Victory Day over Nazism in World War II

Victory Day over Nazism in World War II (День перемоги над нацизмом у Другій світовій війні) or Victory Day (День перемоги) is a national holiday and a day off in Ukraine. It was first celebrated on 9 May 2015 and follows the Day of Remembrance and Reconciliation on May 8 (which pays tribute to the victims of World War II and was also first celebrated in 2015). The holiday replaced the Soviet "Victory Day", which was celebrated in the post-Soviet Union states, including Ukraine, until 2014 inclusive.

Differences of "Victory Day"
On 9 April 2015 the Ukrainian parliament approved a set of laws of decommunization that included canceling the Law of Ukraine "On perpetuation of the Great Patriotic War of 1941-1945" and replaced Victory Day with the new holiday titled "Victory Day over Nazism in World War II". Because of the decommunization laws Soviet symbols cannot be used during the celebrating of the holiday, since from 15 May 2015 Communist and Nazi symbols are prohibited in Ukraine. Besides, the term "Great Patriotic War" was removed from Ukrainian legislation. Also in the new holiday there is a bias from history of hostilities to histories of certain people and in result honoring instead of celebration.

2015
The Ukrainian Institute of National Memory have published teaching materials in advance and recommended the holiday be celebrated in a new format. Despite the fact that the law "About perpetuation of the victory over Nazism in World War II 1939 - 1945" officially did not came into force, the holiday in Ukraine officially was celebrated in a format different from Russian formats of celebration of "Victory Day". On this day there were ceremony of laying flowers at monuments to unknown soldiers of the Red Army, in Kiev - a peace march involving military brass bands from Ukraine, Estonia, Lithuania, Poland, and Serbia. It was after the ceremony of oath of cadets in the presence of the President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko.

For this memorable day the President of Ukraine established a state award by his order - the anniversary.

Symbols
The official symbol of celebration of Victory Day over Nazism in World War II and Day of Remembrance and Reconciliation is red poppy (remembrance poppy) flower, which is the world common symbol of memorable days of World War II. It is used in Ukraine in its own styling developed by Kharkiv designer Sergei Mishakin. The motto of both days is "1939—1945. We remember. We prevail" (1939-1945. Пам’ятаємо. Перемагаємо).