Day of Remembrance and Sorrow — day of the beginning of the Great Patriotic War (22/06)





This day reminds us of all those who died in battle, tortured in fascist captivity, and died in the rear from hunger and hardship. We mourn for everyone who, at the cost of their lives, fulfilled their holy duty, defending their Fatherland in those harsh years.

Early in the morning of June 22, 1941, without declaring war, Nazi Germany attacked the Soviet Union, delivering a massive strike on military and strategic targets and many cities to a depth of 250-300 kilometers from the state border. Thus began the Great Patriotic War, which lasted 1,418 days and nights, and in which the USSR lost about 27 million people, but was able to survive.

By this time, many European countries had been enslaved by Nazi Germany, and the Soviet people took the most powerful blow. Romania, Italy, Slovakia, Finland, and Hungary spoke out against the USSR together with Germany a few days later, and Norway joined them in mid-August. The Soviet people responded to the enemy with a single powerful resistance and stood to the death in the full sense of the word, defending the Fatherland.

The Great Patriotic War was an integral part and main content of the entire Second World War, in the orbit of which more than 60 states were involved. The fighting took place over vast areas of Europe, Asia and Africa, in the sea and ocean expanses.

In a difficult, bloody war, the Soviet people made a decisive contribution to the liberation of the peoples of Europe from fascist domination and to the defeat of Hitler's troops. On May 8, 1945, the final Act of Unconditional Surrender of Nazi Germany and its armed forces was signed.

The Great Patriotic War ended in victory for the USSR, but at what cost?! At the cost of human suffering and enormous losses that befell the Soviet people. World history has never known such destruction, barbarism and inhumanity as marked the path of the Nazis through Soviet soil.

In the countries of the post-Soviet space, on June 22, state flags are lowered at half-mast and they remember this war and those who died in it. On this day, various solemn and memorable events are held with lighting candles and laying flowers at monuments and memorials.

Citizens of Russia, Ukraine, and Belarus honor the memory of compatriots, relatives and friends who fought for the freedom of the Motherland.



• Infographics – poster «Day of Memory and Sorrow» • Articles: «One of the most tragic dates in Russian history» «Ax porridge, or Soldier's kulesh» • Story «Shel June»

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