09 May Victory Day

[mendeleyev]

Moscow's celebration is the largest normally, however other FSU cities know how to put on festive events as well. In comparison to last year's 65th Anniversary with all its diplomacy and meetings of heads of state, this year was not as robust. Yet the Moscow parade and accompaning activities had plenty of energy.
 
Often someone will ask why May 9th? Much of Europe and even the post-Soviet Baltic  republics mark Victory day on 08 May. (Older folks in the Baltics and ethnic Russians however still observe 09 May.)
 
When the Great Patriotic War (WWII) ended, there were separate surrenders to the Western Allies and to the Soviet Union. General Alfred Jodl, Chief-of-Staff of the German Armed Forces High Command, signed the unconditional surrender documents for all German forces to the Allies on May 7 with the the phrase "All forces under German control to cease active operations at 2301 hours Central European Time on May 8, 1945." That was the Allied surrender.
 
A day later (08 May) Nazi General Wilhelm Keitel traveled to Berlin late at night to sign a similar document, explicitly surrendering to Soviet forces in the presence of Red Army Marshall Georgi Zhukov. These German/Soviet surrender documents were signed at a time when it was already after midnight by Moscow time, thus on 9 May in Russia's view. The Soviet government announced the victory early that morning of 9 May after the signing ceremony in Berlin.

[mendeleyev]

Mendeleyev Journal readers have noticed that although I will refer to my wife from time to time, rarely is she in the spotlight. If using a photo of, or taken by, the lovely and talented Mrs Mendeleyeva, I normally ask her permission. She has yet to refuse me that privilege but I give her that courtesy out of respect.

So yesterday while preparing another installment in the Victory Day wrap-up coverage I experienced someone peeking over my shoulder asking "why didn't you show my photos?" 

From her spot in the reviewing stands on Red Square, she caught this nice scene.
 
 

[mendeleyev]

She also did a nice job of this scene with helicopers (invented by a Russian, by the way) suspending service flags down to Red Square during the parade.
 
 
(Click on this one TWICE, once for the pop up and then once again to make it larger for a clear view of the flags.)

[mendeleyev]

This is a view of the crowd in the presidential reviewing stands. If familiar with Red Square, this section is located between Lenin's tomb and the Spasskaya Tower, perhaps the most recognized of the 20 Kremlin towers. Built in 1491, the Spasskaya (means "Saviour") was named for a famous icon mounted inside the tower's passageway. In generations past it was the main entry from Red Square into the Kremlin territory.
 
Spasskaya is the tower that TV cameras focus on at night when there is breaking news from the government. It also holds a place of honour as it is shown just prior to the annual New Year address from the president just before the stroke of midnight. There are clocks on each side near the top and sometimes it is mistakenly called the Kremlin clocktower.
 
If you've been, you already know that:
 
1- Red Square isn't Red. It never was.
 
2- Neither is it "square."
 
Красная площадь (Krásnaya plóshchad’) is better translated as "Beautiful Plaza" and some credit the BBC years ago with making the mistranslation that has since stuck in the West. The words for red/beautiful are красный/красивый and come from the same idea so you get it. Those smooth gray cobblestones used to be...dirt. Until more modern times the Kremlin walls, which are now painted red, were painted white.
 
As for the term "square" the word площадь (plóshchad’) is used as in town square but in English we might think of it as more akin to "plaza." But square is okay and Russians use it all the time. Red Square isn't a true square with equal sides as it is more rectangular in shape.

[mendeleyev]

Here is an even better shot of the Spasskaya Tower with the audience assembled before the arrival of President Medvedev.
 
Centre/Left you can see another one of those landmarks that we Westerners just can't seem to help calling something other than its name. We know it as Saint Basil's Cathedral because a homeless man, a humble priest, pestered the Tsar endlessly about taking better care of the poor. So when he died, "Basil the fool for Christ" was buried in a new wing of a very old church of which the real name is Cathedral of the Protection of Most Holy Theotokos on the Moat (Собор Покрова пресвятой Богородицы, что на Рву). The central church of the 10 chapels inside is officially called the Church of the Intercession, but I have a feeling that "Saint Basil's Cathedral" isn't going to fade away anytime soon.
 
It isn't a "cathedral" either as a cathedral is technically home to a Bishop and this church, whatever we decide to call it today, has always been a church rather than cathedral. But it is one of the most beautiful in all of Russia. For centuries it was thought to contain 8 churches inside and in more recent times during careful restoration work, 2 "lost" chapels were discovered, hidden behind centuries of stone remodeling projects.
 

 
 

[mendeleyev]

Now seated, we are located on Red Square and from this vantage point the Spasskaya Tower is out of sight at the far left as we are angled toward Lenin's tomb, also unseen. GUM would be at our backs all the way across the Beautiful Plaza. Directly behind is the Kremlin wall and that smaller tower to the upper right is the Сенатская башня (Senate tower).
 
The Senate tower was a defensive add-on to the Kremlin walls. For a long time there were 3 towers without official names, this being one of them. After going nameless for 300 years, in the late 1700s it was called the Senate tower in honour of the yellow/white Senate building which you see behind the wall.
 
The Senate Building is sometimes thought to be the home of the Duma, Russia's parliment. However the Duma is housed in their own building not far from here, within walking distance across the Manezh and Revolution Plazas. Commissioned by Catherine II, construction on the Senate building began in 1776.
 
The Senate building is domed in the centre as you can see and is the symbolic office of the president. When that flag is flying, tradition says that he is in his office. The real presidential office is a complex and mansion located in Gorki, a Moscow suburb and when the president is really working at the Kremlin, which is just on diplomatic occasions, he has an office in administrative building 14 (that is its official name) nearby and he mostly uses the Kremlin Grand Palace for official state functions and receptions. This is an official occasion so the flag is flying to indicate that he is somewhere nearby.
 
 

[mendeleyev]

That next tower to the right in the previous photo, one of my favourites, is the beautiful Nikolskaya (St. Nicholas) Tower, from 1492. If you were to stand on Beautiful Plaza (Red Square) with the state Historical Museum immediately behind and "St Basil's" far down the length of the plaza, GUM on the left and the Kremlin to your right, this tower is just steps from where you'd be standing.
 
It was damaged during Napoleon's invasion of Russia and reconstructed. That beautiful green tiled roof was added with the repairs. Were you to enter the Kremlin at that gate (normally you wouldn't), you would see hundreds of French cannon left behind as Napoleon put his tail between his legs and sped out of town, but not before setting fire to everything known as ancient and special to the Russian people. Yes, he even set "Saint Basils" on fire but fortunately a sudden rain stopped any significant damage.
 
 

[mendeleyev]

In a rare appearance by Mrs Mendeleyeva, here she is on Red Square at the presidential reviewing stand with war hero General Antoshkin Nikolai Timofeevich (Антошкин Николай Тимофеевич). The BBC did a nice piece on him sometime back.
 
The General is a friend of mother's going back to when my late father-in-law served in Africa and Egypt in the Soviet diplomatic corp. My blue eyed, blonde haired Russian soulmate was born in Ethiopa.
 

 

[Rubicon]

Your wife is very pretty with such a nice smile!!

I heard some rumor about problems in Lvov during May 9th.  Do you know anything about this??  I think some Ukrainians there do not like Russians...

[mendeleyev]

First, thanks for the nice words, Rubicon. I will pass them along to the lovely lady. I tell her often that she is the most beautiful woman in the world, and she smiles brightly, but then reminds me that I need to use my glasses more often. 
 
Yes, trouble in Lvov and other places. Years ago when moving outside Los Angeles I rented a place short term and my landlord, an old Russian immigrant, gradually became a dear friend for life long after we'd moved into something more permanent.
 
Aleksandr had been a tank commander in the Soviet Red Army. His unit was captured and was promised fair treatment if they'd switch sides and help rid Russia of Stalin as dictator. Most of his unit donned special German uniforms and aided the Germans until the end of the war when captured by the British. The Allies agreed that all captured Russians and Ukrainians who had switched sides would be repatriated to Russia. Well, it doesn't take much imagination to understand what happened to traitors returned to Iosef Stalin.
 
On the way back to Russia there was a train breakdown and with minimal guards several carloads of prisoners were able to escape. Aleksandr ended up in Switzerland and eventually immigrated to the USA where he lived the rest of his life. He loathed Stalin and communism and it was his lifelong goal to bring members of his extended family to the West.
 
Lvov has many folks who were forced into the Soviet way of life, not by choice, but at the threat of their lives. Yet it was a city liberated from brutal Nazi occupation and the liberators fought bravely and many lives were lost to free the city. After the war with Germany was concluded, a terrible civil war continued as the Ukrainian Insurgent Army did battle with the Soviet Red Army. In addition, Lvov was not always a part of Ukraine and many of the residents were neither ethnic Ukrainians or Russians.
 
Those of us who stand on the outside looking in may not truly understand the depths of emotion by those who lived in that difficult era.
 
RT has an excellent article on the recent events in Lvov here: http://rt.com/news/victory-day-lvov-nationalism/
 
Ukrainian President Yanukovich spoke out against the Lvov decision to ban the Victory Day march: http://rt.com/politics/president-yanukovich-ukrainian-day/
 
 

[mendeleyev]

How could I forget the spy who showed up for the Victory Day parade?! Entry onto Red Square for this occasion requires special invitations and passes so certainly she didn't sneak here while nobody was looking.
 
She is quite the celebrity now in Russia.
 
Анна Чапман: Совершенно секретно (Anna Chapman: Top Secret) is the caption a popular blogger gave for his shot of Anna on Red Square.