Very clear, insightful article. It does put into good perspective the two points of view that exist toward the celebration of this holiday. In the US, V-E day is hardly mentioned anymore.
It's always been interesting to me how differently the US and former Soviet republics mark VE Day. I think the main driver for the difference is simply the scale of destruction and loss of life experienced by the Soviet Union. The US suffered almost no home-front losses and so looks at the war in terms of the 2 main theaters and not a lived experience for civilians. Also, VE Day did not end the war for the US since Japan was still fighting.
I'll also mention one other cultural thing. I think it's an Anglo-American thing to primarily remember "heroic" defeats rather than victories. Pearl Harbor Day is far more well known in the US than VE Day for example.
Very clear, insightful article. It does put into good perspective the two points of view that exist toward the celebration of this holiday. In the US, V-E day is hardly mentioned anymore.
It's always been interesting to me how differently the US and former Soviet republics mark VE Day. I think the main driver for the difference is simply the scale of destruction and loss of life experienced by the Soviet Union. The US suffered almost no home-front losses and so looks at the war in terms of the 2 main theaters and not a lived experience for civilians. Also, VE Day did not end the war for the US since Japan was still fighting.
I'll also mention one other cultural thing. I think it's an Anglo-American thing to primarily remember "heroic" defeats rather than victories. Pearl Harbor Day is far more well known in the US than VE Day for example.