Americanization and immigration often entail a cultural dissonance where patriotism for home nations is abandoned. Furthermore, classes in public schools pay little attention to ethnic or international holidays, whereas the most notable Russian private school in Brooklyn declined to comment. Firstly, Victory Day is not recognized as a national holiday and classes are not dismissed. The holiday is more removed from younger generations for several reasons. The celebration of Victory Day in New York is limited to the elderly and the initiative of the veterans themselves. “I’m ashamed that my grandchildren and great grandchildren don’t acknowledge today,” whispered a Ukrainian veteran who preferred to remain anonymous. The attendance at these parades has been dwindling and one veteran pointed out the key difference of Victory Day’s immigration: apathy from younger generations. The planning of the parade has been done mainly by Rozenberg’s organization with help from various community non-profits over the years such as the Russian-American Arts Foundation and the American Forum of World Congress of Russian Jewry, who vivified the parade in 2005 with the song of Victory Day, a sonnet that often follows parades and into the homes of families. The perpetuity of the parades is dated, and while it has received regular attendance annually, the majority of the persons are older generation immigrants. “The tragedy is that they’re old,” remarked Singer. These celebrations have continued for a decade amassing anywhere from 20-30 veterans annually. The organization has served as a hub for approximately 2,000 Soviet veterans in Brooklyn and organized the Victory Day parade annually with a dinner at evening ceremonial events at Millennium Theater.
“There are two veteran organizations: American Association of Invalids and Veterans of World War II and the All American Association of Invalids of World War II.” Leonid Rozenberg founded the former organization in 1997, and Semyon Komissar founded the second one as a response shortly after. She recalls the first parades manifesting in the 90s. Upon inquiring into the origin of Brighton’s Victory Day celebration, I spoke with Pat Singer, the founder and president of the Brighton Neighborhood Association, a grassroots community organization that has maintained a political presence on Brighton Beach for the last forty years. Although, no veterans can testify to the first open and organized celebration of Victory Day on Brighton Beach, most have suggested that the holiday gained traction in the mid-1990s, shortly after the fall of the Soviet union and an influx of ex-Soviets into New York. In the last two decades, residents have reiterated the cultural identity of Brighton Beach by commemorating the Soviet victory during World War II.
Brighton Beach, or Little Odessa, in addition to servings as a residential neighborhood for many Russian-speaking Americans, is also a cultural outlet for Soviet immigrants. It is a well-known fact that Brooklyn has a rich population of immigrants from the former Soviet Union, mainly residing in Brighton Beach and mostly coming from Ukraine.