World War II memorials around the globe

Newly married couples come here with flowers, and state guests lay wreaths at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier on the Kremlin wall. In Russia — because of the time difference — May 9 is celebrated as Victory Day, usually with a big military parade on Red Square. It is however postponed this year because of the coronavirus pandemic.

The Soviet Union lost 25 million people in the Second World War, more than any other country. It also has some of the world's largest war memorials: "The Motherland calls" is the name of this statue. Visible from afar, it is 85 meters (279 feet) high and commemorates the Battle of Stalingrad, which raged from August 25, 1942 to February 2, 1943 — one of the bloodiest battles in human history.

An empty tomb as a monument: Five years ago, on the 70th anniversary of the end of WWII, heads of state and veterans gathered at the Cenotaph. With the COVID-19 pandemic, such a meeting is not possible this year. The memorial on London's Whitehall government mile was originally erected for the victims of the First World War. Since 1946 it has also been a memorial to the fallen from 1939 to 1945.

The sculpture depicts a Bomber Command crew and is dedicated to the 55,573 Allied aircrew killed in World War II. When this monument was inaugurated in 2012, it caused controversy, since the Royal Air Force's bombing destroyed many German cities right up to the last days of the war and claimed 600,000 lives among the civilian population.

Under the Arc de Triomphe on the Champs-Élysées lies the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. It commemorates the victims of both world wars. On May 8, French President Emmanuel Macron and high-ranking military officers will lay a wreath, but this year without an audience.

Just as significant as the day of the German surrender is another important date in France: June 6, 1944. On D-Day, 150,000 Allied soldiers landed in Normandy and opened the Western Front. Numerous memorials, museums and military cemeteries along the coast commemorate one of the most important battles of World War II, which claimed 68,000 lives.

The monument was only inaugurated in 2004 and commemorates the 16 million Americans who fought in the Second World War. Leading to the monumental complex is the Peace Wall with 4,048 gilded stars — one star for 100 fallen. In the US, May 8 is "Victory in Europe Day". The final end of the war is celebrated on August 14, the day of the armistice with Japan.

It is said to have been on this very day, August 14, 1945, that in celebration of Japan's surrender a US sailor spontaneously kissed a nurse he apparently didn't know on Times Square. The photo published in "Life" magazine became world-famous and served as a model for the "Unconditional Surrender" sculptures, one of them standing in the harbor of San Diego. It sparked a #MeToo debate in 2019.

Every year on August 6 at exactly 8:15 a.m. the Peace Bell of Hiroshima, located in what was once the city's busiest commercial and residential district, sounds to mark the time of the world's first nuclear attack. The ruins are now a UNESCO World Heritage Site. More than 70 monuments and memorials in the Peace Park commemorate the 146,000 direct and indirect victims of the atom bomb detonation.

Time and again, high-ranking Japanese politicians visit the Yasukini shrine in Tokyo. Among others, the more than two million fallen Japanese soldiers of the Second World War are honored there. Among them, however, are also 14 convicted and executed war criminals. Countries invaded by Japan, such as South Korea and China, regularly protest against this tribute.

On December 13, 1937, Japanese troops conquered the city of Nanjing. This was followed by a massacre that claimed at least 200,000 — according to other estimates, up to 300,000 — Chinese victims within six weeks. The memorial in Nanjing includes a museum with numerous documents, photos and historical film footage as well as a memorial path with footprints of the survivors.

"A monument and a name" is the translation of the Hebrew name of the central Holocaust memorial in Jerusalem. It is dedicated to the approximately six million Jews who were murdered by the Nazis. At the center of the extensive complex is the windowless "Hall of Remembrance," in which an eternal flame burns. The names of the 22 largest death camps are carved into the floor.

In the German capital there are numerous memorials to the Second World War, the most famous being the Holocaust Memorial. Its 2,711 steles commemorate the 6 million murdered Jews in Europe. There was a demand for such a memorial as early as the 1980s, but it was only inaugurated in 2005. By the way, Berlin is the only federal state that has declared May 8 as a public holiday this year.

A mother embraces her dead son: the sculpture by Käthe Kollwitz is the focal point in the Neue Wache, Germany's central memorial site for the victims of war and tyranny. All commemoration ceremonies for May 8 have been cancelled, but nevertheless Chancellor Merkel, President Steinmeier and President Schäuble of the Bundestag will lay a wreath here.