May 9, 2010 – Victory Day

Today is a holiday called “Victory Day”, Medet and Vera asked if it was ok to take a day off and we accepted with no problem. We headed downtown at 9:30 for the parade. The holiday celebrated today was the victory of a war won against Germany, where 35 million people died. Below is a little history of "Victory Day".

The Soviet Victory Day or May 9 marks the capitulation of Nazi Germany to the Soviet Union in the Second World War (also known as the Great Patriotic War in the Soviet Union and some post-Soviet states). It was first inaugurated in the fifteen republics of the Soviet Union, following the signing of the surrender document late in the evening on 8 May 1945 (9 May by Moscow Time). It happened after the original capitulation that Germany earlier agreed to the joint Allied forces of the Western Front. The Soviet government announced the victory early on 9 May after the signing ceremony in Berlin. Though the official inauguration happened in 1945 (which means it has been celebrated since 1946), the holiday became a non-labour day only in 1965 and only in some of the countries.