Український інститут національної пам’яті

Information materials for the Day of Remembrance and Victory over Nazism in World War II (May 8) – 2025

On May 8, Ukraine celebrates Remembrance and Victory Day, honoring those who died in World War II of 1939–1945.

This day was established by the Law of Ukraine in 2023 as a sign of solidarity with Europe in remembering that terrible tragedy in the history of mankind. The symbol of remembrance of World War II – the poppy of remembrance – is also common. We encourage its use during public events and in thematic materials. How to make a poppy yourself, see video instructions and scheme.

The campaign slogan is “We Remember! We Win!”

We remember that war is a catastrophe, a tragedy, millions of dead and mutilated bodies and souls. And we also understand that the heroization and romanticization of war leads to the escalation of new conflicts.

Key messages

More than 10 years ago, Ukraine joined the tradition of celebrating the victory over Nazism in the European spirit - we do not celebrate, but honor. This is how society has established the perception of May 8 and World War II through the human dimension, with an emphasis on the role of people who fought against Nazism. On Remembrance and Victory Day, Ukraine traditionally honors them, expresses respect and gratitude to all fighters against Nazism, and perpetuates the memory of the fallen soldiers and victims of the bloodiest and most brutal war in the history of mankind.

World War II began for Ukraine with the attack of Nazi Germany on Poland on September 1, 1939 and the bombing of Lviv and other cities by German military aircraft. And from June 22, 1941, after the invasion of the troops of Germany and its allies into the territory of the USSR, all of Ukraine became the scene of fierce fighting. About 7 million people were mobilized from Ukraine to the Red Army during the war. Every second of them died, and every second of those who survived became disabled.

Remembrance and Victory Day is a reminder that World War II began as a result of agreements between two totalitarian regimes: National Socialist (Nazi) in Germany and Communist in the USSR, as well as the tacit reluctance of the most powerful states in the world to resist the aggressors. In 1939–1945, both totalitarian regimes committed numerous crimes against humanity, war crimes, and crimes of genocide on Ukrainian soil, as a result of which the Ukrainian, Jewish, Crimean Tatar, and other peoples living within the territory of modern Ukraine suffered enormous losses.

At the beginning of the war, the Ukrainian people, without an independent state, were divided between several countries. The Nazis and communists, who equally disregarded the cost of human life, used the unresolved "Ukrainian question" and the desire of Ukrainians for independence and sovereignty for their own purposes and geopolitical games. They considered our lands exclusively as a resource.

During World War II, Ukrainians made a significant contribution to the victory over Nazism, distinguished themselves by heroism, courage and self-sacrifice on all fronts and in many armies of the Anti-Hitler Coalition. Millions of Ukrainians resisted with weapons in their hands in various regular armies of the world, hundreds of thousands fought in underground and insurgent structures. Almost all Ukrainian enterprises were reoriented to the needs of defense. Ukrainian land was one of the main theaters of military operations, a place of large-scale battles and the fiercest resistance.

The expulsion of the Nazi occupiers did not bring freedom to Ukraine, but turned into a return of communist terror. Its manifestations were the carnage of the "Chornosvitniks", the deportation of Crimean Tatars and other peoples from Crimea, the mass artificial famine of 1946–1947, the deportation of ethnic Ukrainians from Poland, the return of repressions, the re-Sovietization of Western Ukraine, attempts to destroy the Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox and Ukrainian Greek Catholic Churches, etc.

In this struggle, we lost over eight million Ukrainians and representatives of other nations who lived on our land. In total, World War II claimed the lives of between 50 and 85 million people worldwide.

The war lasted six years. The victory over Nazism was achieved as a result of the incredible concentration of all forces, mutual assistance, consolidation and mobilization of society, solidarity of peoples and a complete reorganization of economic, political and social life in the interests of the fight against evil. In order to comply with the rules of the game in the international arena and prevent wars, genocides and violations of human rights and freedoms, the victorious states created the United Nations. Ukraine became its co-founder.

No country can claim an exceptional role in the victory over Nazism. The victory is the result of the titanic efforts of dozens of states and hundreds of peoples.

Equally unacceptable are attempts to use the moral authority of the victor in World War II for revanchism. The memory of the war should not lead to a cult of victory, but to develop the ability to value peace, to categorically and uncompromisingly defend it by all reasonable means, and to cultivate courage and principledness in the fight against the enemy.

After Nazism and communism, the world faced a new criminal aggressive ideology - now we are fighting against the Russian version of Nazism - racism. It poses a threat not only to the independence and sovereignty of our state, but also to the international legal order and security of all humanity, the modern world and democracy. The ideological basis of racism was the appropriation of the status of the “main winner” by the Russian Federation and the transformation of the victory over Nazism into a cult, propaganda for war.

Today, Ukrainians with weapons in their hands are defending not only themselves, but all European countries from Russian expansion and are giving a chance to build a more lasting peace and create a new, more just, global security system. The condition for this is victory over Russia, restoration of the territorial integrity of Ukraine and impossibility of future aggression of Russian imperialism against anyone on our planet. Today, in conditions of aggression, the only way to restore peace is to defeat the invader.

It is important to remember that the weakness, fear, and indecision of the international community have always encouraged aggressors to commit ever-increasing crimes. Today, the world community can draw on that bitter experience and historical lessons to make adequate security decisions, in particular regarding Russian aggression against Ukraine.

Historical background

During the interwar period, Ukrainians were the largest stateless nation in Europe. On the eve of the war, Ukrainian territories were under the occupation and control of various states: the USSR, Poland, Romania, and the Czechoslovak Republic. The Third Reich also made no secret of its claims to Ukrainian territories.

The tragic fate of Ukrainians under Soviet and Polish rule, disbelief in legal methods of struggle, and disappointment with Western democracies led to the activation of the Ukrainian liberation movement in emigration and in Western Ukraine. In 1929, veterans of the military formations of the Ukrainian Revolution and youth of nationalist circles, groups, and organizations formed a Ukrainian underground liberation structure – the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists (OUN) and the Leadership, led by Yevhen Konovalets. The ultimate goal of the OUN’s activities was the creation of an independent Ukrainian united state. In the 1930s, the OUN grew in numbers and territory. Its first combat “baptism” took place in March 1939. The OUN members took an active part in the defense of Carpathian Ukraine. In September, they first encountered the repressive machine of the USSR. Resistance in Western Ukraine was desperate. From 16 to 35 thousand underground workers fell into the clutches of the NKVD at that time - they were arrested or killed.

On August 23, 1939, the USSR and Germany signed a Non-Aggression Pact – the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact. In a secret protocol to it, the two dictators agreed on aggressive plans for territorial and political redistribution, which was to begin with the defeat of Poland.

As a result of the conspiracy between Hitler and Stalin, the war affected Ukrainians as early as September 1, 1939, when Nazi Germany attacked Poland, and German military aircraft bombed Lviv and other cities in Galicia.

Hitler incited Stalin to immediately invade Poland, threatening to proclaim a Western Ukrainian state if he delayed. So on September 11, 1939, the USSR created the Belorussian and Ukrainian fronts, and on September 17, the Red Army crossed the Polish border. On the same day, the USSR occupied Western Ukraine. Thus, from the beginning of the war until June 22, 1941, the USSR and Germany were allies. and bear joint responsibility for the outbreak of World War II.

At the same time, both Hitler's Germany and Stalin's Soviet Union felt mutual distrust and were hatching plans for a surprise attack on each other. On December 18, 1940, Hitler signed the Barbarossa plan, an offensive operation against the USSR. Having intelligence information about the planned Nazi invasion, the Soviet command began to take some preventive measures, but due to the Kremlin leadership's attempts not to provoke the Germans, the Red Army was unprepared for the attack. Thus, on June 22, 1941, the German-Soviet war began, and the USSR turned from an ally into a bitter enemy of Germany.

The first year of the war was a disaster for the Red Army. The enemy was confidently advancing east. In almost a year and one month, Ukraine was completely occupied by Nazi Germany, which presented itself as a liberator from Bolshevism and Moscow rule. In reality, the Nazis assigned Ukraine the role of a raw material colony and committed mass crimes against Ukrainians.

The expulsion of the Nazis from the territory of Ukraine began on December 18, 1942, when Soviet troops entered the village of Pivnivka, in the Luhansk region. In the spring of 1944, the German front near the Carpathians was broken through. The Nazis were finally expelled from Ukrainian territory in November 1944. Soviet troops reached the border with Romania and Slovakia. The fighting moved to Europe. Thus, the 2nd and 3rd Ukrainian Fronts and the Danube Flotilla participated in the Vienna Operation. Then the Germans were expelled from western Hungary and eastern Austria. One of the final operations was the Berlin Operation. The 1st, 2nd Belorussian, and 1st Ukrainian Fronts were sent to storm the German capital. On the night of May 1, 1945, Ukrainian Oleksiy Berest, together with Meliton Kantaria and Mykhailo Yegorov, raised the Victory Banner over the Reichstag. On May 8, 1945, at 10:43 p.m. Central European Time, the Act of Surrender of Germany was signed in the suburbs of Berlin.

Consequences of World War II for Ukraine

The Second World War for Ukraine was not limited to military actions and occupation of territory. Ukrainians participated in operations in all military theaters. It is necessary to emphasize the contribution of Ukrainians to the defeat of Nazism and to mention both the Red Army soldiers (about seven million), the UPA soldiers (over 100 thousand), and those Ukrainians and immigrants from Ukraine who were in the military units of other states: Poland (120 thousand in 1939), the USA (up to 80 thousand in 1945), Canada (up to 45 thousand in 1945), France (up to five thousand in 1940).

Direct human losses in Ukraine in World War II amounted to over 8 million people, economic losses amounted to 285 million rubles at that time. Both totalitarian regimes did not take into account the lives of people on Ukrainian soil. Everyone knows the crimes of the Nazis in the occupied territories of Ukraine (the Holocaust, executions of civilians, burning of villages, deportations). However, numerous crimes of that period of the communist regime were long kept silent - the executions of political prisoners in prisons of Western Ukraine in June-July 1941, the bombing of the center of Kyiv and the Dnieper Hydroelectric Power Plant dam in 1941, the destruction of wounded Red Army soldiers in Odessa, thrown into the sea along with ambulances, etc. The end of the war is also connected with Ukraine. On September 2, 1945, General Kuzma Derevyanko, a native of Uman, accepted the unconditional surrender of Japan on behalf of the USSR.

The Ukrainian lands were crossed by the front twice during World War II. Scorched earth tactics were used here first by the Soviet Red Army retreating eastward, and later by the Third Reich army retreating westward. Large-scale battles took place here and an unprecedented resistance movement developed.

Ukrainian national military partisan units began to form in 1941, when the "Polish Sich" emerged, led by Taras Bulba-Borovets. Subsequently, the initiative to create insurgent units and the name UPA were taken over by the leaders of the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists OUN(b). The Ukrainian Insurgent Army numbered tens of thousands of fighters (in total, more than 100 thousand people passed through the ranks of the UPA), who operated in Volhynia, Polissya and Galicia. The tactical forms of the UPA's struggle were raids, attacks on German garrisons, warehouses, convoys, clashes with Soviet partisans, NKVD troops, and units of the Polish Home Army. After the arrival of Soviet power in Western Ukrainian lands in 1944, the UPA continued its underground struggle, which lasted until the end of the 1950s.

How Moscow turned victory into a cult

Victory Day in the Soviet Union was established at the same time, on May 8, 1945 (even before the signing of the Second Act). By decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR, May 9 was declared a day of national celebration and a day off. In 1945, no special celebrations took place on this day. The Victory Parade, by order of Stalin, was held in Moscow only on June 24. There were no festive parades or processions of veterans on Red Square in the following years. In 1947, the status of this day was changed altogether. According to the decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR of December 23, 1947, Victory Day became a working day, but remained a state holiday. Among other things, in the same 1947, the Soviet authorities decided to cancel any payments and benefits for veterans who had been awarded state awards.

From 1948 to 1965, May 9 was not a day off in the USSR, but certain celebrations took place. In hero cities and capitals of the union republics, artillery salutes were given, and official congratulations on Victory Day were published on the front pages of newspapers. Therefore, attention to this date and certain memorial events were preserved. However, other Soviet holidays, for example, May 1 - International Workers' Solidarity Day and November 7 - the anniversary of the October Revolution, were celebrated on a much larger scale at that time.

Victory Day became a holiday again only in 1965. At the same time, the anniversary Victory Parade was held to mark the 20th anniversary. This was the second parade after the end of the war. The third took place in 1985, and the fourth in 1990. The Victory Parade has been an annual event in the Russian Federation since 1995.

After the 1960s, May 9 became the main holiday in the USSR, and the myth of the Victory replaced the mythology of the Great October Revolution. The Communist Party and personally General Secretary Leonid Brezhnev began to actively exploit the theme of the "Great Victory" as a component of increasing the authority of the ruling elite in society.

The memory of World War II has gradually developed into a powerful quasi-religious cult. In modern Russia, myths about World War II, or more precisely, the "Great Patriotic War," continue to be at the heart of identity, and commemorative practices, often imbued with profanity and grotesqueness, have been called "pobedobiesie."

However, Russian propaganda actively cultivates myths about World War II not only within its own country and among the states that were once part of the USSR, but also tries to manipulate public opinion in Europe and the whole world. The aggressor state uses the victory in World War II and its supposedly “exclusive role” in it as an indulgence to commit mass crimes in Ukraine – against prisoners of war and civilians.

Thematic materials of the Ukrainian Institute of National Remembrance:

By link http://ww2.uinp.gov.ua/ The website of the Ukrainian Institute of National Remembrance dedicated to World War II is now operational. It contains information about key events, figures, maps, infographics, a photo gallery, videos and electronic publications about the war, a selection of films "20,000 Minutes That Will Change Your View of World War II," and other projects.

Video project "War and Myth"

The Ukrainian Institute of National Remembrance has created an educational video product that reproduces objective, scientifically verified information about World War II and contributes to the restoration and preservation of the national memory of the Ukrainian people, popularizes the history of Ukraine, and refutes Soviet and Russian myths related to the events of the specified historical period.

The series includes nine videos in MP4 video file format. The videos debunk myths about World War II and are posted with accompanying information on the official Facebook page and youtube channel Ukrainian Institute of National Remembrance.

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