvenirs producer has recently made a 75th Victory anniversary coin. Well, I would like to remind the company that it was the Soviet Union that bore the brunt of the fight against Nazi Germany. Unfortunately, our country, which was then called the Soviet Union, is nowhere to be seen among the leading anti-Hitler coalition countries on this coin. Whether they forgot, or did it intentionally, it seems that with such coins, the future generation of Americans will pay for their ignorance of history.

I could cite other stories from other countries such as the Ukrainian authorities’ refusal to celebrate Victory Day, frequent acts of vandalism against Soviet military burials, events in a number of European countries aimed at glorifying Hitler's accomplices. All of that actually suggests a conclusion about purposeful efforts to discredit the Red Army heroes and rehabilitate those who served the Nazis. Such examples abound. The purpose of this policy is also clear – to devalue, and then completely erase from people’s memory around the world the feat of the Soviet people who fought against the Nazi ideology."



The source of information

[Slavic Italian]

You do not understand what Zakharova and I tell you. We are talking about the modern actions of the United States and Europe at the international level against Russia. And diminishing the role of Russia in World War 2, as part of this strategy of the West. And Zakharova is responding precisely to these attempts by the West to downplay Russia's role in the war. Why should we silently look at how we are ignored in matters related to the Second World War?

I'm not seeing where people are downplaying the Russian role. People are tearing down the Soviet monuments because they feel that they are a symbol of five decades of communist oppression. It has nothing to do with Soviet WW2 contribution.