This weekend marked the 75th anniversary of the unconditional surrender of Nazi Germany in 1945.
All armed conflict in Europe officially ceased on May 8 just before midnight. In the USSR, it was already May 9. So while the U.S. and many western European countries celebrate VE Day (Victory in Europe Day) on May 8, Russia and many eastern European countries celebrate it on May 9. Israel also commemorates VE Day on May 9, honoring the more than one million immigrants who arrived in Israel in the decade following the collapse of the Soviet Union. Many of those immigrants were Red Army veterans, including Yuri Rudinsky, pictured above. Rudinsky is one of about 1.5 million Jews who fought in the Allied armies all over the world. Thank you to Yuri Rudinsky and all the heroic veterans! We are forever in your debt.
Photo: Mark Nieman, Government Press Office
Source: American Society for Yad Vashem
