• Parades commemorate Red Army's World War II victory

    Yuri Kadobnov / AFP - Getty Images

    Russian military jets fly above St. Basil's cathedral in Moscow's Red Square on May 9, 2013, during Russia's Victory Day parade.

    Alexander Zemlianichenko / AP

    Russian President Vladimir Putin, center, Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev, center right, and Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu, center left, watch the Victory Day Parade in Red Square on May 9, 2013.

    Ivan Sekretarev / AP

    In a haze of exhaust fumes, Russian self-propelled howitzers move across Red Square on May 9, 2013.

    Fighter jets screamed over Red Square and heavy tanks rumbled over its cobblestones as Russia flexed its military muscle on the 68th anniversary of its costly victory over Nazi Germany in World War II.

    Russian President Vladimir Putin said at the annual military parade in Moscow that Russia will be a guarantor of world security. Putin's short speech Thursday came at the culmination of Victory Day, Russia's most important secular holiday, which honors the country's huge military and civilian losses. 

    Commemorative events were also held in other former Soviet states and in Jerusalem.

    -- Agence France-Presse, The Associated Press

    Efrem Lukatsky / AP

    Cadets of the Ukrainian Military academy preparing to celebrate the anniversary of victory over the Nazis at a memorial to World War II veterans in a park in Kiev, Ukraine, on May 9, 2013.

    Andrey Smirnov / AFP - Getty Images

    Russian World War II veterans, former navy sailors, celebrate Victory Day at their traditional veterans' meeting in Gorky park in central Moscow on May 9, 2013.

    Abir Sultan / EPA

    A Jewish veteran accompanied by his grandson takes part in a parade marking the 68th anniversary of the victory of the Allies over Nazi Germany in Jerusalem, Israel, on May 9, 2013.

    Ivan Sekretarev / AP

    Russian soldiers march across Red Square on May 9, 2013.

    David Mdzinarishvili / Reuters

    Veterans chat during a Victory Day celebration in Tbilisi, Georgia, on May 9, 2013.

    Dumitru Doru / EPA

    A young girl lays flowers at the grave of fallen soldiers during celebrations to mark the 68th anniversary of Victory Day in Chisinau, Moldova, on May 9, 2013.

    Sergey Dolzhenko / EPA

    World War II-era military vehicles parade in downtown Kiev, Ukraine, on May 9, 2013.

    Related:

    Stories of Jewish Red Army vets just coming to light

    Holocaust survivors remember the horrors of Buchenwald

    In a grand display, Russian soldiers re-enact historic World War II march

  • Stories of Jewish WWII Red Army vets just coming to light

    Oded Balilty / AP

    Soviet Jewish World War II veteran Boris Ginsburg poses for a portrait at his house in the southern Israeli city of Ashdod on April 11. Ginsburg, born in Belorussia, was kept by a German garrison in the Lenin ghetto since 1941 until its destruction by partisan units in September 1942. In 1942 he joined the partisans for two years and in 1944 he joined the Red Army as a combat soldier and fought till the end of the war. Ginsubrg demobilized in 1947 and immigrated to Israel in 2001.

    By Daniel Estrin, The Associated Press

    JERUSALEM -- Once a year, Israel's Jewish war veterans don suit jackets and uniforms dripping in Red Army medals, the shiny bronzes and silvers pinned to their chests in tight rows like armor.

    About 500,000 Jews served in the Soviet Red Army during World War II. Most of those still alive today - about 7,000 - are said to live in Israel.

    Read the full story.

    Oded Balilty / AP

    Nahum Matovich, 87, poses for a portrait at his house in the southern Israeli city of Ashkelon. Matovich was an air force bomber pilot on Ilyushin Il-4 bomber in the Soviet 18th Air Army and fought in Japan and Korea. He immigrated to Israel from Kishinev, today's Moldova, in 1994.

    Oded Balilty / AP

    Yaakov Vilkovich, 90, poses for a portrait at his house in the southern Israeli city of Ashdod. Vilkovich joined the Red Army in 1941, served in the 31st Army's infantry battalion and fought in the Battle of Berlin in 1945. He immigrated to Israel in 1998.

    Oded Balilty / AP

    Shalom Skopes, 88, poses for a portrait at his house in Tel Aviv Israel. Skopes was a battalion commander in the Red Army, and fought in Latvia. During a battle he was injured by a hand grenade and was hospitalized until May 25, 1945. Skopes demobilized in 1947 and immigrated to Israel in 1959.

    Oded Balilty / AP

    David Rivelsky poses for a portrait at his house in Jerusalem, Israel, April 17. In 1941, he took part in the heroic defense of Leningrad, as part of the Leningrad Front for which in 1943 was awarded with the medal "Defense of Leningrad."

    Oded Balilty / AP

    Michael Sandler, 93, poses for a portrait at his house in Jerusalem, Israel. Sandler joined the Red Army, in 1939, served in the 3rd Guards Tank Army, 91st Separate Tank Brigade, in Stalingrad, then in Berlin and Prague until the end of the war. Sandler immigrated to Israel in 1991.

    Oded Balilty / AP

    Semion Tzvang, 89, poses for a portrait at his house in the southern Israeli city of Ashkelon. Tzvang joined the Red Army in 1941 and served in the First Ukrainian Front, a Soviet army group. He fought in Kiev, Prague and Berlin. Tzvang immigrated to Israel in 1991.

    Oded Balilty / AP

    Tchudnovsky Itzhak poses for a portrait at his house in the southern Israeli city of Ashkelon. Tchudnovsky joined the Red Army in 1942 and was an artillery commander at the Stalingrad front.

    Oded Balilty / AP

    Gregory Stinman, 87, poses for a portrait at his house in the southern Israeli city of Ashdod. Stinman joined the Red Army in 1943 and served in the First Belorussian Front, a Soviet formation equivalent to an Army group, until he was wounded on January 23, 1945. Stinman demobilized in 1950 and immigrated to Israel in 1991 from Belorussia.

    Oded Balilty / AP

    Orlov Naum, 88, poses for a portrait at his house in central Israeli city of Rishon Lezion. Naum joined the Red Army in 1943 after two years of evacuation from Odessa in Kazahstan. He served in 3rd Guard Tank Army at the Voronezh front as an infantry soldier and took part in battle of Kiev and later in battles in Berlin and Prague. During the last days of the war, he was in Prague. After the war, he continued military service in the Navy, served on the cruisers Nahimov and Kuibyshev. He immigrated to Israel from Kishinev in 1990.

    Oded Balilty / AP

    Matvey Gershman, 90, poses for a portrait at his house in the southern Israeli city of Ashkelon. Gershman joined the Red Army's air force in 1941. Later, he was transferred to the 5th Shock Army, and fought mostly in Ukraine, after which he joined the 8th Guard Army and took part in the Battle of Berlin, including the famous battle for the Reichstag. Gershman immigrated to Israel from Gomel, today's Belorussia, in 1990.

    Oded Balilty / AP

    Aharon Kavishaner poses for a portrait at his house in the southern Israeli city of Ashkelon. Kavishaner joined the Red Army in 1942, as an air force mechanic and served in the 4th Ukrainian Front, a Soviet army group. Kavishaner immigrated to Israel in 1991.

     

  • Holocaust survivors remember the horrors of Buchenwald

    Lisi Niesner / Reuters

    Survivor Petro Mischtschuk, 87, from Ukraine, wears his old prisoner's garb as he stands near the memorial site of the Little Camp at Buchenwald.

    Between July 1937 and April 1945, the Nazis imprisoned a quarter of a million people in the Buchenwald concentration camp, located near the German city of Weimar. Around 56,000 of them were killed before the camp was liberated by U.S troops on April 11, 1945.

    68 years later, Reuters photographer Lisi Niesner interviewed some of the remaining survivors as they returned to Buchenwald to mark the anniversary of the liberation.

    Lisi Niesner / Reuters

    Victor Karpus, 88, from Ukraine, stood at the muster ground where inmates gathered at dawn each day for a roll call. Karpus was imprisoned in several camps including Buchenwald for a total of three years. He even once managed to escape from a camp but got captured and taken to Buchenwald, where he remained until its liberation.

    "Work or die – it was impossible to get out from Buchenwald," Karpus says.

    Lisi Niesner / Reuters

    Lisi Niesner / Reuters

    "To each his own": An inscription on Buchenwald's iron gate.

    Eva Pusztai, 88, from Hungary, sat in a wheelchair in front of a reconstructed gallows. In July 1944 she was deported to Birkenau and six weeks later to Muenchmuehle, one of 136 satellite camps of Buchenwald.

    The forced labor in the arms industry or the camp's stone quarry took the imprisoned to the brink of their physical abilities. "You got just enough food to survive. I lost a third of my weight and I was almost starving to death," she says. 

    "The employable have to be destroyed by work," she says, explaining the attitude of the Nazis to their prisoners. Her right eye filled up with a single tear that ran down her cheek, then she composed herself and smiled.

    Lisi Niesner / Reuters

    "Where is your god? Why he does not help you?" Jakob Silberstein, born in Poland in 1924, remembers the mocking of a high-level Nazi on Yom Kippur. He survived six years of captivity in Buchenwald and Auschwitz and witnessed brutal actions by the SS, being locked in a standing cubicle for a week, carrying stones and drinking rainwater for days. 

    He was standing inside the gas chamber at Birkenau when an SS man asked if any of the men were skilled laborers. "I stated I was an electrician, which luckily saved my life," he said. After the liberation he found out that none of his family or friends had survived the war. He now lives in Israel and tirelessly tells his story.

    Lisi Niesner / Reuters

    Lisi Niesner / Reuters

    Urns are displayed in a room adjacent to the crematorium at Buchenwald.

    Professor Elling Kvamme, 94, from Norway, stood at the site of Barrack Block 22. He was teaching medicine at a university in Oslo in 1943 when he was arrested for his connections with underground politics. "Students are always dangerous and the Nazis realized it very quickly," he explained.

    He was forced to take part in the Nazi program of Germanization and had to work at the pathological facility in Buchenwald. Before the dead were cremated in an incineration system developed to veil the traces of murder, specimens were taken from their corpses for anatomical collections.

    Lisi Niesner / Reuters

    Vasile Nussbaum, 83, from Romania, spent a year in Auschwitz and Buchenwald. "Buchenwald was a sanatorium in comparison to Auschwitz" he recalls without hesitation.

    Nussbaum revisits the site of the camp every year on liberation day. "You never know what’s coming, today we are 83 years old and in the next year we are no more here", he says.

    Lisi Niesner / Reuters

    Barracks behind trees at Buchenwald.

    Editor's note: Pictures taken between April 11-14, 2013 and made available to NBC News today. Read more at Reuters' Photographers Blog.

  • World War II bomb found at construction site detonated in German town

    Jonas Guettler / EPA

    A crater caused by the detonation of a World War II bomb is seen in Viersen, Germany, Sept. 17. During a construction project, a British bomb containing acid fuses was discovered. The bomb was not diffusible and therefore had to be detonated. Parts of Viersen were evacuated.

    Jonas Guettler / EPA

     

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    About 8,000 people were evacuated from a town in northwestern Germany after a 550-pound bomb from World War II was found. NBCNews.com's Dara Brown reports.

     

  • Charly Triballeau / AFP - Getty Images

    Canadian veterans take part in the 70th anniversary ceremony of the Dieppe Raid on Aug. 19, in Dieppe, France, in memory of the Second World War Allied attack on the German-occupied port of Dieppe on August 19, 1942.

    Canadian veterans remember WWII Dieppe Raid

    The Raid on Dieppe, France, on August 19, 1942, was a crucial moment during World War II. Of the 4,963 Canadian soldiers who embarked from England for the operation, only 2,210 returned, and many of them never even landed in France, making the Dieppe Raid one of the most devastating and bloody chapters in Canadian military history. More than 900 Canadians were ultimately killed in action, died of wounds or died as prisoners of war.

    The Dieppe Raid holds a prominent place in Canadian military history as it helped shape the Allied landings at Normandy on D-Day, June 6, 1944.

    Read more from the CBC.

  • Japan minister's visit to war shrine sparks controversy

    Koji Sasahara / AP

    Doves are released in prayer of perpetual peace by worshippers at the Yasukuni Shrine in Tokyo Wednesday, Aug. 15, 2012. Japan marked the 67th anniversary of its World War II surrender with a somber memorial led by its emperor and other commemorations. (AP Photo/Koji Sasahara)

    Issei Kato / Reuters

    A man dressed as a Japanese imperial army soldier stands at Yasukuni Shrine in Tokyo August 15, 2012, on the 67th anniversary of Japan's surrender in World War II.

    Yoshikazu Tsuno / AFP - Getty Images

    Japanese Land and Transport Minister Yuichiro Hata (L) and fellow lawmakers visit the controversial Yasukuni shrine to honor the dead on the 67th anniversary of Japan's surrender from World War II, in Tokyo on Wednesday.

    Reuters reports: A Japanese cabinet member paid homage at a controversial shrine for war dead on Wednesday -- the 67th anniversary of Tokyo's defeat in World War Two -- a move likely to further strain relations with China and South Korea.

    Bitter memories of Japanese militarism run deep in China and South Korea and, despite close economic ties, relations with Beijing and Seoul have become increasingly fraught recently.

    Bickering over rival territorial claims to rocky, uninhabited islands are the latest sign of how the region has yet to resolve differences over its past. Continue reading the full story.

    Jason Lee / Reuters

    Protesters hold a Chinese national flag and banners reading "Japan get out of Diaoyu islands" and "declare war against Japan" during an anti-Japan protest to mark the 67th anniversary of Japan's defeat in World War Two, outside the Japanese embassy in Beijing August 15, 2012.

     

  • U.S. Marines return to New Zealand to mark 70th anniversary of WWII deployment

    Hagen Hopkins / Getty Images

    US Marines salute at the Tomb of the Unknown Warrior during a wreath-laying ceremony at the National War Memorial on June 14, 2012 in Wellington, New Zealand. John Key welcomed US marines to Wellington today to mark the 70th anniversary of American World War II forces arrival to New Zealand in 1942.

    msnbc.com reports: U.S. Marines salute at the Tomb of the Unknown Warrior during a wreath-laying ceremony at the National War Memorial on June 14, 2012 in Wellington, New Zealand. Prime Minister John Key welcomed the Marines to Wellington Thursday to mark the 70th anniversary of American World War II forces arrival to New Zealand in 1942.

    Fifty U.S. Marines and a 50-person Marine band are scheduled to spend three weeks in the country to participate in commemorative events, sunlive.co.nz reported in May.

     "Together we will be remembering and honoring the sacrifices made during the Second World War,” Key said in a statement, the sunlive.co.nz reported.

    Marty Melville / AFP - Getty Images

    Roses and poppies rests on the Tomb of the Unknown Warrior.

     

     

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  • Remembering lives lost on D-Day anniversary

    Remy de la Mauviniere / AP

    U.S. World War II veteran Clarence "Mac" Evans, 87, from West Virginia, who landed in Normandy on June 6, 1944, with the 29th Infantry Division, walks among the graves at the Colleville American military cemetery in Colleville sur Mer, western France, on June 6, before the start of the ceremony commemorating the 68th anniversary of the D-Day. Evans was searching for the tombs of 17 of his fellows who died on D-Day.

    Remy de la Mauviniere / AP

    Wreaths are laid at the memorial of the Colleville American military cemetery in Colleville sur Mer, western France, on June 6 during the ceremony commemorating the 68th anniversary of D-Day.

    Remy de la Mauviniere / AP

    A bird stands on one of the 9,387 graves at the Colleville American military cemetery in Colleville sur Mer, western France, on June 6, the day of the commemoration of the 68th anniversary of D-Day.

    Related story:

  • World War II Kittyhawk fighter found in Sahara, shedding light on pilot's fate

    Jakub Perka

    The discovery of the Curtiss P-40 Kittyhawk in the Sahara Desert was described by one military historian as "the aviation equivalent of Tutankhamun's Tomb."

    By Michele Neubert, NBC News, and Ian Johnston, msnbc.com

    A remarkably well-preserved fighter plane that crashed in the Sahara Desert during World War II has been found 70 years later, shedding new light on the pilot's struggle to survive.

    The American-made Curtiss P-40 Kittyhawk was discovered by a Polish oil worker, Jakub Perka, who was exploring the desert in Egypt, The Telegraph newspaper reported. It was about 200 miles from the nearest town.

    It is believed that the pilot, Dennis Copping, 24, ran into trouble while flying in 1942 but still managed to land the plane on the sands, the paper said.

    Military historian Andy Saunders said that the British flight sergeant "must have survived the crash" because a photograph of the plane showed a parachute had been put up on the side of the plane, apparently as a form of shelter, The Telegraph reported.

    "The radio and batteries were out of the plane, and it looks like he tried to get it working. If he died at the side of the plane, his remains would have been found," Saunders added. "Once he had crashed there, nobody was going to come and get him. It is more likely he tried to walk out of the desert but ended up walking to his death. It is too hideous to contemplate."

    He said the discovery was "the aviation equivalent of Tutankhamun's tomb."

    Air enthusiasts excited
    The Vintage Wings of Canada website speculated that the plane had a mechanical problem, ran out of fuel or that the pilot simply got lost.

    The website said there seemed to be a growing consensus that the plane's serial number was ET 574, based on what could be made out from photographs. If this is confirmed, the website said it was possible that Canadian flying ace James "Stocky" Edwards had previously flown the fighter.

    Jakub Perka

    The plane's cockpit is in remarkable though dusty condition.

    Journalist sacked for defying censors to report German WWII surrender gets apology

    "To say we, at Vintage Wings, are excited by this find is an understatement," the website said.

    It expressed concern the plane had been "seriously vandalized -- a travesty the whole aviation world seems unable to stop."

    Parades commemorate Soviet victory in World War II

    Michael Creane of the Royal Air Force Museum in London, U.K., told NBC News that it was "incredible" the plane had not been submerged by the shifting sands of the desert.

    He said the museum was "hell-bent" on bringing the aircraft to the facility, although he said there were "lots of hoops to jump through."

    More world news from msnbc.com and NBC News:

    Follow us on Twitter: @msnbc_world

  • Parades commemorate Soviet victory in World War II

    Anatoly Maltsev / EPA

    ST. PETERSBURG, RUSSIA: Members of military-historical clubs wearing Soviet World War II-era uniforms dance at the Warsaw train station in St.Petersburg on May 9, 2012, marking Victory Day celebrations.

    Sergei Supinsky / AFP - Getty Images

    KIEV, UKRAINE: A boy climbs on a World War II monument at an open air museum in Kiev on May 9, 2012.

    Natalia Kolesnikova / AFP - Getty Images

    MOSCOW, RUSSIA: Russia's newly-inaugurated President Vladimir Putin and new Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev watch a Victory Day parade at Red Square on May 9, 2012.

    Maxim Shipenkov / EPA

    MOSCOW, RUSSIA: Russian WWII veterans drink during celebrations marking the 67th anniversary of victory over Germany on May 9, 2012.

    Reuters reports — President Vladimir Putin, speaking in Moscow's Red Square with military generals at his side, said he would promote Russia's might on the world stage in a patriotic speech on Wednesday glorifying the Soviet victory over Germany in World War Two.

    Two days after being sworn in for a six-year term that has drawn protests against his return to the Kremlin, Putin used the address to troops and war veterans at the annual military parade on Red Square to reinforce appeals for national unity.

    400 protesters arrested hours before Putin's return to Russian presidency

    "Russia consistently follows a policy of strengthening global security and we have a great moral right to stand up determinedly for our positions because our country suffered the blow of Nazism," Putin said on a podium flanked by military chiefs bristling with medals under the Kremlin's red walls. Read the full story.

    Abir Sultan / EPA

    JERUSALEM, ISRAEL: Relatives of Israeli veterans who fought against the Nazis wear Soviet uniforms as they march in Jerusalem on May 9, 2012.

    ST. PETERSBURG, RUSSIA: People meet the 'Victory train, a vintage locomotive with members of a historical military club aboard, at Varshavsky railway station on May 9, 2012.

    Ilmars Znotins / AFP - Getty Images

    RIGA, LATVIA: A boy wearing an old military hat looks on as his father makes tea at the World War II monument in Riga on May 9, 2012.

     

  • Russian military preps for Victory Day parade

    Alexander Zemlianichenko / AP

    Russian military vehicles make their way down a Moscow street on April 26 during a rehearsal for the Victory Day military parade which will take place in Red Square on May 9. The parade commemorates the 67 years since victory over Nazi Germany in WWII.

    Mikhail Voskresensky / Reuters

    Russian soldiers practice on April 26 in Moscow's Red Square for a Victory Day military parade marking 67 years since victory over Nazi Germany in World War II.

    Alexander Zemlianichenko / AP

    A Russian soldier stands guard in heavy rain during a rehearsal on April 26 for the Victory Day military parade in Moscow.

    Mikhail Voskresensky / Reuters

    Russian soldiers practice on April 26 in Moscow's Red Square for a Victory Day Military Parade marking 67 years since victory over Nazi Germany in World War II.The parade is scheduled for May 9.

    Sergei Chirikov / EPA

    Russian military servicemen are pictured on top their armored personnel carrier as they travel down Tverskaya street to Red Square during the evening Victory Day parade rehearsal in Moscow on April 26. The parade, to commemorate the 67th anniversary of the capitulation of Nazi Germany in 1945, is scheduled for May 9.

     

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    NBC News article on Texan teen graduating from premier Russian ballet school 

    When Joy Womack arrived at Moscow's elite Bolshoi Ballet Academy at 15, she spoke limited Russian and was one of a number of foreigners allowed to train at the school. Now 17, she is poised to become the first American to graduate from the Russian academy.

    

     

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