Russia: the memory of the Great Patriotic War is still searing

Patriarch Kirill I of the Russian Orthodox Church and Rabbi Berl Lazar, the chief rabbi of Russia, speaking at separate ceremonies on May 8-9, urged Russians to heed the lessons of World War II. The end of what is known in Russia as the Great Patriotic War is marked on May 9 in most of the other former Soviet republics as Victory Day over Nazi Germany. Soviet civilian and military deaths in the war are estimated at upwards of 20 million. The losses are still seared into memories here, even of those born long after the war.