May 8 is officially designated in Ukraine as the Day of Remembrance and Reconciliation, in accordance with the Law On Commemorating the Victory over Nazism in the Second World War of 1939–1945. The initiative is based on a resolution of the United Nations General Assembly, which in 2005 proposed marking this date internationally as a day of remembrance for the victims of war. The red poppy has become the symbol of remembrance, signifying both loss and the fragility of human life.

The Second World War was a massive global cataclysm: 80% of the world’s population participated in the hostilities, and military operations engulfed two-thirds of all sovereign states. The war began on 1 September 1939 with the invasion of Poland by Nazi Germany and ended on 2 September 1945 with the victory of the Allied forces. More than 110 million soldiers were mobilized on the frontline and in the rear, and total human losses are estimated at between 50 and 85 million lives.

Ukrainian land became one of the main battlegrounds of the war — a territory where two totalitarian regimes collided. The occupation policies of the Nazi regime in Ukraine were among the most brutal in Europe. At the same time, the consequences of the Soviet repressive system were no less devastating. The most striking manifestations of Soviet violence included the Holocaust, the use of nuclear weapons, the Katyn massacre, mass executions of political prisoners in western Ukraine, the deliberate killing of civilians during retreat, and the mobilization of “chorno-svytnyky” — unarmed peasants sent to the front.

One of the largest and most brutal crimes of the Second World War — the deportation of the Crimean Tatar people — took place in May 1944. The forced eviction began at 5 a.m. on 18 May with a knock on the door of every home. While more than 30,000 Crimean Tatars were fighting in the ranks of the Red Army, their families — women, children, and the elderly — were violently loaded into freight wagons meant for livestock and sent to special settlements in Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, the Urals, and other regions of the USSR. In total, 207,111 people were deported. The men serving at the front were not allowed to return home after the war — they were transferred to the so-called “labor army”, stripped of the right to choose their place of residence. This genocide-deportation, carried out by the Soviet regime on ethnic grounds, was an attempt to destroy the Indigenous people of Ukraine and stands as one of the greatest crimes against humanity.

During the Nazi occupation of Crimea from 1941 to 1944, one of the most heavily affected groups was the Krymchaks— an ethno-religious community that combined Judaism (in either Karaite or Rabbinic form) with the Crimean Tatar language and cultural traditions. According to the 1939 census, 65,452 Jews lived in Crimea, including over 7,000 Krymchaks. Historians estimate that around 40,000 Jews and Krymchaks in Crimea were killed during the occupation. In the end, only 499 Krymchaks remained — approximately 20% of their pre-war population. Nearly the entire older generation — the bearers of the language, religion, and cultural memory — was exterminated. Researchers recognize the extermination of the Krymchaks as one of the most extensive crimes committed by the Nazi occupation administration in Crimea.

In his address on the occasion of the Day of Remembrance and Victory over Nazism in the Second World War of 1939–1945, President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy emphasized:

“Eighty years ago, Nazism was defeated in the Second World War. This day reminds us of an important truth: all evil inevitably comes to an end. Every occupier eventually leaves our land. Life always returns. This is exactly what we are standing for today. And this is exactly what will happen one day.”

Ukraine takes part in shaping the contemporary system of remembrance of the Second World War as a founding member of the United Nations and as part of the international community that endured the trauma of war. The Day of Remembrance and Reconciliation serves as a recognition of the complexity of historical experience, including the crimes committed by both totalitarian regimes.