Mila Evanovich

 

Commemorating VE – DAY- MAY 8,1945

 

On this very day in 1945, the fighting in Europe fell silent. After nearly six years of utter devastation and inconceivable human loss, Nazi Germany unconditionally surrendered to the Allied forces. It was Victory in Europe Day, better known as VE Day, a moment that brought with it jubilation to nations.

Today marks the 80th anniversary of that historic day. No other war had claimed as many lives. World War II reshaped the borders of nations, dismantled empires, and left tens of millions dead.

But more than that, it tore through the lives of ordinary people. Families shattered. Cities reduced to rubble. Entire communities displaced for generations. From the beaches of Normandy to the ruins of Stalingrad, from the death camps of Poland to the mountain resistance movements in the Kingdom of Yugoslavia, this war tested the limits of human endurance, and humanity itself.

The headlines on May 8, 1945, declared Freedom from Tyranny and Fascism Defeated. Across the globe, people poured into the streets, shouting, dancing, crying, and embracing. Ticker-tape parades filled the air with confetti. But what did liberation truly mean?

Across Eastern Europe, it meant that Hitler’s iron grip had been thwarted. Nations and societies long crushed under the Third Reich’s boots of oppression were finally unshackled. Women who had stepped into roles as resistance fighters and workers in factories would never be seen the same way again. Yet, even as the world breathed in relief, something else emerged—something darker.

The liberation of the concentration and death camps revealed horrors too incalculable to grasp. The genocide and the targeted extermination of a particular race of people shook the world, leaving countless to question: how had we allowed this to happen?

Unfortunately, the end of World War II did not bring the peace we so greatly sought. Instead, it ushered in a new kind of perplexity. With an estimated nine million homeless, and many having been betrayed, or left petrified over returning to their country, the US, Great Britain, and France sprang into action. In the aftermath, the world was left to wonder what does peace look like now?

As we mark this milestone, we do so not solely to remember but to herald the legacy of a generation that faced unthinkable challenges, and a generation that is rapidly leaving us. As we offer our gratitude today, we honor the soldiers, resistance fighters, and civilians who lost their lives eighty years ago in the name of democracy, freedom, and human dignity.

 

I extend my deepest thanks to all of you who have recommended No Bread Tomorrow to your friends and family, and those who have taken the time to write such thoughtful reviews on Amazon. For indie authors like me, it truly does take a village to be recognized. I’m indebted to each of you a thousand times over for your kind words of support.

This spring has been incredibly dynamic, filled with book talks, author events, conferences, master classes, and ongoing research for the next installment of my trilogy. I’m thrilled with the direction it’s heading.

I’m eager to announce two upcoming author events at the end of May where I will be speaking, and both take place in my childhood home state of Pennsylvania.