Liya Robertson watched with pride the TV images of young Russians marching through the streets of Moscow, holding aloft pictures of relatives who died fighting in the Second World War.
Also watching the May 9 Victory Day parades across Russia was her 96-year-old uncle Ismagil Miftakhov, a Red Army veteran who still lives in the old country.
Seventy-three years after Nazi Germany’s defeat – at a time when great power tensions are once more brewing – both niece and uncle bore an important message for Canadians and Russians alike.
“The next war breaks out when people forget the last war,” said Robertson, who lives in New Glasgow with her family.
Her warning comes as neo-fascists are once again on the march in both Europe and the United States.
She felt it was more important than ever to remember the horrors of the Second World War and the Holocaust.
The Soviet Union alone lost an estimated 27 million soldiers and civilians between 1941 and 1945.
When Adolf Hitler’s troops invaded in 1941, Nazi forces killed or captured several million Red Army troops in the first months, many of whom were caught completely unprepared.
Behind the front lines, German death squads and SS units systematically rounded up Jews, Gypsies and Slavs, whom the Nazis deemed as subhuman.
Millions were deported to death camps and killed, or machine-gunned and buried in mass graves, some of which were filled with tens of thousands of corpses.
It was only after the Soviet victory at Stalingrad that the Red Army managed to push the Germans out and advance toward Berlin. As they did so, Soviet soldiers uncovered evidence of widespread Nazi atrocities, including death camps like Auschwitz.
But the veterans who fought to defend their country against Hitler are now dying off.
“Every year [there] is less and less,” said Robertson.
But her elderly uncle had a message of hope for Canadians.
“I would like to see Canada and Russia live in friendship, not to have any wars and I wish people’s families health,” said Miftakhov last week.
He was a Red Army radio operator during the war. One of his jobs was running radio wires through Soviet trenches, often under heavy German bombardment and gunfire.
Robertson said that every year around May 9, the Russian government offers her uncle and other veterans free days at local health spas.
Having survived a war that left tens of millions dead, Miftakhov remains extremely grateful for what he has in life.
He lives in the Russian city of Ufa with his wife Vasima and they have three children, plus grandchildren and great-grandchildren whom they enjoy spending time with.
“He is very proud. He is happy,” said Robertson.
The May 9 parade is held in Moscow and other Russian cities every year to mark the victory against Germany.
It is also a chance for Russia’s current government to show off new military hardware such as tanks, missiles and fighter jets in front of an international audience.
