The Dushanbe authorities have allocated 720,000 somoni to provide extraordinary grants to local veterans of the Great Patriotic War of 1941-1945 on the occasion of the 73rd anniversary of Victory in the Great Patriotic War.

The current number of veterans of the Great Patriotic War of 1941-1945 living in Dushanbe is 46.  They and the spouses of the servicemen who died in that war will receive 1,500 somoni each.

The home front toilers, Chernobyl clean-up operation participants, veterans of the Soviet-Afghan War (1979-1989) and families of the defenders of the constitutional order will receive 800 somoni each, according to the Dushanbe mayor’s office.  

According to the Republican Council of Veterans of War and Labor, only 344 Tajik veterans of the Great Patriotic War of 1941-1945 are estimated to be still alive.  Over the past year, their number has decreased by 99 people.  

Today, the number of World War II veterans living in Khatlon is 136 people, in Sughd – 101 people, in districts subordinate to the center (RRP) – 66 people, in Dushanbe – 46 people, and in the Gorno Badakhshan Autonomous Region (GBAO) – only 4 people.   

The oldest of the Tajik veterans of the Great Patriotic War of 1941-1945 was Dodarjon Umarov, who lived in Khatlon’s Vakhsh district.  He died at the end of last year aged 117.  

Some 300,000 residents of Tajikistan took part in the Great Patriotic War of 1941-1945 and some 100,000 of them died in battle.

54 of residents of Tajikistan were given the title of Hero of the Soviet Union.  Besides, 15 other Tajikistan’s residents were Full Holders of the Order of Glory.

Victory Day marks the end of World War II in Europe, specifically the capitulation of Nazi forces to the Allies (the United Kingdom, Soviet Union, France, the United States and other principal Allied nations) on May 8, 1945.

In Russia and other countries of former Soviet Union, the day of Victory over Nazi Germany was celebrated on May 9, because when the German Instrument of Surrender actually entered into force (May 8, 1945 at 23:01 CET), it was already May 9 by Moscow time.  Post-Soviet countries have continued the tradition.