Based in Athens, The Paragraph offers an informed and humorous perspective on Greek and Global affairs, born of a longstanding relationship with the Russell Foundation (the 'Northern Garrison'). Here we re-blog an abridged version of Theo Iliadis' latest bulletin, published on the 70th anniversary of VE DAY.
A collection of articles (in Greek) on the Anniversary from the site iskra.gr
An article from The Independent, pondering on the absence of
important Western Heads of State from today's Victory celebrations in
Moscow
An excellent article (PDF) by Richard Sakwa, Professor of Russian and European Politics at the University of Kent, from the superb current
issue of The Spokesman, of The Bertrand Russell Peace Foundation, titled 'Think
Globally, Act Locally'. It is accompanied by a
book review
of Prof.
Sakwa's recent book Frontline Ukraine: Crisis in the Borderlands (also PDF,
see page 96) - the article is an excerpt from this book*A great article by Andre Vltchek
from the American leftist site
CounterPunch, titled 'To Be Russian'
An article from the Smithsonian Magazine (2013) titled 'Eleanor Roosevelt and the Soviet sniper'
A collection of links regarding Miss Lyudmila Pavlichenko (the aforementioned Soviet sniper) including scenes from a movie about her, and the war. (See also here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U7rDzoDbqSw )
Finally, a (longish) personal note, including some personal experiences on the occasion:
***
Dear friends, hello!
We hope you are all doing as well as possible in
the 'interesting times' we are living in, on a global scale. As you know, The
Paragraph has been out of circulation for some time, but today we thought that
we should not let this joyful and thought-provoking anniversary pass without
sending you all a Special Issue, together with our heartfelt wishes for all
that is good in life.
Hence we congratulate our dear Paragraph friends
and readers of all nationalities, on the 70th Anniversary of the Allied Victory
against Nazism. The anniversary of what is known the West as VE Day (Victory in Europe
Day), and in Russia simply as Victory Day (in a war Russians call The Great
Patriotic War), signifies a major victory of mankind against (man-made) forces
of darkness, wanton animosity, destruction, and unbridled hatred.
In this Special Issue please find attached:
Finally, a (longish) personal note, including some personal experiences on the occasion:
A week ago I was in the War Museum in Athens, in a
festive cinematographic event organised jointly by the Greek MoD (Ministry of
Defence), the Municipality of Athens and the Culture Centre of the Russian
Consulate here. Uniformed young privates of the Greek Army were distributing
the celebrations programme; this was only one of many in a series of events
organised in Athens for the Anniversary. On the Programme was the logo shown
below. I was deeply moved – and felt almost disbelief – seeing young Greek
soldiers on this duty!
As I
said, there were many more events, including an evening in the
Megaron Moussikis (Music Hall) this Monday, when the band of the Greek AF and
Greek and Russian singers gave an excellent performance. In contrast to the
evening in the War Museum – but true to the form of The Great Patriotic War –
this event started… Disastrously (on the PR front). Simple enough: the
organisers had a hard time in managing the rapid distribution of the (free)
invitations.
I noticed that, when one was trying to help overcome the mess, even if
‘skipping the hierarchy’, and taking initiatives – which I dared do both – they
did not react in a typically Greek way, e.g. 'Who do you think you are, pal?' Very patient... Took time to change course, but in the meantime were saying 'We
know you want to help but it will not work', etc. And this is an important
point. Such calm I remember only from some Anglos. In a nutshell, the
communication on the emotional level was unselfish.
So after initial difficulties and heavy losses on
the PR front, and again true to the spirit of The Great Patriotic War, as soon
as the concert started and the tunes were in the air both the co-ordination and
atmosphere got better and better, and the night culminated truly triumphantly! In addition, I must write that during the second part –
Greek songs – Theodorakis pieces immortalising the plight of the concentration
camps were prominent, plus Manos Hatzidakis 'Tsamiko', and lots more of good
music.
In the closing phase, apologies were promptly
offered from the podium to the audience (still half of us standing) for initial
organisational problems. Then short closing speeches, and then the National
Anthems. The enthusiastic and moved audience sang – standing, all of us – the Ode
To Freedom, our National Anthem.
Finally, as an overdue honour, and this regardless of future developments in
foreign affairs, etc.: Kudos to the SYRIZA-ANEL government, and all
participants and co-organisers for having the grit and courage (especially
under the current heavy politico-economic ‘friendly fire’ by our 'partners') to
take part and co-organise such unforgettable events, commemorating our common Great Victory on behalf of all humanity.
So – to all of you in East and West – our heartfelt
wishes and congratulations for Dem Pobiedy – Victory Day!
День Победы, Den Pobiedy!
Strength and Honour,
The Paragraph staff
[* Our
heartfelt thanks to our dearest 'Northern Garrison', our friends at The
Spokesman and The Bertrand Russell Peace Foundation (BRPF) for their very rapid response in sending us the PDF
of the article and the book review, especially since this issue had just
circulated! The idea of sending you Prof. Sakwa's article with this newsletter
came to us a bit late – at noon today; we had just received The Spokesman
and read the article on May 7th. We rushed to our Briton friends, and they,
steady as a rock ('always do it this way'!), rushed to respond. If reliability had a last name, it would be BRPF!
It is important to note here that Prof. Sakwa is of Polish descent, and that his father had fought with the Polish
brigade of the 8th Army in El-Alamein and Monte
Cassino; he had lost comrades-in-arms in Katyn. Hence his informed opinion on
the Ukraine affair is also of great moral significance and personal
objectivity, I believe.]
Always yours,
Theo
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