Originally posted by the Voice of America.
Voice of America content is produced by the Voice of America,
a United States federal government-sponsored entity, and is in
the public domain.


Which Country Was Instrumental in Winning World War II?

Jamie Dettmer

   Russia on Saturday marked the 75th anniversary of the end of the Second
   World War in Europe, a day after its erstwhile Western allies in the
   fight against Nazi Germany.

   It was the continuation of a tradition dating to the era of Communist
   dictator Joseph Stalin, who dismissed the Nazi surrender to the Western
   allies signed in Reims, France, on May 8, 1945, insisting on another
   signing of the capitulation the next day in the German capital, Berlin,
   which had fallen to Soviet forces.

   That isn't the only difference between how the wartime allies remember
   a conflict that remains, for some, a dominating, albeit shifting,
   cultural reference point in contemporary national identities.

   Subsequent politics and propaganda, reassessments and the emergence of
   new wartime facts, as well as changing cultural tastes and the
   immediate needs of political leaders and peoples of the day, have
   altered memory. They also have changed over time how the end of the
   devastating struggle is marked, as well as how it is remembered, say
   historians.

.