Victory Day (9 May) in the context of "National Socialism"

Victory in Europe Day is the day celebrating the formal acceptance by the Allies of World War II of Nazi Germany's unconditional surrender of its armed forces on Tuesday, 8 May 1945; it marked the official surrender of all German military operations.

Most former Soviet countries, and some others, celebrate on 9 May, as Germany's unconditional surrender entered into force at 23:01 on 8 May Central European Summer Time; this corresponded with 00:01 on 9 May in Moscow Time.

The end of World War II in Europe occurred in May 1945. Following the suicide of Adolf Hitler on 30 April, leadership of Nazi Germany passed to Grand Admiral Karl Dönitz and the Flensburg Government. Soviet troops captured Berlin on 2 May, and a number of German military forces surrendered over the next few days. On 8 May, Field Marshal Wilhelm Keitel signed the German Instrument of Surrender, an unconditional surrender to the Allies, in Karlshorst, Berlin. This is celebrated as Victory in Europe Day, while in Russia, 9 May is celebrated as Victory Day.

Some fighting continued after the German surrender. Some battles continued on the Eastern Front such as the Courland Pocket in western Latvia surrendering on 10 May, and the Prague offensive in Czechoslovakia ending on 11 May. On 25 May 1945, the Battle of Odžak ended in a Yugoslav Partisan victory. Following the conclusion in the European theatre, with the war continuing in the Pacific theatre.

Akhmat-Khadzhi Abdulkhamidovich Kadyrov (23 August 1951 – 9 May 2004) was a Chechen politician and revolutionary who served as Chief Mufti of the Chechen Republic of Ichkeria in the 1990s during and after the First Chechen War. At the outbreak of the Second Chechen War he switched sides, offering his service to the Russian government, and later became the President of the Chechen Republic from 5 October 2003, having acted as head of administration since July 2000.

On 9 May 2004, he was assassinated by Chechen Islamists in Grozny, by a bomb blast during a Victory Day memorial parade. His son, Ramzan Kadyrov, who led his father's militia, became his successor in March 2007 as the President of the Chechen Republic.

The Immortal Regiment (Russian: Бессмертный полк, romanized: Bessmertnyy polk) is a massive civil event in major cities in Russia and around the world every 9 May during the Victory Day celebrations. It is also a public non-profit organization, created in Russia on a voluntary basis with the aim of "immortalizing" the memory of home front workers, armed forces service personnel, partisans, personnel of resistance organizations, and personnel of law enforcement and emergency services. It involves people carrying on the memory of war veterans, with participants carrying pictures of relatives or family friends who served in the country's labor sector, paramilitary units, the Soviet Armed Forces and law enforcement organizations during the Second World War.

The 2010 Moscow Victory Day Parade was held on 9 May 2010 to commemorate the 65th anniversary of the capitulation of Nazi Germany in 1945. The parade marks the Soviet Union's victory in the Great Patriotic War.

It was the largest parade held in Moscow, Russia since the Soviet Union's dissolution in 1991, and saw 11,135 troops, 127 aircraft and helicopters, and the new Topol-M mobile intercontinental ballistic missile taking part. For the first time, the 2010 parade on Red Square also included military units from foreign countries who were allied with the Soviet Union during World War II, with representation from France, Poland, the United Kingdom, the United States and members of the Commonwealth of Independent States.

The 2005 Moscow Victory Day Parade was a military parade which took place in Red Square in Moscow on 9 May 2005 to celebrate the 60th anniversary of the capitulation of Nazi Germany in 1945. The parade was inspected by the Minister of Defence Sergei Ivanov and it was commanded by Moscow Military District Commander General of the Army Ivan Efremov. Music was performed by the Massed Bands of the Moscow Garrison directed by Colonel Valery Khalilov on his 3rd national parade, the first to include 4 international marching bands. After the inspection of the troops, President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin gave his 6th-holiday address to the nation. More than 150 foreign dignitaries (included 50 heads of state) were presented. Among them were Secretary General of the United Nations Kofi Annan, European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso, UNESCO Director General Koichiro Matsuura, President of the United States George W. Bush, President of the People's Republic of China Hu Jintao, Japanese Prime Minister Junichirō Koizumi, French President Jacques Chirac, Chancellor of Germany Gerhard Schroeder, President of Kazakhstan Nursultan Nazarbayev and President of Turkmenistan Saparmurat Niyazov. It was the largest parade in the history of Russia, and one of the largest in the world's history.