Victory in Europe Day

written by Monika Mizgier-Błaszczak
Public and Cultural Diplomacy Officer, Embassy of the Republic of Poland

Victory in Europe Day marked the end of the Second World War in Europe and the triumph of freedom over tyranny.

As you are well aware, for Poland and much of Central and Eastern Europe, VE Day celebrations are bittersweet. For Poles, the end of World War Two did not bring liberation but merely replaced one form of oppression with another. The Red Army marched through Warsaw not as liberators, but as new occupiers. For us, true victory came in 1989.

The Polish Ministry of Foreign Affairs has produced a video that Poland’s diplomatic missions across the globe, including our Embassy, put up on their social media today as a reminder that Russia’s imperial ambitions are not a thing of the past and that Putin’s war on Ukraine is, in fact, a modern colonial war.

I encourage you to spare, literally, a minute of your time to watch the video on our Embassy X and/or FB profiles, and to consider reposting it or otherwise reacting on it. We think it crucial that lessons from the past be learnt and helpful in addressing today’s challenges.