16 May 2011. An Ordinary Day in the Rodina… Graffiti in Tushino (A Working Class District in Moscow)…

******

******

******

******

******

******

******

******

******

******

******

16 May 2011. A Photo Essay. A Russian Point of View: Life in Japan After the Tsunami

Rikuzentakata (Iwate Prefecture. Tōhoku Region)

******

Higashi-Matsushima (Miyagi Prefecture. Tōhoku Region)

******

Higashi-Matsushima (Miyagi Prefecture. Tōhoku Region)

******

Rikuzentakata (Iwate Prefecture. Tōhoku Region)

******

Faceless Fifty: “Heroes of Japan fight to end”

******

Soma (Fukushima Prefecture. Tōhoku Region)

******

Kesennuma (Miyagi Prefecture. Tōhoku Region)

******

Kesennuma (Miyagi Prefecture. Tōhoku Region)

******

Ayukawa Harbour. Ishinomaki (Miyagi Prefecture. Tōhoku Region)

******

“Tsunami dog” Ban reunited with owner after surviving at sea

******

Natori (Miyagi Prefecture. Tōhoku Region)

******

Hiyori Yama (Weather Hill). Natori  (Miyagi Prefecture. Tōhoku Region)

******

Iwaki (Fukushima Prefecture. Tōhoku Region) 

******

Natori (Miyagi Prefecture. Tōhoku Region)

******

A Multimedia Presentation. A Farewell to Victory Day 2011… Memorials to the Fallen… No One is Forgotten… Nothing is Forgotten… They All Had Faces… They All Had Names…

Tiergarten. Berlin (Berlin City State) GERMANY

******

Treptower Park. Berlin (Berlin City State) GERMANY

******

Szabadság Tér (Freedom Square). Budapest HUNGARY

******

The USSR in Our Hearts

******

Wŏnsan (Kangwŏn Province) DPRK

******

Svidník (Svidník District. Prešov Kraj) SLOVAKIA

******

Svidník (Svidník District. Prešov Kraj) SLOVAKIA

******

Lev Leshchenko sings “Victory Day“

******

Hulin (Prefecture-level City of Jixi. Heilongjiang) PRC

******

Bratislava (Bratislava Kraj) SLOVAKIA

******

Bratislava (Bratislava Kraj) SLOVAKIA

******

Oleg Gazmanov gives a rousing performance of “I was Born in the USSR!”

******

The Red Army Chorus performs “A Song About Dovator’s Cossacks”

******

Warsaw (Mazowieckie Province) POLAND

******

Riga (Riga Region) LATVIA

******

Riga (Riga Region) LATVIA

******

Remember the generation that fought in the 2nd Great Patriotic War…

******

Treptow. Berlin (Berlin City State) GERMANY

******

Bendery TRANSISTRIA 

******

Pogrebishche (Pogrebishche Raion. Vinnitsa Oblast) THE UKRAINE

******

Viktoriya Borisenko performs “My Moscow”, a popular song of the VOV period…

******

Tallinn (Harju County) ESTONIA

******

Vienna (Vienna City State) AUSTRIA

******

Salzgitter (Salzgitter Stadtkreis. Lower Saxony) GERMANY

******

Victory Day tribute…

******

The Red Army Chorus performs “The Song of the Red Army (Invincible and Legendary)”

******

Village of Chumazovo (Baryatinsk Raion. Kaluga Oblast. Central Federal District) RF

******

Russian Memorial Church. Leipzig (Leipzig Stadtkreis. Leipzig District. Saxony) GERMANY

******

The Mother-Motherland Calls! Mamayev Kurgan Memorial Complex. Volgograd (Volgograd Oblast. Southern Federal District) RF

******

Varvara sings a modern pop version of “Katyusha”

******

The Mother-Motherland Calls! Mamayev Kurgan Memorial Complex. Volgograd (Volgograd Oblast. Southern Federal District) RF

******

Mamayev Kurgan Memorial Complex. Volgograd (Volgograd Oblast. Southern Federal District) RF

******

Brest Hero Fortress. Brest (Brest Oblast) BYELORUSSIA

******

Yelena Vaenga sings “The Sacred War”… perhaps the most iconic song to come out of the VOV… the audience rises to honour the fallen… Russians are unlike Anglo Americans, who’re nothing but shameless followers of the Almighty Dollar and obsequious worshippers of Power

******

St Nicholas Church at Brest Hero Fortress. Brest (Brest Oblast) BYELORUSSIA

******

Park Pobedy (Victory Park). St Petersburg (St Petersburg Federal City. Northwestern Federal District) RF

******

Piskarevskoye Memorial Cemetery.The Motherly Care of the Motherland. St Petersburg (St Petersburg Federal City. Northwestern Federal District) RF

******

This, I think, is a fitting way to wrap up this year’s tribute to the brave veterans who fought in the Anti-Fascist Coalition against the Hitlerite scum. There are fewer of them every year… within 20 years, they’ll all be gone from amongst us. Remember them… remember their deeds… remember what they fought against. Bear their banner of glory into the future… and don’t be sidetracked by lying and demonic rubbish such as “Think and Grow Rich”… you spit on their heritage of bravery and honour when you chase after the almighty dollar. We have better things to centre our lives around, don’t we?

Here’s a poem by Olga Berggolts:

Здесь лежат ленинградцы

Здесь горожане — мужчины, женщины, дети.
Рядом с ними солдаты-красноармейцы.
Всею жизнью своею
Они защищали тебя, Ленинград,
Колыбель революции.
Их имён благородных мы здесь перечислить не сможем,
Так их много под вечной охраной гранита.
Но знай, внимающий этим камням:
Никто не забыт и ничто не забыто.

******

Here Lay Leningraders

Here are city dwellers, men, women, and children
Next to them, Red Army soldiers.
They defended you, Leningrad,
The cradle of the Revolution
With all their lives.
We cannot list their noble names here,
There are so many of them under the eternal protection of granite.
But know this, those who regard these stones:
No one is forgotten, nothing is forgotten.

There’s nothing further to add, save, “Never Again! We’ll never forget you!” May they all find repose in the mansions of the righteous.

BMD