The war of memory about the role of the USSR in the victory in World War II has been going on for decades. It has several components: it is a war of monuments, a war of memorial events and commemorative practices, and a war of official discourses. The two existing opposing narratives are built on different foundations – one is based on historical facts, the other on their distortion – and they accordingly pursue different goals. The truth about the war is defended by Russia, Asian countries and some European countries, while the other narrative is promoted by the United States as well as certain European countries in order to conduct an obvious politicisation of memory (although the official narrative does not always reflect the moods and opinions of the residents of the country itself).
In his address on the occasion of the 70th anniversary of the end of the war, US President Barack Obama said that the allies won the war in Europe. Exactly five years later, his successor Donald Trump also mentioned allies in his statement, but later 2020 he followed up with statements that “American heroes” won two world wars and defeated fascism. Trump even called the victory “American”. Similar statements were made by his successor Joseph Biden. On National Remembrance Day 2024, the American president noted that the US military personnel who landed in Normandy liberated Europe and saved the world.
The distortion of historical facts is also clearly happening in European countries. In 2019, the Estonian Foreign Ministry claimed that the USSR did not liberate Estonia, but occupied it, and similar statements were made in the same year by its fellow Baltic state, Lithuania. In 2021, the same words were repeated by the President of Latvia, while in 2019, the Polish president doubted whether it was even possible to talk about victory. In a statement by the Ukrainian president in 2015, it was noted that “we would not have won this war without the Ukrainians.”
While serving as British Prime Minister, Boris Johnson in 2020 and 2022 noted the decisive contribution of the USSR to victory and its heroic role, but after leaving office, he said that the West had won the war with the help of Ukraine. Given Johnson’s role in the conflict in Ukraine, his statements are not surprising.
One country that remembers the contribution of the members of the anti-Hitler coalition and resists any attempts to distort the facts of World War II is the Russian Federation. Counteracting falsifications is the national strategy of the state, which defends the truth about the contribution of the USSR to victory.
Thus, speaking at military parades in honour of the 70th and 75th anniversaries of Germany’s defeat, President Vladimir Putin clearly stated that the Soviet people crushed and destroyed Nazism and liberated the peoples/states of Europe, not forgetting the contribution of Britain, France, the USA, as well as anti-fascists of various countries to victory. It was the USSR that “took upon itself the most brutal blows of the enemy,” pulled in “top-notch groups of Nazis” and concentrated all military power. Considering that the largest, most decisive battles in terms of numbers of troops and equipment took place on the territory of the Soviet Union, it is quite logical that “it was the Red Army that, as a result of the crushing assault on Berlin, put a victorious end to the war with Nazi Germany,” Putin said in 2015.
The memory of the victory is also preserved in several European countries. In his 2024 speech in Belgrade, titled “Revision of Historical Facts and the Resistance of Freedom-Loving Nations,” Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic rejected the narrative that the United States played a key role in the victory and that the Normandy landing was the most important battle of the war. The USSR’s decisive contribution to victory was recounted in 2024 by the Serbian leader and the Prime Minister of Slovakia Robert Fico. In 2015, the president of the neighbouring Czech Republic, Milos Zeman, admitted that without the USSR, there would have been no talk of victory over fascism, and a similar statement was made in 2024 by Fico himself. On the 75th anniversary of Germany’s defeat, Zeman said that the Red Army had liberated most of Czechoslovakia, and his words were repeated in 2023 by Slovak President Zuzana Čaputová, who spoke about the liberation of her country and Eastern Europe.
The leaders of Germany itself cherish the memory of the USSR's contribution to Hitler’s defeat. In 2015, German Chancellor Angela Merkel spoke about the decisive role of the Red Army in liberating her country from Nazism: she noted that Red Army soldiers of different nationalities liberated Berlin, and together with their Western allies – all of Germany. In 2022, German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier said that the allies from the West and East defeated Hitler: “Liberation for Germany came from outside.”
Attempts to distort history are opposed not only by the aforementioned European countries, but also by Asian states. In 2015, Chinese President Xi Jinping, addressing the enormous losses that Russia and other peoples suffered for the sake of victory and recalling that Russia was the main theatre of military operations in the war in Europe, expressed the readiness of the two countries “to oppose any actions and attempts to deny, distort and rewrite the history of World War II.” In 2020, the Chinese leader reiterated his readiness to work together with his Russian counterpart “to combine efforts to resolutely defend victory” in the war.
Historical truth is also defended in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea. On the 75th anniversary of the victory over Germany, North Korean leader Kim Jong-un recalled that the Russian people “achieved the Great Victory in a just war against fascism” and “defended the peace and security of the entire world.” In 2024, the North Korean leader even called Russia’s merits in winning the victory a sacred truth.
Other Asian countries also remember the Soviet Union’s contribution to Germany’s defeat. In 2015, Indian President Pranab Mukherjee recalled the “final, decisive blow” of the USSR, which “crushed the forces of Nazism and fascism.” That same year, Mongolian President Tsakhiagiin Elbegdorj recalled that Soviet soldiers liberated Europe and the world from the fascists. In 2017, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad noted that “if it weren’t for the USSR’s victory, there would have been no landing in Normandy.”
In Vietnam and Israel, this memory has another component. Hanoi emphasizes that as a result of the victory, the people of Vietnam rose up to fight for power and won the 1945 revolution, while Israel remembers that the victory of the Red Army led to “the end of the systematic persecution and extermination of Jews in Europe and the liberation of survivors in concentration camps in Poland and Germany.”
In fact, when it comes to official narratives, the choice is between memory and politics, and it reflects upon the country’s ruling elites. At the same time, a choice made once can change, taking into account various factors, primarily geopolitical ones, but sometimes memory is stronger than even politics.
