A documentary by Andrei Starikov

Victory Day in the Baltics: yesterday, today, tomorrow

A chronicle of the May 9 Holiday in Latvia, Estonia and Lithuania. A story of how the space of memory becomes a battleground of politics. And of the inevitable triumph of historical truth.

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Author: Andrei Starikov  ·  Genre: Documentary
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About the film

Memory
that will live on

Journalist Andrei Starikov’s film “Victory Day in the Baltics: yesterday, today, tomorrow” tells the story of the most important holiday for the Russian residents of Latvia, Estonia and Lithuania: from the nationwide celebration of the post-war years to the total ban of 2022.

Victory Day in the Baltics is historically rooted, the film’s author argues. And despite nationalists’ attempts to consign the memory to oblivion, the Holiday will inevitably return to the Baltic states.

Our film is an attempt to imagine the return of Victory Day to the Baltic lands. And to remind those waiting for that return: you are not alone. We are together. — Andrei Starikov, author of the film
  • Residents of liberated districts of Latvia greet Red Army soldiers. In the summer of 1944 the forces of the 2nd Baltic Front liberated the towns of Zilupe, Dagda, Krāslava and Ludza, along with dozens of villages and hundreds of hamlets, from Nazi occupation. © RIA Novosti
  • A column of Soviet tanks rolls through the streets of liberated Riga, 1944. © RIA Novosti
  • Riga in the first days after its liberation by the Red Army from the Nazis. Residents clear rubble on the central square, 1944. © RIA Novosti
  • Residents speak with the Soviet tank crews who liberated Tallinn, 1944. © RIA Novosti
  • A salute in honour of the Soviet troops reaching the Baltic Sea, October 1944. © RIA Novosti
  • A group of Soviet women snipers on exercises, 2nd Baltic Front. Left to right: Order of Glory holders — snipers Nina Lobkovskaya, Lyuba Makarova, Shura Vinogradova, Yulia Belousova and Anya Nosova, 1944. © RIA Novosti
  • A train with demobilised Red Army soldiers. Comrades-in-arms say farewell at the railway station in Riga, 1945. © RIA Novosti
  • Danutė Stanilienė (Markauskienė) — a full cavalier of the Order of Glory (1943, 1944, 1945), machine-gunner of a rifle regiment, distinguished herself in battles in Belarus, Lithuania and East Prussia, 1945. © RIA Novosti
Featuring

Voices of the film

Alexander Dyukov
Alexander Dyukov Director of the Historical Memory Foundation
Elena Malysheva
Elena Malysheva Head of the National Centre for Historical Memory under the President of the Russian Federation
Ernest Matskyavichyus
Ernest Matskyavichyus Journalist and TV presenter
Konstantin Zatulin
Konstantin Zatulin Deputy of the State Duma of the Russian Federation
Alexander Babakov
Alexander Babakov Deputy Speaker of the State Duma of the Russian Federation
Konstantin Kosachev
Konstantin Kosachev Deputy Chairman of the Federation Council of the Russian Federation
Mikhail Myagkov
Mikhail Myagkov Scientific Director of the Russian Military-Historical Society
Aleksei Dressen
Aleksei Dressen Russian intelligence officer, former employee of the Estonian Security Police (KaPo)
The film was made with the support of the Foundation for the Support and Protection of the Rights
of Compatriots Living Abroad pravfond.ru
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