274 ENDGAME AND AFTERMATH 194 4 –1955
Most Allied nations have an annual
day of remembrance, including
Veterans Day in the US, Anzac
day in Australia and New Zealand,
Victory Day in France and the
Czech Republic, and Liberation Day
in the Netherlands and Norway.
Russia commemorates victory
on May 9 with parades and
ceremonies. The war, specifically
the period 1941–1945, is known as
the Great Patriotic War, and its
remembrance acknowledges the
nation’s huge sacrifice in lives.
Among the events is the March of
the Immortal Regiment, in which
millions of citizens assemble carrying portraits and photographs of
World War II veterans, victims, and survivors. Many countries also
commemorate individual events. In the US, Pearl Harbor Remembrance
Day takes place annually on the anniversary of the attack (see pp.110–
111), while in Britain, Battle of Britain Day commemorates Fighter
Command’s victory over the Luftwaffe in 1940 (see pp.58–59).Axis nations remember
In Japan, the war remains a controversial subject; nevertheless, the
site of the Hiroshima bombing (see pp.258–259) is now the Hiroshima
Peace Memorial Park. In Germany, remembrance of the war is
characterized by somber reflection. Some former concentration
camps are preserved as museums, and the Berlin monument to the
Holocaust (right) serves as a stark reminder. In recent years, more
open discussion of the war has been encouraged.MUSIC FOR LENINGRAD
REMEMBRANCE
The memory of World War II is kept alive by most
of the participating countries, not only in ceremonies
and monuments but also in each nation’s particular
view of the war and of the sacrifices made by both
combatants and civilians.
A native of Leningrad,
the composer Dmitri
Shostakovich wrote the
first two movements of his
monumental Symphony
No. 7 in 1941, while the
city was under siege by the
Germans. Eventually safely
evacuated, he christened
the work the Leningrad
Symphony to honor the
city’s heroic resistance. It
premiered in 1942.△ Makeshift memorial
A hastily erected marker on a Normandy
beach marks the grave of a US soldier
killed during the D-Day landings in 1944.US_274-275_F_Remembrance.indd 274 04/03/19 10:47 AM