On September 3, the Moscow venue of the Valdai Club hosted an expert discussion titled “The 80th Anniversary of Victory in the Pacific: Meaning and Historical Memory”. Moderator Anton Bespalov, in the context of the parade held in Beijing in honour of the 80th anniversary of the Victory over Japan, which was attended by leaders of many countries, including Russian President Vladimir Putin, gave a brief sketch of the history of this holiday, celebrated in Russia on September 3 as Day of Victory over Militaristic Japan and the End of World War II.
On September 2, 1945, the surrender of Japan was signed aboard the USS Missouri. The following day was declared a non-working day and a holiday in the Soviet Union, but two years later September 3 became a working day again, just like May 9. However, while the later regained its former status, and in post-Soviet Russia became a key element around which historical memory is built, Victory in the Pacific Day remained in the shadows. “This is quite understandable, since the Great Patriotic War is seen in Russia as an existential confrontation. But for many countries of the Asia-Pacific region, the war with Japan has the same nature,” Bespalov emphasized. He noted that today, when Russia’s political, economic and humanitarian ties with Asia-Pacific countries are growing, interest in the history policies of these countries, for many of which the victory over Japan opened the way to decolonization, is also growing. Looking at their policies on historical memory, it can be seen that Russia has important coincidences with them on a number of issues that create space for dialogue, the moderator pointed out.
“When we hear the word ‘war,’ the first association is the Great Patriotic War,” said Konstantin Asmolov, Leading Researcher at the Korean Studies Centre at the Institute of China and Contemporary Asia of the Russian Academy of Sciences. According to him, when Brezhnev’s generation of leaders acted based on the principle “as long as there was no war,” they had in mind not a war at all, but a new Great Patriotic War.
But now that, against the backdrop of global turbulence, war is returning to First World politics, this may require analyzing other examples of war. Thus, in the context of the USSR’s participation in World War II, the victory over Japan, which is often forgotten, is an excellent example of a quick victory over a strong and dangerous enemy – no less serious than Nazi Germany. This victory, which was won on Japan’s own field, was not a sign of Japan’s weakness, but a sign of the Soviet Union’s strength. Given that it may be time to partially rethink the Eurocentric view of the beginning of World War II, September 3 becomes an important date, Asmolov said.
As the countries of the Global South join Russia’s efforts to build an alternative to the U.S. “rules-based order,” the theme of victory over a common enemy plays a particularly significant role. And here it is important to build a unified historical concept designed to create a compromise and a more realistic interpretation of events.
