Ilinskiy I. М. People of Russia as the Winners of the War

(Moscow University for the Humanities)

Abstract ♦ We reproduce here the text of the Rector’s speech delivered at the meeting of the faculty members and employees of Moscow University for the Humanities. The meeting, which took place on April 28, 2015, was devoted to the 70th anniversary of the Victory in the Great Patriotic war.

Russia has long celebrated and will continue to celebrate Victory Day, as this victory brought to end the most destructive and bloody war in the history of mankind. For the first time in history, the philosophy of the war propagated by the Nazis was based on the theory of racial supremacy of the “higher” “Aryan” race over the “Untermenschen”. Hitler’s war against the USSR also had an ideological foundation: the Nazis aimed to topple the yet not deeply settled Socialist regime, and destroy the Russian state with it — forever. It was the matter of the final end of Russian history and civilization.

The war came as a terrible tragedy for the Soviet Union. A great many cities, villages, plants, factories, tractor stations and constructions were razed to the ground. In the grand total of all war damages, which stood at USD 260 bln, USSR’s share accounted for almost a half. The Soviet Union lost 30% of its national wealth. But USSR’s most terrible tragedy was the irrecoverable loss of 26.6. mln lives.

In textbooks for schools and universities, the history of the USSR and the Great Patriotic war was frequently deprived of heroism, moral power, patriotism, selflessness and self-sacrifice. Often the strategic and tactical wisdom of the nation’s political leaders, especially that of I.V. Stalin, was also denied. The main events of the war and their assessments were grossly distorted.

In the days when the 70th anniversary of the great Victory is celebrated, the youth should take heed of what the war veterans are saying. They have to understand and remember that the Russian nation, the people of Russia are the winner nation. Together with the veterans, Russia’s younger generations should work for the glory of their country.

Keywords: Great Patriotic war, USSR, Victory, Russia.

Ilinskiy Igor Mikhailovich, Doctor of Philosophy, Professor, Rector, Moscow University for the Humanities; President, National Union of Nongovernmental Institutions of Higher Education; President, Union of the Nongovernmental Higher Education Institutions of Moscow and Moscow Region. Postal address: 5 Yunosti St., 111395 Moscow, Russian Federation. Tel.: +7 (499) 374-78-78. E-mail: iilinskiy@mosgu.ru

Citation: Ilinskiy, I. М.  (2015) Rossiiskii narod — eto narod-pobeditel' [People of Russia as the Winners of the War]. Znanie. Ponimanie. Umenie, no. 2, pp. 5–13. (In Russ.). DOI: 10.17805/zpu.2015.2.1

Submission date:  29.04.2015.

RUSSIAN VERSION

REFERENCES

Glavnyi protivnik: Dokumenty amerikanskoi vneshnei politiki i strategii 1945–1950 gg. [The main adversary: Documents of US foreign policy and strategy, 1945–1950] (2006) / comp. and opening chapter by I. M. Ilinskiy. Moscow, Moscow University for the Humanities Publ. 504 p. (In Russ.).

Ilinskiy, I. M. (2007) Kholodnaia voina — nastoiashchaia voina: beseda I. M. Il'inskogo s F. D. Bobkovym [The Cold War as a real war: A conversation between I. M. Ilinskiy and F. D. Bobkov]. Znanie. Ponimanie. Umenie, no. 2, pp. 5–20. (In Russ.).

Ilinskiy, I. M. (2009) Zachem vspominat' o voine? [Why should we recollect the war?]. Znanie. Ponimanie. Umenie, no. 2, pp. 5–10. (In Russ.).

Ilinskiy, I. M. (2015) Velikaia Otechestvennaia: Pravda protiv mifov [The Great Patriotic war: Truth vs. myths]. Moscow, Moscow University for the Humanities Publ. 320 p. (In Russ.).