Victory Day over Fascism is the day when Nazi Germany signed its capitulation in the Second World War. It is celebrated on May 9, although the war itself finally ended several months later with the unconditional surrender of imperial Japan after the tragic use of atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
On May 9, 1945 (Moscow time), Soviet Marshal Zhukov ratified on behalf of the Allies the agreement on Germany’s surrender, which had been signed the day before, on behalf of the Third Reich, by German Field Marshal Wilhelm Keitel.
Since then, this day has been solemnly commemorated in many countries around the world. The largest parade is held every year on May 9 in Moscow, featuring a grand military march of various branches of the armed forces and aerial flyovers. The parade always showcases the latest achievements of Russian technology as well as equipment from the Second World War.
In Belgrade, large military parades were held in 1970 and 1975, according to the decision that they should take place every five years (before that, the military and workers marched together as part of the May Day parade). The idea was not only to celebrate the memory of the victory over fascism but also to demonstrate the country’s military-defense and even economic potential.
While the world marked the thirty-fifth anniversary of the great victory over fascism on May 9, 1980, Yugoslavia was in a different mood—there was no parade. After a long illness, Tito died on May 4. For his funeral on May 8, the largest number of world leaders ever gathered in one place in Belgrade—209 delegations from 128 countries arrived. Instead of a military parade, a procession moved from the Federal Assembly to the House of Flowers in Dedinje, dedicated solely to one of the greatest victors of the Second World War.
For May 1985, a major celebration of the fortieth anniversary of the victory over fascism was scheduled, marking also the founding of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, at a time when no one yet suspected what would happen only a few years later.
