Hyderabad: On May 8 and 9, the day is set aside as 'The Time of Remembrance and Reconciliation for Those Who Lost Their Lives during the Second World War.' These two days recognise the sacrifices and loss of military and civilians during the second world war.
As an observance, non-governmental organisations and individuals are urged to pay tribute to the victims of World War II. On May 8, 1945, World War II Allies accepted the unconditional surrender of Nazi Germany. The anniversary is also known as Victory in Europe or VE Day.
The Remembrance of this day aims to
- Save succeeding generations from the war
- To settle all disputes by peaceful means in conformity with the character of the United Nations
- To uphold international peace and security at all times
Background
On March 2, 2010, by a resolution, the United Nations General Assembly invited all member states, organisations of the United Nations system, non-governmental organisations and individuals to observe 8-9 May in an appropriate manner to pay tribute to all victims of the Second World War. A special solemn meeting of the General Assembly in commemoration of all victims of the war was held in the second week of May 2010, marking the sixty-fifth anniversary of the end of the Second World War.
During the commemoration, the Secretary-General called the Second World War “one of the most epic struggles for freedom and liberation in history," adding "its cost was beyond calculation, beyond comprehension: 40 million civilians dead; 20 million soldiers, nearly half of those in the Soviet Union alone."
In its resolution, the General Assembly recalled that the Second World War "brought untold sorrow to humankind, particularly in Europe, Asia, Africa, the Pacific and other parts of the world." It underlined "the progress made since the end of the Second World War in overcoming its legacy and promoting reconciliation, international and regional cooperation and democratic values, human rights and fundamental freedoms, in particular through the United Nations, and the establishment of regional and sub-regional organisations and other appropriate frameworks."
A special solemn meeting, marking seventieth anniversary of the Second World War, was held on 5 May 2015.
Significant Events of World War II
- September 1, 1939: Germany invades Poland, marking what many regard as the start of the war, though Japan invaded China on July 7, 1937. Two days later, France and the United Kingdom declare war on Germany
- April 9 to June 22, 1940: Germany takes control of much of Western Europe, including France
- July 10, 1940: Germany launches an air war, known as the Battle of Britain, against the United Kingdom
- September 22, 1940: Germany, Italy and Japan sign the Tripartite Pact
- December 7, 1941: Japan's naval air force attacks military bases on Oahu, Hawaii
- December 8, 1941: The United States declares war against Japan
- December 11, 1941:The United States declares war on Germany and Italy
- June 4 to 7, 1942: The U.S. Navy defeats the Japanese navy at the Battle of Midway
- July 9, 1942: Allied forces invade Sicily
- September 8, 1943: Italy surrenders to the Allies, but German forces occupy northern Italy
- June 6, 1944: Allied forces land on the beaches of Normandy, France, marking D-Day
- August 25, 1944: Allies take control of Paris
- December 16, 1944: Germans counterattack in northern France, Belgium and Luxembourg, known as the Battle of the Bulge
- February 19, 1945: U.S. Marines land on the Japanese island of Iwo Jima
- March 22, 1945: The U.S. 3rd Army crosses the Rhine River in Germany
- April 1, 1945: U.S. soldiers and Marines invade Okinawa, Japan
- April 25, 1945: The Soviet army encircles Berlin and links up with the Americans on the Elbe River
- May 8, 1945: Germany surrenders to the Allies, marking V-E Day
- August 6, 1945: The U.S. drops an atomic bomb on Hiroshima, Japan
- August 9, 1945: The U.S. drops an atomic bomb on Nagasaki, Japan
- September 2, 1945: Japan formally surrenders to the Allies, marking V-J Day, although the initial announcement of surrender was made Aug. 15, 1945
Worldwide Deaths in World War II
Some 75 million people died in World War II, including about 20 million military personnel and 40 million civilians, many of whom died because of deliberate genocide, massacres, mass-bombings, disease, and starvation. Germany sustained 5.3 million military losses, mostly on the Eastern Front and during the final battles in Germany.
Of the total number of deaths in World War II, approximately 85 per cent— mostly Soviet and Chinese — were on the Allied side and 15 percent on the Axis side. Many deaths were caused by war crimes committed by German and Japanese forces in occupied territories. An estimated 11 to 17 million civilians died either as a direct or as an indirect result of Nazi ideological policies, including the systematic genocide of around six million Jews during the Holocaust and an additional five to six million ethnic Poles and other Slavs (including Ukrainians and Belarusians), Roma, homosexuals, and other ethnic and minority groups. Hundreds of thousands of ethnic Serbs, along with gypsies and Jews, were murdered by the Axis-aligned Croatian Ustaše in Yugoslavia, and retribution-related killings were committed just after the war ended.
Axis forces employed biological and chemical weapons. The Imperial Japanese Army used a variety of such weapons during its invasion and occupation of China and in early conflicts against the Soviets. Both the Germans and Japanese tested such weapons against civilians and sometimes on prisoners of war.
The Soviet Union was responsible for the Katyn massacre of 22,000 Polish officers and the imprisonment or execution of thousands of political prisoners by the NKVD in the Baltic states and eastern Poland annexed by the Red Army.
The mass-bombing of civilian areas, notably the cities of Warsaw, Rotterdam and London, included the aerial targeting of hospitals and fleeing refugees by the German Luftwaffe, along with the bombings of Tokyo and the German cities of Dresden, Hamburg, and Cologne by the Western Allies. The latter resulted in the destruction of more than 160 cities and the death of more than 600,000 German civilians. However, no positive or specific customary international humanitarian law with respect to aerial warfare existed before or during World War II
