From Ira Kapitonova in Kyiv (Day 439):
Search me, O God, and know my heart!
Try me and know my thoughts!
And see if there be any grievous way in me,
and lead me in the way everlasting!
Psalm 139:23-24
May 8th is Victory in Europe Day or the Day of Remembrance and Reconciliation. On this day, we remember the victims of World War II and those who fought against Nazism. The words “Never again,” which are closely associated with this Remembrance Day, should mean that we would do everything to prevent war and genocide similar to those we saw during WWII. However, the same mistakes (appeasing the aggressor) and horrors haunt us now, 78 years later. Will we learn the lesson this time?
World War II was a tragic time in Ukraine’s history. Ukraine takes second place by the number of victims in that war, both in relative and absolute amounts – it lost 19.1% of its population. It was occupied by Nazi Germany, and many battles took place on its ground. However, even the end of WWII did not bring peace to Ukraine as it remained under Soviet occupation, with its ideology as vicious and cannibalic as the Nazi’s. Use of local residents who were forced to go to the front without any training or weapons, deportation of Crimean Tatars, as well as local Greeks, Bulgarians, and Armenians, to Central Asia, persecution of ostarbaiters (forced resettled workers) after their return to the Soviet Union, about a million Ukrainian political prisoners sent to the Gulag on accusations of disloyalty to the Soviet authorities – these are just a few of the crimes of that regime. Unfortunately, the collapse of the Soviet Union did not end its inhuman ideology, which has been revitalized in Russia, combining the elements of fascism, Nazism, and Russian imperialism (“ruscism” is the term we use for it). We will wait until the day it is defeated, and that is when we will celebrate the victory in Europe. Until then, we will focus on remembering, and we will remember, not only the victims of WWII but also those who gave their lives fighting against the Soviet regime and those fighting against Russian aggression today.
Voice of Ukraine 
One response to “5/9/2023 – 78 years later, Will we learn the lesson this time?”
Psalm 57
1 Be merciful unto me, O God, be merciful unto me: for my soul trusteth in thee: yea, in the shadow of thy wings will I make my refuge, until these calamities be overpast.
2 I will cry unto God most high; unto God that performeth all things for me.
3 He shall send from heaven, and save me from the reproach of him that would swallow me up. Selah. God shall send forth his mercy and his truth.
4 My soul is among lions: and I lie even among them that are set on fire, even the sons of men, whose teeth are spears and arrows, and their tongue a sharp sword.
5 Be thou exalted, O God, above the heavens; let thy glory be above all the earth.
6 They have prepared a net for my steps; my soul is bowed down: they have digged a pit before me, into the midst whereof they are fallen themselves. Selah.
7 My heart is fixed, O God, my heart is fixed: I will sing and give praise.
8 Awake up, my glory; awake, psaltery and harp: I myself will awake early.
9 I will praise thee, O Lord, among the people: I will sing unto thee among the nations.
10 For thy mercy is great unto the heavens, and thy truth unto the clouds.
11 Be thou exalted, O God, above the heavens: let thy glory be above all the earth.
See also Psalm 54-67
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