History is written by the victors. In the case of the second world war, the winning side was split in half. And they hated each other. In the following decades, both sides of the cold war taught the second world war focused on themselves. Rarely is the eastern front talked about with the same depth given to the western or pacific fronts. It was a similar story in the Soviet Union. For much of the Cold War, American aid against Nazi Germany was underplayed, if mentioned at all. In the Soviet Union, world war two was called the Great Patriotic war, effectively separating them from the western story. The two sides were content to pretend their brief alliance never happened.

For the Soviets, the Great Patriotic War started with the Nazi invasion. During Khrushchev’s era the war may have started a year or two earlier, but for all intents and purposes it started at the invasion. The invasion was unprovoked, and unpredictable. The Nazi’s ravaged the civilian population, and decimated the Red Army. But the Soviet Union would not give up. As the invasion continued towards Moscow, the resistance they met along the way grew and grew. When the Nazi’s reached Moscow, they were crushed. Losses on both sides were immense, but Moscow shall not fall. Consider it a taste for the Battle of Kursk two years later, another incredible Soviet victory and one of the shortest battles of the war. Before long, it was spring of 1945, and the Soviets took Berlin. The fascists defeated, and the capitalists sent home. The Great Patriotic War was over, thanks to the Red Army.

This heroism is one of the similarities between the USSR and the United States. I think this story of overcoming is to combat the lingering grief that settled over the country for decades after the war. The world before the war had died with it, and there was a collective tragedy in that. Those that had known it did not cry for what was, but what could have been. The American dialogue could never capture this grief. The United States is proud of its involvement in the war, but the physical distance between the war and the country allowed for emotional distance. That creates a separate branch of grief.

Chicago (1946) left, Leningrad (1947) right.

The way that The Soviet Union and The United States treat the war is more similar than it is different, despite the lines they draw separating themselves. Where the education system fell behind in teaching the war, media would pick up the slack. What people experience is reality, until the youth see something on TV, and then the televised events becoming reality, especially as the generation that was present dies out. The education system is the prelude.