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TheVictory Banner orBanner of Victory (Russian:Знамя Победы,romanized: Znamya Pobedy) was thebanner raised byRed Army soldiers on theReichstag building inBerlin on 1 May 1945,[1] the day afterAdolf Hitlercommitted suicide. This particular banner was raised by three Soviet soldiers:Alexei Berest,Mikhail Yegorov, andMeliton Kantaria, but it was not the only one Soviet banner on the Reichstag at that time, seeRaising a Flag over the Reichstag for details.
The Victory Banner, made underbattlefield conditions, is the official symbol of the victory of theSoviet Union overNazi Germany during theSecond World War. It is also one of thenational treasures of Russia. TheCyrillic inscription reads:[2]
150 стр. ордена Кутузова II ст. идрицк. див. 79 С. К. 3 У. А. 1 Б. Ф.
Translated and with abbreviations changed to their referents, the flag's writing means:
150th RifleOrder of Kutuzov 2nd classIdritsa Division79th Rifle Corps3rd Shock Army1st Belorussian Front
Although this flag was not the only one to be hoisted on the Reichstag, it was the only survivor of all the "official" flags specially prepared to be raised there.[citation needed]
According to the Law of the Russian Federation, the Banner of Victory is to be stored forever in a place which provides its safety and public availability.
The origin of the banner comes from the report of the commander of the 3rd assault army to the head of political administration of The Red Army about the fight for Reichstag and placing the Victory Banner on it, dated 2 July 1945:
The Commander of the1st Byelorussian Front Marshal of Soviet Union comradeZhukov ordered the troops of the3rd Shock Army to headily enterBerlin, to secure the downtown andReichstag and to place the Victory Banner on it. <...>
Having defeated the last enemy strongholds the troops of the army entered Berlin at 6:00 o'clock in the evening on the 21st of April 1945. <...>
After seizing the downtown the troops of the 3rd assault army penetrated the neighborhood of the Reichstag at the end of 29 of April 1945..
On the 30th of April with the sunrise they started the massive assault on the Reichstag. <...>
On the 30th of April 1945 at 14:25 (2:25 pm) the soldiers ofLieutenant Sorokin's group fought their way to the roof and reached the dome. The courageous warriors - ordinary soldier Grigorij Bulatov,Komsomol party organizer Viktor Pravotorov and partyless Senior Sergeant Ivan Lysenko, Stepan Oreshko have erected a banner, the proud flag of the Soviet Union over the German parliamentary building, a symbol of our Great Victory.
The banner hoisted over the Reichstag, burned and shot through with bullets, flew victoriously over a defeated Berlin. <...>
— Vasily Kuznetsov and Andrei Litvinov,"Chapter III. «Banner above Reichtag»".Russian archive: Second World War: B. 15 (4-5). Fight for Berlin (Red Army in the defeated Germany). Moscow: Terra. 1995.
By decree of PresidentAlexander Lukashenko on 6 May 1995, a duplicate of the Victory Banner was issued for duties on 9 May, 23 February and 3 July. TheFlag of the USSR also holds an equivalent status.[citation needed] In 2011, Russia presented Belarus with one of the official copies of the Victory Banner, being kept at theBelarusian Great Patriotic War Museum.[3]
In the self-proclaimed separatistDonetsk People's Republic andLuhansk People's Republic on Victory Day, the Banner of Victory is utilized during military parades. In 2018, the parliaments of the DPR and LPR adopted laws "On the Banner of Victory", which established the status and legal basis for the use of copies of the Banner of Victory in the republics.[4][5][6]
On 21 April 2010, in the Hall of Fame of theCentral Museum of the Great Patriotic War in Moscow, a ceremony where a copy of the Victory Banner was handed over to the Chief of Staff of the Administrative Department of thePresident of Kazakhstan. This copy is kept in the Museum ofNursultan Nazarbayev. The welcoming of the banner took place on 1 May in thePark of 28 Panfilov Guardsmen inAlmaty.[7][8] On 6 May 2015, accompanied by a guard of honor, an exact copy of the Victory Banner, made by Russian craftsmen, was transferred to the National Archives of Kazakhstan.[9] Later on 12 June 2015, Russia handed over another copy to theMinistry of Defense of Kazakhstan. The banner was transferred for storage to the newly opened Museum of Arms and Military Equipment of theArmed Forces of Kazakhstan inAstana.[10] On 23 December 2015, prior to the meeting of theCouncil of Ministers of Defense of the CIS, Russian Defense MinisterSergei Shoigu handed over another copy of the Victory Banner to the Kazakh Minister of DefenseImangali Tasmagambetov.[11]
On 21 October 2009, the self-proclaimed separatistSupreme Council of Transnistria adopted a law on equating the Victory Banner with theTransnistrian Flag.[12] In 2014, at the Memorial of Glory inTiraspol, an official copy of the Victory Banner was handed over to Transnistria from Russia.
On 21 April 2011, theVerkhovna Rada of Ukraine adopted a law which was signed by PresidentViktor Yanukovych that established a procedure for the official use of the Victory Banner, specifically at theTomb of the Unknown Soldier and theMonument to the Unknown Sailor. In June of that year, theConstitutional Court of Ukraine found this law unconstitutional.[13][14] On 9 April 2015, the Verkhovna Rada adopted a new law which removed all mention of the Victory Banner.[15]
After the2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, Russian forces displayed the flag in numerous occupied locations, including government buildings. This was linked to both the upcoming Soviet-RussianVictory Day holiday on 9 May,[16] as well as other forms ofSoviet imagery used by Russian troops during the war as part of renewedSoviet nationalism under president Putin.
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A planned part of theMoscow Victory Parade of 1945 was supposed to be the march of the Victory Banner, which was delivered to Moscow fromBerlin on 20 June and was supposed to begin the procession of troops on 24 June. Despite this, the weak drill training of Yegorov, Kantaria andStepan Neustroev forced MarshalGeorgy Zhukov to not go ahead with this portion of the parade.[17] On May 9, duringVictory Dayparade inMoscow, a copy of Victory Banner #5 is carried immediately behind theRussian flag by members of theMoscow Commandant's Regiment Honor and Colors Guards. (In 2015 the order was reversed.) During theIndependence Day Parade and the Victory Parade inMinsk, the color guard consisting of theFlag of Belarus, the Victory Banner and theFlag of the USSR are the first to march in the parade. The Victory Banner was brought toKyiv fromMoscow in October 2004 to take part in the parade in honor of the60th Anniversary of the Liberation of Ukraine.[citation needed] This is the first instance of Russia sending the banner to a formerSoviet Republic. In 2015, the banner was brought toAstana (the capital ofKazakhstan) to be trooped throughKazakh Eli Square by personnel of theAibyn Presidential Regiment in theDefender of the Fatherland Day parade on 7 May.[18] In 2020, during the first Victory Parade held inAshgabat, the Banner was brought from Russia to be trooped on the square near theHalk Hakydasy Memorial Complex.[19]
On 9 May 2017, the largest copy of the Victory Banner measuring 60 by 25 meters was deployed onGreat National Assembly Square in theMoldovan capital ofChișinău. The banner was sewn at a local factory over a period of two weeks.[20] In 2020, sailors of the RussianNorthern Fleet raised the banner over distant parts of theRussian Arctic.[21]
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