The Russian and Eastern European Culture Club will join with the New Russia Cultural Center in Albany to host a celebration of Victory Day Thursday 5:30-8 p.m. in Old Chapel.
This year marks the 70th anniversary of Victory Day, which commemorates the surrender of Nazi Germany to the Allied Forces on May 9, 1945. It is a national holiday in some 20 European nations.
Veterans of the Soviet Union’s armed forces who fought against the Nazis in World War II will be honored with medals at the bilingual campus event, which is free and open to the public. A banquet will feature Eastern European cuisine.
Stephen Berk, the Henry and Sally Schaffer Professor of Holocaust and Jewish Studies, and an expert in Russian and Eastern European Studies, is the keynote speaker. He will talk about the last days of World War II.
Anastasia Pease, lecturer in American literature and a scholar of Russian, will give opening remarks and serve as a translator.
In addition, Yuri Naumkin, who has performed in Moscow and New York City, will lead a performance by a traditional Russian acting troupe.
The veterans’ families and other Russian-American and Ukrainian-American community members living in the Capital Region will be in attendance.