Today one can hear more and more often that the significance of victory in the Great Patriotic War is exaggerated. She should not be proud, because the war was unjust: both on the part of the Soviet Union and on the part of Germany, in connection with the Molotov-Ribentrop agreement signed between the countries earlier. From a formal point of view, this is probably so. But how can a war be considered just at all? Violence, murder, plunder and many other calamities that any war brings with it are in themselves unjust. Even the noble intentions pursued by the people who started it do not justify them.
The reflections of L.N. helped me to better understand the problem. Tolstoy about the Patriotic War of 1812. The great Russian writer condemned the war, considering it a senseless murder. Meanwhile, he highly appreciates the feat of the Russian people, who bravely resisted Napoleon's army. Tolstoy admired the patriotism of the Russian people, who did not think about the causes of the war and its consequences. They understood that the enemy had attacked their country, it needed to be protected. This is what the novelist says in the words of his hero Andrei Bolkonsky: “The French have ruined my house and are going to destroy Moscow, and they have insulted and insulted me every second. They are my enemies, they are all criminals, according to my ideas ... They must be executed. " So the educated representative of the nobility reasoned, so what can we say about ordinary people who were far from politics. Our grandfathers also reasoned,when Germany attacked our homeland. They saw that the enemy destroys everything in its path, destroys cities and villages, kills thousands and thousands of inhabitants, does not spare even the elderly and small children. Outraged by this, the people united all their forces to repulse the enemy.
The feat that our ancestors performed, the victory gained at the cost of incredible efforts, deserve to be proud of them.
Of course, some remind that among the millions of people who were involved in the crucible of war, there were those who showed cowardice and took the side of the enemy. Yes, indeed, there were such people. But at the same time they forget about the legendary exploits of Talalikhin, Panikakha, Gastello, Maresyev, Matrosov, etc. These people did not spare their own lives, defending the Motherland and its citizens.
There are also those who believe that the Great Patriotic War was won with the help of repressions and barrage detachments, who were forced to go under the bullets of the enemy at gunpoint from their own side. Yes, indeed, it was. However, this would not have helped, if many millions of fighters and ordinary civilians were not ready to sacrifice their own lives for the sake of victory, would not have demonstrated patriotism and unbending courage, we would not have won.
Today there are very few veterans, eyewitnesses of those terrible events. They are honored and awarded. But there are those about whom we know nothing. Many are buried in mass graves, and nothing is known about others. Today, work is constantly underway to search for mass graves and the reburial of the dead. Our task is to do everything possible to find out the names of those who died during the Great Patriotic War. Unfortunately, this is not always possible due to the fact that very little information about this has been preserved. Therefore, mass graves appear at the places of mass graves.
We do not have the moral right to forget about the events of the Great Patriotic War, to devalue the victory, which came at a very high price, precisely in relation to the people who gave us a peaceful sky over our heads.
