In Russia’s first post-Soviet Victory Day celebrations, veterans from Europe and the U.S. joined as friends
Dmitry Borko
In 1992, Moscow’s first Victory Day parade after the fall of the USSR featured no military salutes and no tanks or military equipment. The city gathered World War II veterans from the old Soviet republics, France, the United States, Great Britain, Germany, and Italy. The former soldiers joined a ceremonial march through the center of Moscow to Red Square. That day, a delegation from the U.S. arrived and planted 50 “trees of life” in a show of friendship between Russians and Americans. Here’s what it looked like when Russia celebrated peace.
Sergey Mamontov, Alexander Nemenov / TASS Flag-bearers from different countries joined the parade wearing the uniforms of the WWII era.Valery Kiselev / AFP / Scanpix / LETA Veterans from Russia and the U.S. recall their service during WWII, meeting outside Russia’s House of the Government (which the Russian military would shell the following year in a constitutional crisis).Oleg Buldakov / TASS American General Patrick Bradley and Russian Vice President Alexander Rutskoy pose for photos beside a freshly planted sycamore tree in celebration of the new friendship between the Russian Federation and the United States. Dmitry Borko A Soviet veteran wears the medals he was awarded during the Second World War.Dmitry Borko American soldiers awarded the Medal of Honor attend the parade in Moscow.Dmitry Borko A former prisoner in a concentration camp marches with a sign reading, “Russian government: we’re still alive. Remember us!” With Russia’s economy in serious turmoil, many senior citizens were left without their pensions or any social benefits.Sergey Mamontov, Alexander Nemenov / TASS Former Soviet People’s Deputy Leonid Sukhov complains about the participation of foreign artists and soldiers in Moscow’s parade. The same day as the city’s Peace March, Communists staged an alternative parade devoted to criticizing President Yeltsin and demanding the release of the insurrectionists arrested in the failed 1991 August Coup.Dmitry Borko Former prisoners of Nazi concentration camps marched through Moscow wearing prison uniforms. Dmitry Borko The first time Soviet and American troops met during the war was on April 25, 1945, at the Elbe River, near Torgau in Germany. Forty-seven years later, at Moscow’s Peace March in 1992, Russian and American veterans spoke again and exchanged congratulations through journalists.Dmitry Borko Marching with an orchestra to songs from different countries, the parade’s veterans walked from the House of Government to the Kremlin’s Walls.Robert Netelev / TASS An orchestra from Germany joins the parade.Dmitry Borko “Who could believe that the flag of the United States would ever hang at a parade in Moscow!” CBS Radio anchor Kevin McCarthy reported back to listeners in the U.S. Old Glory appeared alongside Russia’s new tricolor flag.Sergey Mamontov, Alexander Nemenov / TASS Former concentration camp prisoners join the parade, many wearing their prisoner numbers and names of their prisons. The large banner reads, “People, be vigilant!” The smaller sign says, “Moscow Society of Former Juvenile Prisoners of German-Fascist Concentration Camps.”
