B1 · Intermediate
13 min
military historymemory and politicsrussia and eastern europeworld war two legacy
The Ninth of May: The History Russia Never Left Behind
El Noveno de Mayo: La Historia que Rusia Nunca Dejó Atrás
Russia marked Victory Day with a scaled-down military parade, while Putin spoke of peace and a Russian drone struck a building in Kharkiv during the ceasefire. Fletcher and Octavio dig into how Russia turned the memory of World War Two into a political instrument, and what that means today.
Rusia celebró el Día de la Victoria con un desfile militar más pequeño que otros años, mientras Putin habló de paz y un dron ruso golpeó un edificio en Járkov durante el cese al fuego. Fletcher y Octavio exploran cómo Rusia convirtió el recuerdo de la Segunda Guerra Mundial en una herramienta política, y qué significa eso hoy.
6 essential B1-level terms from this episode, with translations and example sentences in Spanish.
| Spanish | English | Example |
|---|---|---|
| conmemorar | to commemorate | Rusia conmemora el fin de la Segunda Guerra Mundial cada nueve de mayo. |
| rendición | surrender | Alemania firmó la rendición en mayo de 1945. |
| frente | front (military) | Los soldados lucharon en el frente oriental durante años. |
| herencia | heritage, legacy | La herencia de la guerra todavía influye en la política rusa. |
| cese al fuego | ceasefire | El cese al fuego duró menos de veinticuatro horas antes del ataque. |
| pretérito indefinido | preterite (completed past tense) | Usamos el pretérito indefinido cuando la acción ya terminó completamente. |
Picture this: a man stands on a stage in Red Square, surrounded by tanks and soldiers, on a day that commemorates the end of the deadliest war in human history.
And while that ceremony is still going on, one of his drones strikes an apartment building three hundred miles away.
That was yesterday.
Sí, el nueve de mayo es el Día de la Victoria en Rusia.
Yes, the ninth of May is Victory Day in Russia.
Es el día más importante del año para muchos rusos.
It's the most important day of the year for many Russians.
Conmemoran el fin de la Segunda Guerra Mundial en Europa, cuando Alemania firmó la rendición en 1945.
They commemorate the end of World War Two in Europe, when Germany signed its surrender in 1945.
And this year, the parade was smaller than usual.
Russia scaled it down.
Fewer troops, fewer weapons on display.
Which is striking, given that Putin also chose yesterday to say the war in Ukraine is, quote, coming to an end.
El desfile más pequeño tiene una explicación práctica, creo.
The smaller parade has a practical explanation, I think.
Rusia necesita sus soldados y sus armas en Ucrania.
Russia needs its soldiers and weapons in Ukraine.
No puede mostrar todo su poder militar en Moscú cuando ese mismo poder está en el frente de batalla.
It can't put all its military power on display in Moscow when that same power is on the front line.
Right, and there's something quietly embarrassing in that logic for the Kremlin.
This parade is supposed to be about projecting strength.
And what it projected yesterday was, at best, an edited version of strength.
Mira, para entender por qué este día es tan poderoso en Rusia, necesitamos hablar de la guerra.
Look, to understand why this day is so powerful in Russia, we need to talk about the war.
La Unión Soviética perdió entre veintiséis y veintisiete millones de personas en la Segunda Guerra Mundial.
The Soviet Union lost between twenty-six and twenty-seven million people in World War Two.
Es un número difícil de imaginar.
It's a number that's difficult to imagine.
Twenty-six million.
The United States lost around four hundred thousand in the entire war.
Britain around four hundred fifty thousand.
The Soviet death toll is almost incomprehensible by comparison.
Almost every family lost someone.
Exacto.
Exactly.
Y por eso los rusos llaman a la Segunda Guerra Mundial 'La Gran Guerra Patriótica'.
And that's why Russians call World War Two 'The Great Patriotic War.' It's not a neutral name.
No es un nombre neutral.
It's a war that touched every family, every city, every village.
Es una guerra que tocó cada familia, cada ciudad, cada pueblo.
The pain was enormous and very personal.
El dolor fue enorme y muy personal.
The name alone is doing a lot of work.
'Patriotic.' It frames the whole thing as a defense of the motherland, not as part of a global allied effort.
The Americans, the British, the Commonwealth forces, the French Resistance, they're almost secondary in that framing.
Es verdad.
That's true.
Y hay una parte de esa historia que es legítima.
And there's a part of that story that is legitimate.
Los soviéticos combatieron en el frente oriental, que fue el más grande y el más brutal de toda la guerra.
The Soviets fought on the Eastern Front, which was the largest and most brutal of the entire war.
Sin el esfuerzo soviético, Hitler no perdía.
Without the Soviet effort, Hitler doesn't lose.
Historians argue about this, but the case is strong.
The Battle of Stalingrad alone, which ended in February of 1943, was a turning point.
Nearly two million casualties across both sides.
In one battle.
In one city.
Y Stalingrado es parte de la identidad rusa todavía hoy.
And Stalingrad is still part of Russian identity today.
Hay ciudades que cambiaron de nombre, monumentos en todo el país, películas, libros, canciones.
There are cities that changed their names, monuments all over the country, films, books, songs.
La guerra está en la cultura rusa de una manera muy profunda.
The war is embedded in Russian culture in a very deep way.
And that depth is real and earned.
My issue, and I think it's worth stating plainly, is what happened to that memory under Putin.
Because the Victory Day parade is not the same thing it was in the Soviet era.
It transformed.
Cuéntame más.
Tell me more.
Porque en España también tenemos debates sobre cómo los gobiernos usan la historia.
Because in Spain we also have debates about how governments use history.
No es un problema solo de Rusia.
It's not a problem unique to Russia.
Fair point.
But the Soviet Union actually had a complicated relationship with Victory Day at first.
Stalin suppressed the major parades after 1945, partly because war heroes were politically inconvenient.
It was Khrushchev who revived the big parade in 1965, for the twentieth anniversary.
Interesante.
Interesting.
Entonces la memoria oficial de la guerra también cambió con cada líder.
So the official memory of the war also changed with each leader.
No fue siempre igual.
It wasn't always the same.
Exactly.
And under Putin, starting really around the late 2000s, Victory Day became something more deliberate.
The parade got bigger.
The iconography got louder.
The ribbon of Saint George, orange and black stripes, became a national symbol you'd see everywhere in May.
Sí, la cinta de San Jorge.
Yes, the ribbon of Saint George.
Es muy visible.
It's very visible.
La gente la pone en los coches, en las bolsas, en la ropa.
People put it on their cars, on bags, on clothes.
Es un símbolo de orgullo, pero también, para muchos, es un símbolo político.
It's a symbol of pride, but also, for many, it's a political symbol.
No es neutral.
It's not neutral.
And here's where it gets historically uncomfortable.
When Russian forces moved into eastern Ukraine in 2014, soldiers without insignia, the so-called 'little green men,' many of them wore that orange and black ribbon.
The symbol of Soviet sacrifice got attached to a new war, a very different kind of war.
Es una estrategia muy poderosa.
It's a very powerful strategy.
Si tú conectas la guerra actual con la Gran Guerra Patriótica, entonces los soldados rusos de hoy son los herederos de los héroes de 1945.
If you connect the current war with the Great Patriotic War, then today's Russian soldiers are the heirs of the heroes of 1945.
Y el enemigo de hoy es como los nazis de antes.
And today's enemy is like the Nazis of before.
Es una narrativa muy efectiva.
It's a very effective narrative.
And Putin has used that framing explicitly.
He called the invasion of Ukraine a 'denazification' operation.
Which is not just historically false, it's a specific theft of a specific word from a specific history.
Zelensky is Jewish.
Ukraine's democratically elected president.
The comparison doesn't survive contact with reality.
Y Ucrania también sufrió muchísimo en la Segunda Guerra Mundial.
And Ukraine also suffered enormously in World War Two.
Los ucranianos también lucharon contra los nazis.
Ukrainians also fought against the Nazis.
Muchos murieron.
Many died.
La historia de Ucrania en esa guerra es muy compleja, no es simple.
Ukraine's history in that war is very complex, it isn't simple.
Complex is the right word.
And that complexity is exactly what gets erased when you turn history into propaganda.
Ukraine had Soviet soldiers, it had nationalist fighters, it had Nazi collaborators, it had victims of both the Nazis and Stalin.
The same villages, sometimes the same families.
Es el problema con la historia oficial.
That's the problem with official history.
Siempre es más simple que la realidad.
It's always simpler than reality.
En España lo sabemos muy bien.
In Spain we know this very well.
Nuestra guerra civil también tuvo muchas versiones, muchos mitos, mucha propaganda de los dos lados.
Our civil war also had many versions, many myths, a lot of propaganda from both sides.
I spent time in Moscow in the mid-nineties, before any of this calcified, and what struck me then was how genuinely painful the war memory was for ordinary people.
This wasn't performance.
An old woman I interviewed, her voice changed completely when she talked about her brother who died at Leningrad.
That grief is real.
Claro.
Exactly.
Y ahí está el problema.
And there's the problem.
Putin usa un dolor real para justificar cosas que no tienen nada que ver con ese dolor.
Putin uses real pain to justify things that have nothing to do with that pain.
Usa la memoria de las víctimas de 1945 para defender una guerra que está creando nuevas víctimas en 2026.
He uses the memory of the victims of 1945 to defend a war that is creating new victims in 2026.
And the drone strike in Kharkiv yesterday makes the irony almost too heavy to carry.
A ceasefire was in place.
Victory Day morning.
A Russian drone hits an apartment building.
People are injured.
And Putin, at the parade, is talking about peace.
Los ceses al fuego en este conflicto son muy frágiles.
Ceasefires in this conflict are very fragile.
Ya vimos eso antes.
We've seen that before.
Un cese al fuego no es la paz, es solo una pausa.
A ceasefire isn't peace, it's just a pause.
Y a veces ni eso.
And sometimes not even that.
Putin also said at the parade that he thinks the war may be coming to an end.
Which is a notable shift from his previous language.
A year ago he was talking about victory.
Now he's talking about an ending.
Those are not the same thing.
Tienes razón.
You're right.
'Fin' y 'victoria' son cosas muy diferentes.
'End' and 'victory' are very different things.
Si Putin dice 'fin', puede significar que acepta una situación que no es una victoria completa.
If Putin says 'end,' it can mean he accepts a situation that isn't a complete victory.
Eso es importante.
That's important.
Es un cambio de palabras, pero también puede ser un cambio de posición.
It's a change of words, but it can also be a change of position.
Or it's a performance for the parade audience, domestic and international.
The man has been saying things about this war for four years and a fair number of them haven't aged well.
I've learned to weigh his words carefully rather than at face value.
Sí, pero el contexto es diferente ahora.
Yes, but the context is different now.
Hay negociaciones.
There are negotiations.
Hay presión internacional.
There's international pressure.
El mundo está cansado de esta guerra.
The world is tired of this war.
Quizás Putin también está cansado, aunque nunca lo dice directamente.
Perhaps Putin is also tired, even though he never says it directly.
What I keep coming back to, historically, is that Victory Day was created to honor the dead.
Twenty-six million dead.
And now it's the backdrop for a live war.
Every tank that rolled through Red Square yesterday was also potentially rolling through Ukrainian villages.
The ceremony and the reality are the same machine.
Y eso es lo que hace que este Día de la Victoria sea diferente a todos los anteriores.
And that's what makes this Victory Day different from all the ones before it.
No es solo un recuerdo del pasado.
It's not just a memory of the past.
Es también una declaración sobre el presente.
It's also a statement about the present.
Rusia dice: somos los mismos héroes de 1945, y luchamos por las mismas razones.
Russia says: we are the same heroes of 1945, and we fight for the same reasons.
Pero muchos rusos jóvenes no creen eso.
But many young Russians don't believe that.
That's a point that often gets lost in Western coverage.
The internal dissent inside Russia, quiet, suppressed, dangerous to express, tells a different story.
Hundreds of thousands of young Russians left the country after mobilization was announced in 2022.
They voted with their feet.
Es una tragedia grande.
It's a great tragedy.
Una generación de rusos jóvenes está en el extranjero, o en el frente, o en silencio en casa.
A generation of young Russians is abroad, or on the front line, or silent at home.
Y el Estado usa la historia de sus abuelos para justificar todo esto.
And the State uses the history of their grandparents to justify all of this.
Los abuelos que sufrieron de verdad.
The grandparents who truly suffered.
There's a phrase I read once, a historian I can't remember who, that stuck with me: 'The dead do not consent to how the living use them.' I think about that every time I watch a state deploy its war memory as a weapon.
Es una frase muy buena.
That's a very good phrase.
Y es universal.
And it's universal.
No es solo Rusia.
It's not just Russia.
Es la política en muchos países.
It's politics in many countries.
Pero aquí, en este momento, el contraste es muy grande, muy visible.
But here, in this moment, the contrast is very large, very visible.
Es difícil ignorarlo.
It's hard to ignore it.
Octavio, one thing that struck me listening to you earlier, and I want to ask about this before we wrap up, you said los soviéticos combatieron en el frente oriental.
That verb combatieron, that's a past tense I don't always know how to choose correctly.
Why combatieron and not, say, combatían?
Buena pregunta, Fletcher.
Good question, Fletcher.
'Combatieron' es el pretérito indefinido.
'Combatieron' is the preterite.
Usamos ese tiempo cuando la acción ya terminó completamente.
We use that tense when the action is completely finished.
La guerra terminó.
The war ended.
El combate terminó.
The combat ended.
Es una acción cerrada en el pasado.
It's a closed action in the past.
So 'combatían' would have a different feeling, like something ongoing or habitual?
Exacto.
Exactly.
'Los soviéticos combatían en el invierno' significa que era algo habitual, una situación que continuaba.
'Los soviéticos combatían en el invierno' means it was something habitual, a situation that continued.
Pero 'combatieron durante cuatro años' significa que esa acción tuvo un principio y un fin.
But 'combatieron durante cuatro años' means that action had a beginning and an end.
Los dos son pasado, pero son diferentes.
Both are past tense, but they're different.
That's actually the clearest anyone has ever explained that to me.
The imperfect is the open past, the preterite is the closed past.
I'm going to hold onto that.
Probably right until the moment I need to use it and then forget entirely.
Como siempre, Fletcher.
As always, Fletcher.
Pero hoy fue un buen día.
But today was a good day.
Hiciste una pregunta inteligente sobre gramática.
You asked a smart question about grammar.
Eso no pasa todos los días.
That doesn't happen every day.
I'll take it.
Thanks everyone for listening.
The ninth of May is, whatever else it is, a day that carries an enormous amount of real history.
Hold onto that part.
The rest, think carefully about who's telling you the story and why.