Tiraspol's WWII Veterans mark Day of Victory

Over 10,000 locals took to the streets of Tiraspol, the capital, to mark the May 9 public holiday

TIRASPOL (Tiraspol Times) - Flocking to the street in what is today a public holiday, thousands of people have taken part in Victory Day commemorations in Pridnestrovie's capital, Tiraspol. The massive annual parade in Tiraspol marks the Second World War defeat of Nazi Germany by Allied Forces, in which many Tiraspol-residents took part.

Gatherings were also held in Bender, Rybnitsa, Kamenka and other towns and cities of the unrecognized country. According to official records, 17,000 residents of Pridnestrovie who left to fight in World War II did not return home.

It is a day of enormous significance for Pridnestrovie, as victory in World War II also meant the end to Romanian aspirations to the territory. From 1941 to 1944, Pridnestrovie was officially known as Transnistria and was occupied by Romanian and Nazi troops.

A minute of silence was punctured by a rifle volley honoring the memory of fallen soldiers who gave their lives in the two most recent wars that were fought in Pridnestrovie: World War II and the 1992 war for independence. According to most of he locals, in both cases, the territory liberated itself from Romanian rule. Moldova - which still maintains a 17 year old territorial claim on Pridnestrovie - is ethnically Romanian.

At 9 a.m. Wednesday, more than 10,000 Tiraspol residents gathered at the city's Monument to the Fallen where defenders from the war of 1992 are buried. During the ceremony, flowers were laid on the graves of those who died while fighting back the Moldovan attacks.

In Chisinau today, Moldova did not hold a similar remembrance for the victims of the war which it initiated but ultimately lost.

The Soviet threat: Unreformed veterans gathered on May 9, singing old drinking songs and reminiscing about the red menace... (Washington, watch out!)

From Belarus, the opposition group Charter’97 sent a message to its friends in Pridnestrovie and their continued struggle for statehood:

" - History teaches us that nations’ aspiration for freedom cannot be stopped. Truth and justice are stronger than hate and lies," said Charter 97.

After the public parade, veterans of World War II gathered on May 9 in the "Victory Park" in Tiraspol, the capital of Pridnestrovie, to mark Victory Day. During a mass picnic, nearly 2,000 veterans and their families came together in the park to eat, drink, dance and sing old songs from their youth.

Putin: "One should seek the causes of any war"

In Moscow, Russian President Vladimir Putin spoke of the need for peace on the occasion of the 62nd anniversary since victory in World War II.

" - We have no right to forget that one should seek the causes of any war, first and foremost, in the errors and miscalculations made in times of peace. These errors stem from the ideology of confrontation and extremism," said Putin

" - This is all the more so today, since the number of threats are getting bigger, not smaller. The threats take different appearances, but still they are based on the same disrespect for human life, and claims to global exclusion and dominance, just like the Third Reich."

Tiraspol, PMR, on 9 May 2007: More than 10,000 people filled the streets of Pridnestrovie's capital in a massive display of unity.
An estimated 95% of the population strongly supports freedom and independent statehood.

" - I am convinced that common responsibility and equitable partnership offer the only tool for rebuffing these challenges and repelling any attempts to unleash new armed conflicts or undermine global security," the Russian president concluded.

This global conflict split a majority of the world's nations into two opposing camps: the Allies and the Axis. Spanning much of the globe, World War II resulted in the deaths of over 50 million people, making it the deadliest conflict in human history. Nearly two-thirds of those killed in the war were civilians and approximately six million European Jews were killed in the Holocaust.

Pridnestrovie - then known as Transnistria - was conveniently located outside the borders of Romania and Moldova, and was designated by Romania to be its main Holocaust area. An estimated 300,000 Jews were killed by the Romanians in Transnistria, which was in geographic extension the largest killing field of the Holocaust.

World War II was the most widespread war humanity has ever experienced, mobilizing over 100 million soldiers from 61 nations, with hostilities covering over 20 million km². The total war erased the distinction between civil and military resources and saw the complete mobilization of a nation's economic, industrial, and scientific capabilities for the purposes of the war effort. In Europe alone, war damages were estimated to $260 billion. (Photos: Ekaterina Semenyuk)

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Thousands of Tiraspol residents brought flowers to victims of the two wars



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Flowers to remember the victims killed by Moldova in the 1992 invasion



War veterans together during Wednesday's picnic in Tiraspol's Victory Park



In the park, music was provided by small bands in authentic WWII-uniforms