Victory Day on 8 or 9 May should be celebrated throughout the world as one of the great events of human history because it meant the crushing of the Nazi-fascist "serpent" that flourished in Europe in the first half of the twentieth century. This event should be remembered as highly important in the history of humanity not only because it prevented the escalation of Nazi-fascism throughout the world, but also to act in the contemporary era as an important instrument of public awareness to act in the fight against Nazi-fascism, especially in the present conjuncture that is characterized by the advance of fascism in Europe, the United States and, also, in Brazil.

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LIVE THE 74 YEARS OF THE END OF THE NAZIFASCIST TYRANNY
Fernando Alcoforado*
The end of World War II in Europe was expected since February 1943, when the Soviet
Army defeated the Wehrmacht (German Army) in one of the greatest military clashes in
history, known as the Battle of Stalingrad. Later, on June 6, 1944, the Allies landed in
Normandy, known as the "D-Day". The operation is considered the largest sea invasion
of history and has begun the liberation of the territories occupied by the Germans in
northwestern Europe. The end of the war in Europe occurred after the Battle of Berlin,
the last chapter of the Soviet offensive against the German forces. The battle began in
April 1945, with the onslaught of Soviet troops in the Nazi-occupied countries that later
moved to Berlin. On April 30, 1945, in the final stretch of the confrontation, the Nazi
leader Adolf Hitler committed suicide. Shortly afterwards, Berlin gave in, forwarding
the surrender that would happen on May 8, 1945.
Victory Day is related to the end of World War II in Europe on 8 May 1945 which is the
formal date of the defeat of Nazi Germany and the victory of the Allies. On May 7, a
preliminary document was signed indicating the surrender of the German troops.
However, the formality of the surrender took place on May 8, through representatives of
Germany, who, together with the presence of the Allied Forces Command and the
Soviet Armed Forces, signed the unconditional surrender of Germany. The
unconditional surrender of Germany was signed at dawn on May 7 by General Alfred
Jodl who would later be sentenced to death by the Nuremberg Tribunal for war crimes
and crimes against humanity. On the winning side, the capitulation certificate was
signed by General Walter Bedell-Smith, Chief of Staff of the US General Dwight
Eisenhower, and Soviet General Ivan Suslaparov. François Sevez, adjunct of the French
general Alphonse Pierre Juin, also signed the document as a witness.
In fact, the date intended to be Victory Day was the 9th, not the 8th of May. However,
the press was able to leak the news of the surrender and the celebration took place in the
world on May 8. In the Soviet Union, Victory Day was marked for May 9, as was the
combined date. The number of deaths during World War II was 20 million in the former
Soviet Union, 5.5 million in Germany, 4 million in Poland, 2.2 million in China, 1.6
million in Yugoslavia, 1.5 million in the Japan, 535,000 in France, 450,000 in Italy,
396,000 in Great Britain and 292,000 in the United States. These figures show that the
greater war effort aiming at the overthrow of Germany had a decisive contribution from
the former Soviet Union. Approximately 47 million people were killed during World
War II. Germany's surrender on May 8 did not mean the end of World War II because it
was still on Asian and Pacific soil. Japan was still fighting titanically against the United
States that was defeating the Japanese. In order to force the rapid and unconditional
surrender of Japan, the United States decided to launch two atomic bombs: one in
Hiroshima (on August 6, 1945) and another in Nagasaki (on August 9, 1945). The
Japanese surrender took place on September 2, 1945.
Unfortunately, Victory Day is not properly publicized in the media in Brazil and in
many countries around the world. In Brazil, only a small part of the population
remembers the commemoration and registration of the almost 25,000 Brazilians who
were part of the greatest war in history. Sadly, the heroic participation of Brazilian ex-
combatants who have fought against Nazi-fascist oppression and tyranny and
contributed to the construction of a new era of peace in the world has not been
celebrated. Victory Day on 8 or 9 May should be celebrated throughout the world as

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one of the great events of human history because it meant the crushing of the Nazi-
fascist "serpent" that flourished in Europe in the first half of the twentieth century. This
event should be remembered as highly important in the history of humanity not only
because it prevented the escalation of Nazi-fascism throughout the world, but also to act
in the contemporary era as an important instrument of public awareness to act in the
fight against Nazi-fascism, especially in the present conjuncture that is characterized by
the advance of fascism in Europe, the United States and, also, in Brazil.
It is important to note that fascism and Nazism implanted during the twenties and
thirties of the twentieth century was based on a strong, totalitarian state which claimed
to embody the spirit of the people in the exercise of power by a single party whose
authority was imposed through violence, repression and political propaganda. The
fascist and Nazi leader is a figure who is above ordinary men. Mussolini was
denominated like Il Duce, that derives from the Latin Dux (General) and Hitler de
Fuehrer (Conductor, Guide, Leader, Boss). Both were messianic and authoritarian
leaderships, with a power that was exercised unilaterally without consultation to
anyone. In Germany, fascism was given the name of Nazism. This movement also had a
strong racial component, which promulgated the superiority of the Aryan race and
sought to exterminate Jews, Gypsies and Blacks.
Nazism was also characterized by aggressive nationalism, militarism and imperialism in
the service of the ruling classes, by the cult of the chief, by anti-communism and by
dictatorship. In order to put into practice its principles, the individual rights of citizens
were ignored, Parliament was transformed into a simple advisory body and the political
police were created, which crushed all opposition to the regime. Nazi-fascism served as
a model for several other extreme right-wing dictatorships that were implanted in
Europe in the period between the two World Wars, including Franco's dictatorships in
Spain and Salazar's in Portugal, which is why nazifascism came to fit also as a right-
wing totalitarian dictatorial regime.
In the contemporary era, the economic crisis of the world capitalist system that broke
out in 2008 in the United States led the European Union to economic stagnation with
serious political and social consequences. This crisis has given rise to the strengthening
of far-right political parties in several countries. The rise of far-right parties happens in
much of Europe. With Nazi-fascist or nationalist leanings, most of these parties
advocate the end of the European Union, the end of the Euro, strengthening the unity
and identity of countries, more radical policies against immigrants, criticizing the
financial rescue of countries in crisis, are against homosexuals, abortion, liberalism and
globalization, and fight what they call Islamization.
In the United States, all messages from presidential candidate Donald Trump pointed to
the fact that, elected president of the Republic, fascism could be reborn in the United
States. The revival of fascism under Donald Trump in the United States resulted
primarily from its economic decline and the loss of its hegemony on the world stage in a
very short timeframe. It should be noted that the United States is the chief executive
organization of the world capital empire. In other words, it can be said that it is in the
United States that the fascist state is located in defense of globalized capitalism. The US
government carries out drone killings, occupies foreign countries, created and supported
terrorist guerrillas such as the Islamic State. The United States government oppresses
and investigates its own domestic population. It does all this for service, not for national
aggrandizement, but for the service of global capital. It is a fascism different from that

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of old Fascism, which was based on a strong, totalitarian state which claimed to embody
the spirit of the people in the exercise of power by a single party whose authority was
imposed through violence, repression and propaganda politics. The current fascism in
the United States has a double connotation, being nationalist in developing actions that
aim to maintain global and globalist American hegemony by taking actions in defense
of globalized capitalism.
In Brazil, the Bolsonaro government may lead Brazil to an unprecedented social
conflagration in its history. Fascism is explicit in Bolsonaro's discourse, which is based
on the cult of order, on state violence, on authoritarian government practices, on social
disregard for vulnerable and fragile groups, and on anti-communism. The danger
represented by Bolsonaro lies in oppression, machismo, homophobia, racism, hatred of
the poor. History tells us that once it reaches power, the fascists can destroy the last
vestiges of a democratic government in Brazil. In contemporary Brazil, Jair Bolsonaro
defends economic neoliberalism differently from the statism of Mussolini and Hitler,
fact that does not stop to qualify it like fascist because there is not a unique formula for
the fascism as some imagine. Not necessarily fascism is nationalist and statist as it was
in Italy with Mussolini and in Germany with Hitler. What characterizes all fascism in all
its variants is fundamentally dictatorship, racism, anti-communism, persecution of
minorities, and the placing of fascist government at the service of economic and
financial elites.
The Nazi-fascism that is reborn in Brazil and in the world must be crushed as happened
on May 8, 1945 with the military defeat of Hitler Germany.
* Fernando Alcoforado, 79, awarded the medal of Engineering Merit of the CONFEA / CREA System,
member of the Bahia Academy of Education, engineer and doctor in Territorial Planning and Regional
Development by the University of Barcelona, university professor and consultant in the areas of strategic
planning, business planning, regional planning and planning of energy systems, is the author of 14 books
addressing issues such as Globalization and Development, Brazilian Economy, Global Warming and
Climate Change, The Factors that Condition Economic and Social Development, Energy in the world and
The Great Scientific, Economic, and Social Revolutions that Changed the World.