#Ukraine war anniversary.

[folklorespring]

One year ago russia blew up the Nova Kakhovka Dam.

[dontforgetukraine]

Today is the 83rd anniversary of the Babyn Yar Massacre.

Over two days from September 29-30, 1941, the Nazis shot over 30,000 Jews in Kyiv. Entire families were forced to walk down to the ravine on the "Road of Death". Around 100,000 people were killed at Babyn Yar during the Nazi occupation.

Babyn Yar is a terrifying symbol, showing that the most heinous crimes occur when the world chooses to ignore, remain silent, stay indifferent, and lacks the determination to stand up against evil. When the eyes of the world are closed, humanity loses. Babyn Yar is vivid proof of the atrocities that regimes are capable of when led by leaders who rely on intimidation and violence. —Volodymyr Zelenskyy

The site of Babyn Yar and its memorials (like the large menorah above) have increased in significance since Russia's full scale invasion. It was attacked in March 2022. The most iconic memorials escaped damage, but the main grounds suffered burnt and uprooted trees and damage to a building that was designated to be used for a museum (it had not been in use yet at that time).

After the attack in 2022, the chair of Babyn Yar's advisory board, Natan Sharansky said, "It is symbolic that [Russian President Vladimir Putin] starts attacking Kyiv by bombing the site of the Babyn Yar, the biggest Nazi massacre."

As Russia has frequently done, Sharansky said Putin had sought to "distort and manipulate the Holocaust to justify an illegal invasion of a sovereign democratic country." Russian propaganda has frequently called Ukraine a country of "neo-nazis" and that Russia's goal is to "denazify" Ukraine.

This isn't the first time Russia has tried to manipulate and erase history, especially when it comes to Babyn Yar.

"They physically tried to destroy these graves and delete the history, it's unbelievable how important it was for Soviets to change the nature of the place," Sharansky said. "There were so many attempts to erase Babyn Yar and change its nature, finally we turned it into a big memorial, and that is once again overshadowed by Russian aggression."

For decades under Soviet rule, the victims of Babyn Yar were only referred to as "Soviet" victims with no mention of Jews being the main victims. Finally, the large menorah memorial was erected in the 1990s under an independent Ukraine.

Source: Babyn Yar: Anger as Kyiv's Holocaust memorial is damaged

These photos show the Mirror Field installation to honor the victims of Babyn Yar. The memorial has visual and audio components to it that visitors can experience.

The main symbol is the Tree of Life, which is found in many religions and mythologies around the world. "The Babyn Yar tragedy shows how easily this tree can be destroyed, and its branches — broken."

This memorial is entirely made of stainless steel, with the main podium being a mirror disk of 40 meters in diameter accompanied by 10 reflective pillars that are 6 meters tall. "The columns and the disk were shot through by bullets of the same caliber that the Nazis used during execution in Babyn Yar."

Below you can find a 360 degree video of it here for an example of the audio-visual experience. To read more on this memorial and about the audio experience, you can read about it here.

[herukapadmajungiansworld]

[deadlilmoon]

1year anniversary today huh.

[damnhitsuzen]

Today is 10 year anniversary of the most horrible day of Revolution of Dignity, when more than 70 people were killed in protests.

Today marks 10 years since russia attacked Ukraine's integrity and sovereignty and started the occupation of Crimea.

10 years ago bravest people I knew were ready to protect freedom and dignity with cobblestones and bats, protected by nothing more than wooden shields and construction helmets. They went against bullets and too many died, once again making the price of freedom unbearable. 10 years and I still choke on pain and tears and horror. You never knew then what exactly drew tears - pain or smoke that seemed to never disappear. For me, it is not the poppy that is the flower of remembrance, but a tulip. I have no idea why, but there was so many tulips on Maidan when funerals started. Everything was covered in them, like we ran out of other flowers. I will never look at tulips without thinking about that February.

Now, 10 years later we are still paying an unbearable price for freedom. And it's still bigger then us. And we still don't have enough arms.

And it still doesn't stop us.

It is not a story you will want to go through. So today I urge you to share this message: The era of peace in Europe is over.

If you think we will be able to finish this with peace talks, you are still clinging to that flimsy illusion we used to have - "security".

It is 10 years too late for talks.

We need to arm.

I think Europe had already missed the chance to make it only Ukrainian fight. But we are still standing and that means freedom, democracy, and dignity still have a chance.

[nando161mando]

Dziś przedstawiamy wam okolicznościowe wideo nagrane z okazji 2 rocznicy pełnowymiarowej inwazji Rosji na Ukrainę. Jeden z naszych anarchistycznych towarzyszy na linii frontu w Ukrainie tłumaczy, co niesie ze sobą rosyjski imperializm i dlaczego walka z nim musi trwać nadal, bo alternatywą jest katastrofa.

Today we present to you a commemorative video recorded on the occasion of the 2nd anniversary of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine. One of our anarchist comrades on the front line in Ukraine explains what Russian imperialism brings and why the fight against it must continue because the alternative is disaster.

[tomorrowusa]

^^^ Almost exactly a year ago, we saw one of the most impressive moments in the history of the internet featuring one of the most impressive heads of state in modern history.

Wars don’t go away because people in third countries get bored with them. Ukraine needs our support today as much as it did on 24 February 2022.

Putin is still a dangerously delusional autocrat who has broken international law in a big way just because he felt like it. And having started Europe’s biggest war since 1945, he certainly can’t be trusted to uphold any future agreements. He believes he’s the 21st century Peter the Great; though the original Peter would probably cringe at the suggestion.

The only outcome that can result in peace in Europe for the next few decades is for Putin to be pushed out of Ukraine entirely. Anything less than that leaves the door open to attacks on other neighbors based on flimsy historical pretexts which long ago were superseded by international agreements.

[caeruleophile]

I can't believe it's been a year. And I'm not happy about ukraine suffering from my country's army. I have friends in ukraine. I hate that we started this war, i hate that we are fighting in 2023, when normal people are solving their problems with words and conversations. I can't believe it happened and still goes.

ukraine, stay safe, i wish you luck.

and i wish our government to end this shit as soon as possible. all countries hated us before, but we decided to make them hate us even more. what's the point, russia? what are we trying to prove?

i still can't believe it's been a year....

[babakca]

Ukraine  Anniversary Toronto 

[memenewsdotcom]

Ukraine war anniversary

[folklorespring]

💔 Two years since the Olenivka terrorist attack

[lauferisms]

I'll admit, I also wasn't sure if Russia would go through with the invasion or not.

Why?

Because Putin's Machiavellian strategy has been so successful in portraying himself as a Misunderstood Realist while committing countless war crimes for years.

He annexed Crimea, then got to host FIFA. He bombed Syrian hospitals, then got to help with ISIS. He fucking interfered in an American election, which both the left and the right deny to this day.

Every horrible thing he did was brushed off with some shit about Iraq.

He is by the way. Far worse than Bush. His and Iran's* actions in Syria alone dwarf anything done in 2000s Iraq by MILES.

People want to talk about how the west ignores "Brown" countries for "White" Ukraine?** 2022 is the first time people recognized Putin as evil after a fucking decade of destroying Syrian hospitals.

And the worst part is that his influence can STILL be felt today, as powerful Leftist groups like the DSA have dropped all pretense of Realpolitik in places like Syria, where they have gone, no hyperbole, fully pro-Assad, parroting Kremlin rhetoric to the fucking letter.

Again, under all these circumstances, why SHOULDN'T he conquer Ukraine? After all, "IraqVietnamKissingerBushManufacturingConsent"

* Who's still largely seen as a Peaceful Country Minding Its Own Business by the left

** Even though no one gave a shit about it after early 2015; Russia got to host FIFA

[haute-lifestyle-com]

President Biden joined world leaders at Normandy Beach, to commemorate the 80th Anniversary of the D-Day Invasion, the largest amphibious invasion in history, which marked the beginning of the Allied Invasion to liberate Europe from Nazi rule

[panimoonchild]

Suvğa tayanma, rusqa inanma (don't lean on water, don't rely on a Russian)

On the 80th Anniversary of the Genocide of the Crimean Tatars, I want to share both contemporary stories of continued tribute to Russian crimes from political prisoner pow and the family's memories of Crimean Tatars who chose to serve in the Armed Forces.

As part of the Letters to a Free Crimea initiative, @ DariiaAstafieva read a letter from Halyna Dovhopola, a native of Crimea and a pensioner who was illegally detained by Russia in November 2019 and accused of alleged "high treason."

— On March 24, they tried to break three middle fingers on my right hand. I have strong bones and have never had any fractures, but the swelling, bruising, and wild pain ensured that I would be in pain for two weeks. It was the day of the first trial verdict. Whether it was a coincidence or it was planned, on that day the convoys treated me worse than the Gestapo: they threw me in and out of the car, shouted, and cursed. In addition to three swollen fingers, I had crimson bruises on both hands, and I was laughing in their faces - 12 years in prison! For six months I tried not to imagine my abandoned house and yard. I would start thinking about my children and grandchildren, and after a few minutes, I would order myself not to touch the bare wires. It worked. It was only when I didn't hear from my son for a long time that I panicked and worked myself up. I lived mostly with the thought that one day I would return to Kyiv and that my Facebook friends would be happy to see me and write nice messages. And I would be happy for each of them, I would joke and laugh, and everyone would be surprised by me.

To mark the 80th anniversary of the deportation of the Crimean Tatar people, Isa Akayev, commander of the Crimea special forces, tells the story of his family's deportation and his motivation to resist the occupiers with arms.

Read the first story from the special project "Qarşılıq / Resistance" in the thread. I was born in Uzbekistan. In deportation.

I spent my childhood in the area where Russians deported not only Crimean Tatars, but also Koreans, Germans, Poles, Czechs, and dekulakized Ukrainians. Growing up, I saw with my own eyes what Russia was doing to other people. My grandmother always told me that we must return to Crimea because it is our home.

"If we do not return there, we will simply disappear. Remember that a people without land dissolves. The strength of the people comes from the land," my grandmother told me. Although I was born and raised in exile, I always remembered where my real home was and where I came from. I remember that before the deportation, my father's family lived in the village of Mamashay, which the Russians renamed Orlovka. I knew that my mother was a purebred Nogai and that her family came from the village of Akshaykh, although the Russians called it Razdolnoye. I would like Crimea to become the way my ancestors knew it. I want the Crimean Tatar language to be heard there and our culture to flourish. I want to do everything in my power to make Crimea a center of development, not decline, as the Russians have made it. Because we grew out of this land. We are children of this land.

And that is why we will definitely liberate Crimea from the occupiers. That is why we will definitely return home.

This is what I am fighting for.

On the 80th anniversary of the deportation of the Crimean Tatar people, a soldier of the 24th Brigade with the call sign "Turk" tells the story of his family, which was criminally deported by the Soviet authorities in 1944. "There are five children in our family, and my brother and I have three older sisters. My father always wanted a son, but he got two at once. Me and my brother.

And if not for the Russians, we would not have been the only twins in our family. Our grandmother was pregnant when the Russians broke into the young couple's house and forced them to pack their belongings in a hurry. Like everyone else, they were given little time to grab at least the most necessities. Some food, documents, and a Koran. When we were young, my grandmother told us about all the horrors they had to endure. My grandmother's first husband did not survive the journey. Shortly after arriving at the deportation center, her brother died due to the terrible conditions of detention, and my grandmother learned that she was carrying twins under her heart. She also lost them. My brother and I were born half a century after these events, but we have not forgotten the crimes committed by the Russians against our people and our family. And we will never forget. I will not forget my grandmother's eyes when she talked about the house stolen by the Russians, and about the children she lost. I will not forget those long hours of waiting for the evacuation of my severely wounded brother, who was bleeding in my arms. I will not forget and I will continue to fight. Because I have only one path.

And this is the way to the liberated Crimea, to the liberated home."

On the 80th anniversary of the deportation of the Crimean Tatar people, a serviceman of the 112th separate motorized rifle brigade "Tataryn" @ ant_etkenmen tells the story of his family's deportation in 1944 and his motivation to fight for the liberation of Crimea. "The most important lesson I learned from my grandmother is that you shouldn't trust Russians. Never.

She always repeated an old Crimean Tatar proverb: "suvğa tayanma, rusqa inanma (don't lean on water, don't rely on a Russian)". Bita said that shortly before the deportation, which was later organized by the Soviet authorities, freight cars were brought to the station in Karasubazar, where our family lived at the time, which was in poor condition and needed repair. The authorities rounded up able-bodied Crimean Tatars to fix the cars. It was allegedly done for the needs of the army. But within a day and a half, the same railroad cars that the Crimean Tatars were repairing became graves for many of them. Since childhood, I have been taught to study the history of my people, and that is how I learned that the 1944 deportation was not the only one, but only "one of the" ones. Moreover, my father always emphasized that one should also study the history of one's enemy because this is the only way to defeat them. So I also studied the history of Russia. Every year, my parents took me with them to rallies dedicated to the events of May 18, the date of the deportation of the Crimean Tatar people, so that I would never forget what our people went through. And the older I got, the more my parents and I discussed each rally in detail. But my grandmother's stories about the deportation were usually short - she would start crying, and because of her tears, she could not continue every time. I learned from my father that my grandmother was deported to the Urals, and from there they eventually managed to move to Uzbekistan (this was allowed for families of professional workers). And later, more than half a century later, Bita was able to return to Crimea from the places of deportation. When I was a kid, I was surprised that Bita, when talking about the deportation, started crying almost immediately, and when she mentioned the war, she held on a little longer and managed to tell more.

Now I realize that she met and experienced the war and the German occupation at home."

On the 80th anniversary of the deportation of the Crimean Tatar people, Asan Isenadzhiev @ dr_livese tells the story of his family, who were criminally deported by the Soviet authorities in 1944. "My grandfather told a story about the deportation that I remember very well. While they were being forced into a freight train, a little girl fell out of the carriage. The Russians set dogs on her.

No one chased the dogs away… This all happened in front of my grandfather, who was still a child. I also had to see similar events live. With a difference of 78 years. Again on May 18. And again because of the Russians. The captivity in Taganrog was hell. And there I often thought about our history. My family had gone through many trials. I remembered what my grandparents, great-grandparents, and great-great-grandparents had gone through, and I told myself that I had to be worthy of it. My great-grandfather went through the Second World War, reached Cologne, was wounded, returned to the war, and then there was deportation… But despite everything, they survived.

So I had to go through all the trials and survive. Despite everything, my family returned to their native Crimea.

Similarly, one day I want to walk the streets of Bakhchisarai again, see the Dzhur-Dzhur waterfall, and the Angarsk Pass, and climb Demerdzhi. I want to feel at home again."

To mark the 80th anniversary of the deportation of the Crimean Tatar people, a veteran of the 24th Brigade with the call sign "Lancer" tells the story of his family, which was criminally deported by the Soviet authorities in 1944. I was born in deportation, but I don't remember anything from there. For me, Uzbekistan is just an entry in my birth certificate, my home has always been Crimea. When my brother and I were two years old, our family - parents, grandmother, and five children - returned from the places of deportation. My parents tried very hard to provide us with a happy childhood, despite the lack of money, the difficulties, and the need to build a house and our entire life from scratch. We were on our land. We were at home.

In 2014, our sense of home was taken away from us again. My father foresaw this because he warned us that we could not trust the Russians, absolutely all russians.

I didn't understand much as a kid, but I felt the silent contempt with which the Russians generously "bestowed" on us.

They always behaved as if we, the Crimean Tatars, were strangers in Crimea, and they, on the contrary, were the masters. And even so, I still could not fully believe that Russia would encroach on the territory of Ukraine, and would allow itself to break into someone else's home like that.

But they did. And after 2014, I learned my father's lesson forever - you can't trust Russians. That's why my brother and I did not hesitate to take up arms when the Russians started a full-scale war against Ukraine. Because there was no other way. We had to defend our homeland, we had to liberate our native Crimea. With the same thoughts, I went on one of the combat missions during the counteroffensive in the Kherson region. Then a tank drove at us. Two of my comrades were killed immediately, and two more did not wait for evacuation. My arm was almost torn off. My brother was next to me, and it gave me confidence and peace of mind. "I will make it. I will make it," I kept repeating these words to myself for seven long hours while waiting for the evacuation.

And I did. I made it."

"Once it was the Palace in the Gardens, Bakhchisarai. And then the Russians came. The modern appearance of the Khansaray".

That represents what russian culture is doing to anything that it can reach.

You can help by supporting the fundraising for the Crimea battalion.

[nando161mando]

Barcelona. Our people with a new mural "Death to empires. Stop war" on the anniversary of the Russian invasion.

[tomorrowusa]

Today (it’s still March 5th in the Western Hemisphere) is the 70th anniversary of the death of Joseph Stalin.

The film “The Death of Stalin” is roughly a bit of Soviet history from a Monty Python type of perspective. The history may not exactly be stunningly accurate, but the portrayals do provide epigrammatic insight on the way things were done under communism.

The film is darkly hilarious. Two performances struck me as particularly good: Paddy Considine as a producer at Moscow Radio and Jason Isaacs as Marshall Zhukov. If I recall correctly, Paddy is mostly in the first half and Jason mostly in the second half of the film.

BTW: I’m sure it’s strictly coincidence, but Stalin died in March and the Korean War ended in July of 1953 with an armistice. A lesson for today? 🤔

Stalin is co-winner of Worst Person of the 20th Century along with Hitler. Among numerous other crimes, Stalin was responsible for the genocide against Ukrainians known as the Holodomor.