World War II Victory Day celebrations in Russia and across Europe

May 9, 2012

World War II Victory Day celebrations in Russia and across Europe

Nick Tann 0 Comment World Austria, Belarus, Chechnya, Europe, France, Georgia, Germany, Greece, Lithuania, Moscow, Red Army, Russia, Soviet Union, Stalin, The Netherlands, Ukraine, Victory Day, World War II

After Adolf Hitler’s suicide on April 30, 1945, the occupying German armies began surrendering in Europe and the former Soviet Union. Ultimately, Germany signed an unconditional surrender, signaling the defeat of the Nazi Germany regime. VE Day (Victory in Europe) is commonly celebrated on May 8, while the countries of the former Soviet Union celebrate the day on May 9.

The following compilation includes scenes from, and revolving around, Victory Day across the ocean.

: May 2, 2012: Belarusian soldiers take part in a rehearsal for the Victory Day parade in central Minsk May 2, 2012. Belarus celebrates the Soviet Union’s victory over Nazi Germany on May 9. (Vasily Fedosenko/Reuters)

: May 2, 2012: Belarusian soldiers take part in a rehearsal for the Victory Day parade in central Minsk, Belarus. (Vasily Fedosenko/Reuters)

: May 3, 2012: Servicemen operate a Russian armoured personnel carrier while driving to Red Square to take part in a rehearsal for the annual Victory Day parade in Moscow. Russia will celebrate the 67th anniversary of victory over Nazi Germany on May 9. (Maxim Shemetov/Reuters)

: May 3, 2012: Students of the Moscow State University of Medicine and Dentistry carry torches, symbolizing the university students who died during the World War Two, as they take part in a procession to mark the upcoming Victory Day in Moscow. Russia will celebrate the 67th anniversary of victory over Nazi Germany on May 9. (Maxim Shemetov/Reuters)

: May 5, 2012: Women in historical dress walk in front of a billboard dedicated to Victory Day celebrations on Palace Square in St. Petersburg. (Alexander Demianchuk/Reuters)

: May 5, 2012: German President Joachim Gauck (3rd R) and Joan Leemhuis-Stout (2nd R), chairman of the National Liberation Day committee, shake hands with a giant puppet as they walk towards the ignition of the freedom fire on National Liberation Day at Castle Square in Breda, The Netherlands. (Koen van Weel/Pool/Reuters)

: May 6, 2012: A Russian soldier stands at attention as troops march past during a general rehearsal for the upcoming Victory Day parade at Moscow’s Red Square. (Denis Sinyakov/Reuters)

: May 6, 2012: Helmets rest on the coffins of the remains of soldiers killed in World War II during a reburial ceremony near the village of Petrivsk, some 70 km (43 miles) from Kiev. Ukraine marks the 67th anniversary of Soviet victory over Nazi Germany on May 9. (Anatolii Stepanov/Reuters)

: May 6, 2012: A veteran looks at coffins, containing the remains of soldiers killed in World War Two, during a reburial ceremony near the village of Petrivsk, some 70 km (43 miles) from Kiev. (Anatolii Stepanov/Reuters)

: May 6, 2012: Military enthusiasts take part in a re-enactment of a World War II battle at the “Stalin Line” memorial, near the village of Goroshki, about 30 km (19 miles) west of Minsk. Belarus will celebrate the 67th anniversary of the Soviet Union’s victory over Nazi Germany in World War Two on May 9. (Vladimir Nikolsky/Reuters)

: May 6, 2012: Spectators watch from a roofless armoured vehicle as military enthusiasts take part in a re-enactment of a World War II battle at the “Stalin Line” memorial, near the village of Goroshki, about 30 km (19 miles) west of Minsk, Belarus. (Vladimir Nikolsky/Reuters)

: May 7, 2012: Two men stand near a statue of Soviet dictator Josef Stalin, styled after Brussels’ “Manneken Pis” (Peeing Boy) and installed by members of the Bratstvo (Brotherhood) nationalist party in Kiev. Ukraine, along with other ex-Soviet republics, will celebrate the 67th anniversary of the Allied victory in the Second World War on May 9, but nationalists, who consider the Soviet era a period of Russian occupation, denounce the celebrations. (Gleb Garanich/Reuters)

: May 8, 2012: World War Two veteran Alexander Blotsky, 92, poses for a photo at his house on the eve of Victory Day in the town of Turov, some 270 km (167 miles) south of Minsk. Belarus will celebrate the 67th anniversary of the Soviet Union’s victory over Nazi Germany in World War Two on May 9. (Vasily Fedosenko/Retures)

: May 8, 2012: Hayyim Broy (L), a 87-year-old Jewish Red Army veteran of World War Two, holds up an old photograph during a visit by volunteer hairdressers to his apartment in Russia’s Siberian city of Krasnoyarsk. As a former front scout and a soldier of the infantry, Broy fought at the 1st Belarusian Front under the command of Marshal of the Soviet Union Georgy Zhukov. He was seriously wounded during a battle in Berlin in May, 1945. (Ilya Naymushin/Reuters)

: May 8, 2012: World War Two veteran Anna Beliai, 86, looks at photographs in her house in the town of Turov, some 270 km (167 miles) south of Minsk, Belarus. (Vasily Fedosenko/Retures)

: May 8, 2012:World War Two veteran Adam Aliferovich, 87, fills up glasses with champagne in his house on the eve of Victory Day in the town of Zhitkovichi, some 270 km (167 miles) south of Minsk. (Vasily Fedosenko/Retures)

: May 8, 2012: World War Two veteran Alexander Blotsky, 92, shaves inside his house on the eve of Victory Day in the town of Turov, some 270 km (167 miles) south of Minsk, Belarus. (Vasily Fedosenko/Retures)

: May 8, 2012: Austrian fraternity members take part in a commemoration ceremony and a rally of far -right students corporations on the “Day for memory to the victims” of World War II, as Austria marked the anniversary of the end of World War II in Europe, at the Heldenplatz in Vienna. (Dieter Nagl/AFP/Getty Images)

: May 8, 2012: Members of traditional Austrian fraternities hold torches and raise their swords during a commemoration ceremony for the victims of World War II in front of Hofburg palace in Vienna. (Heinz-Peter Bader/Reuters)

: May 8, 2012: History enthusiasts dressed as Soviet soldiers and Nazi soldiers re-enact the liberation of Bratislava on during the commemoration of the 67th anniversary of the end of World War II. (Samuel Kubani/AFP/Getty Images)

: May 8, 2012: History enthusiasts dressed as Soviet soldiers and Nazi soldiers re-enact the liberation of Bratislava on during the commemoration of the 67th anniversary of the end of World War II. (Samuel Kubani/AFP/Getty Images)

: May 8, 2012: Belgian Prime Minister Elio Di Rupo looks at a crematorium at the former Nazi death camp of Auschwitz Birkenau. Among several ceremonies in many places in Europe, one thousand youths from all over Europe, aged between 16 to 18, participated in an international commemoration in Auschwitz Birkenau to celebrate the end of the second World War. (Yves Herman/Reuters)

: May 8, 2012: Belgian Prime Minister Elio Di Rupo (R) and Paul, baron Halter, a Belgian survivor of former Nazi death camp of Auschwitz Birkenau, lay flowers during a ceremony in Auschwitz Birkenau. (Yves Herman/Reuters)

: May 8, 2012: French soldiers parade during a ceremony marking the 67th anniversary of the Allied victory over Nazi Germany in World War II at the Arc de Triomphe in Paris. (Lionel Bonaventure/AFP/Getty Images)

: May 8, 2012: France’s outgoing president Nicolas Sarkozy (R) and president-elect Francois Hollande (L) attend a ceremony marking the 67th anniversary of the Allied victory over Nazi Germany at the Arc de Triomphe in Paris. Hollande and ousted rival Sarkozy laid a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier as France marked the anniversary of the end of World War II in Europe. (Jacky Naegelen/AFP/Getty Images)

: May 8, 2012: A member of the French Paris National Police Intervention Group watches the area next to the triumph arc where France’s outgoing president and president-elect will take part in the ceremony marking the 67th anniversary of the Allied victory over Nazi Germany in Paris. (Bertrand Guay/AFP/Getty Images)

: May 9, 2012: Police special forces officers ride atop an armoured personnel carriers during Victory Day parade in the Chechnya’s capital Grozny. (STR/AFP/Getty Images)

: May 9, 2012: Wearing World War II-era Red Army field uniform and medals a veteran (C) dances with actors in Gorky park, a traditional veterans meeting place, in Moscow. (Yuri Kadobnov/AFP/Getty Images)

: May 9, 2012: Wearing medals an elderly woman dances in front of the Bolshoi Theatre, a traditional veterans meeting place, in Moscow. (Kirill Kudryavtsev/AFP/Getty Images)

: May 9, 2012: World War II veteran Fyodor Bortsov, 86, sits in Gorky Park during a Victory Day celebration in Moscow. (Denis Sinyakov/Reuters)

: May 9, 2012: World War II veteran Fyodor Bortsov (L), 86, is offered a bunch of flowers by a child in Gorky Park during a Victory Day celebration in Moscow. (Denis Sinyakov/Reuters)

: May 9, 2012: World War II veterans share a joke, as a boy wearing a navy uniform listens to them, during a Victory Day celebration in Gorky Park in Moscow. (Denis Sinyakov/Reuters)

: May 9, 2012: A guard of honour waits to be inspected by officials during an anniversary ceremony marking the end of World War II in front of the parliament in Athens. (Yorgos Karahalis/Reuters)

: May 9, 2012: A Presidential guard pays tribute at the Tomb of the Unkown Soldier during an anniversary ceremony marking the end of World War II in front of the parliament in Athens. (Yorgos Karahalis/Reuters)

: May 9, 2012: A World War Two veteran wears orders during a Victory Day celebration in Tbilisi, Georgia. celebrates the 67th anniversary of victory over Nazi Germany on Wednesday. (David Mdzinarishvili/Reuters)

: May 9, 2012: People gather to mark Victory Day at the WWII open air museum in Kiev, Ukraine. (Sergei Supinsky/AFP/GettyImages)

: May 9, 2012: A boy climbs on a World War II monument at an open air museum in Kiev, Ukraine during Victory Day celebrations. (Sergei Supinsky/AFP/GettyImages)

: May 9, 2012: A little girl carries a balloon as she walks in front of a monument at the WWII open air museum in Kiev, Ukraine during Victory Day. (Sergei Supinsky/AFP/GettyImages)

: May 9, 2012: Usirov Usthan, a 92-year-old veteran of World War II, lays flowers by the monument of the Unknown Soldier at the Antakalnis memorial during Victory Day celebrations in Vilnius, Lithuania. (Petras Malukas/AFP/Getty Images)

: May 9, 2012: Young musicians, students of Russian military boarding school, march to open the Victory Day parade at the Red Square in Moscow. (Kirill Kudryavtsev/AFP/Getty Images)

: May 9, 2012: Russian soldiers march at the Red Square in Moscow during Victory Day parade. Thousands of Russian soldiers marched today across Red Square to mark the 67 years since the victory over Nazi Germany in World War II. (Kirill Kudryavtsev/AFP/Getty Images)

: May 9, 2012: Russian soldiers march at the Red Square in Moscow during Victory Day parade. (Kirill Kudryavtsev/AFP/Getty Images)

: May 9, 2012: Communist party members and supporters march in central Moscow as they celebrate Victory Day. (Andrey Smirnov/AFP/GettyImages)

: May 9, 2012: Russian soldiers shout “Hurra” at the Red Square in Moscow during Victory Day parade. (Kirill Kudryavtsev/AFP/Getty Images)

: May 9, 2012: A World War II veteran walks at the Red Square in Moscow after Victory Day parade. (Kirill Kudryavtsev/AFP/Getty Images)

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