Remembering the Soviet victory against the Nazis

 by New Worker 

 correspondent

Andy Brooks with  James Taylor and Dermot Hudson

 MILLIONS of Russians took to the streets last week to celebrate Victory Day and the surrender of Nazi Germany on 9^th May 1945. A massive military parade through Red Square in Moscow paid tribute to the millions of Soviet soldiers and citizens who died in the struggle to defeat the Nazis in the Second World War while other commemorations took place throughout the Russian Federation and much of the former Soviet Union.

            In London communists began the day by joining veterans, diplomats and local dignitaries at the ceremony that’s held every year at the Soviet War Memorial in the shadow of the Imperial War Museum in south London. Many then went on to Trafalgar square to join the “Immortal Regiment” parade called by the Russian community in Britain to honour those that fell in the fight against fascism.

            Hundreds of people, including many from London’s Russian community, gathered around the Memorial in the Geraldine Mary Harmsworth Park in Southwark on Wednesday 9th May to mark the 73^rd anniversary of the Red Army’s victory over the Nazi hordes in 1945.

            Banners flying high, British and Soviet war veterans marched to the monument to start the ceremony that was opened by Charlie Smith, the Mayor of Southwark, and addressed by Philip Matthews from the Soviet Memorial Trust Fund and Russian Ambassador Alexander Yakovenko.

This was followed by the laying of floral tributes by Southwark councillors, diplomats from the countries of the former Soviet Union, British and Soviet veterans and friendship associations. Officials from the Marx Memorial Library and communist movements that included a New Communist Party delegation led by NCP general secretary, Andy Brooks, placed their wreaths and flowers at the memorial which was unveiled on 9^th May 1999.

The Soviet War Memorial is a bronze statue of a semi-abstract figure holding a bell that will forever remain silent. The memorial stone that commemorates the 27 million Soviet citizens and servicemen and women who died in the Second World War is inscribed with the words “We Shall Remember Them” in English and Russian. These words were solemnly repeated by all at the close of the ceremony that ended with the {Last Post} and two minutes silence to remember those who gave their lives in the struggle for freedom during the Second World War.

Finally the event ended with the traditional invitation from the Russian ambassador to join him in a toast to victory at the nearby marquees where vodka, wine and Russian food awaited them.

Holocaust Day: The lessons of the past

Andy Brooks and Dermot Hudson from the Metropolitan NCP lay flowers

 by New Worker correspondent

LONDON communists joined war veterans, diplomats and anti-fascists at the annual Holocaust Memorial Day commemoration in London last week. On 27th January 1945 the Red Army liberated Auschwitz, the largest death camp in the Third Reich, and every year the millions of victims of the Nazi Holocaust are remembered at the Imperial War Museum and the nearby Geraldine Mary Harmsworth Park.

Holocaust Memorial Day began in Britain in 2001. Since then special events have been held in London and all over the country to remember the millions of Jews and other innocent victims of the Nazis who died in the Second World War and commemorate subsequent genocides around the world including Cambodia, Rwanda and Darfur.

    The solemn event at the Imperial War Museum began with a procession led by veterans’ associations to the Holocaust Memorial Tree and the Soviet War Memorial.

New Communist Party leader Andy Brooks joined the Mayor of Southwark and other council dignitaries, Russian diplomats and members of London’s Jewish and Russian communities in laying wreathes and floral tributes at the memorials. It ended, as always, with a minute’s silence and the Last Post.

    The remembrance ceremony then continued in the museum cinema. It was opened by Charlie Smith, the Mayor of Southwark, and the programme included musical and literary tributes to the victims as well as an interview with John Dobai, a Holocaust survivor.

            Memorial candles were lit to remember the dead and the ceremony concluded with Rabbi Lionel Rosenfeld from the Western Marble Arch Synagogue leading the Memorial Prayer and Kaddish.

They will never be forgotten

NCP delegation honours the fallen

by New Worker correspondent

A New Communist Party delegation paid tribute to the sacrifice of millions of working people to defeat fascism during the Second World War at the annual remembrance day ceremony at the Soviet War Memorial in Southwark on Sunday.

NCP leader Andy Brooks along with national chair Alex Kempshall and Dermot Hudson from the Metropolitan Cell joined diplomats, trade unionists and local dignitaries at the Soviet War Memorial in Geraldine Mary Harmsworth Park to honour the 27 million Soviet citizens who died in the Great Patriotic War against Nazi Germany.

There were brief speeches from Philip Matthews, the chair of the Soviet Memorial Trust Fund and Southwark mayor Charlie Smith before the wreath laying at the monument in the shadow of the Imperial War Museum began. Wreaths were laid by Neil Coyle the local Labour MP as well as Simon Hughes, the former MP who now leads the Southwark Liberal Democrats, along with diplomats from the Russian and Belarus embassies. Other floral tributes were laid by representatives of the NCP, the Marx Memorial Library, the Soviet Front Red Army re-enactors group and representatives from the Russian community in London.

The ceremony ended, as usual, with the exhortation spoken by Russian Convoy Club veteran Stanley Ballard, followed by two minutes silence and the reveille.