THE GREAT PATRIOTIC WAR

     I was born thirteen years after the WWII ended. In Russia it was called the Great Patriotic War. It claimed, approximately, thirty million of my countrymen's lives. 
     Thirteen years later, Russia experienced huge growth in economy and a Baby Boom. Is that how the humanity survives: by meeting the obstacles head on and returning from devastating events with an avid desire to rebuild and do better from then on?
     My father was one of the generation, that defeated Fascism. He started in the army as an eighteen year old, went through six years of combat and working on the army installations in Siberia already after the victory. He and millions of his comrades came back from the front and immediately dived into reconstruction. There was no talk about the PTSD or any understanding of it, although, obviously, that problem must've been huge among the veterans and the civilians, most of whom were intimately touched by the war. 
     Thirty million dead. That's about every seventh person in the Soviet Union. Imagine the extent of grief that country experienced, the despair! 
     It's seventy years later, but the Great Patriotic War is still a poignant subject in every heart there. We emigrated to the United States, as did many other veterans' families, but even here they constantly recount their experiences as soldiers, organize the veterans' associations and walk in the parades, as part of the victory over the Fascism. And my own heart, that never experienced personal loss because of the WWII: it swells with tears of sorrow for the lives, broken in that tragedy, and gratitude to men and women, who, at the immeasurable cost to themselves, brought about peace to the world.