Kiev, Nov 25 (IANS/TASS): Mentions of the Great Patriotic War of 1941-1945 will be removed from Ukrainian history textbooks, director of the Ukrainian National Memory Institute Vladimir Vyatovich told Ukrainian media.

All after-effects of "Soviet propaganda and primarily a myth about the Great Patriotic War" should be dropped from educational materials and textbooks, Vyatovic said.

The term Great Patriotic War is used in some former republics of the Soviet Union to refer to the eastern campaign of the World War II.

The Nazi invasion of the USSR in June 1941 heralded the beginning the Great Patriotic War. It ended in complete defeat for Nazi Germany less than four years later with the fall of Berlin May 9, 1945.

Over 20,000,000 Soviet citizens and soldiers died in the struggle to liberate the Motherland from the fascist aggressors.

"For us the Second World War started Sep 1, 1939, and we do not have the right to narrow it to the Great Patriotic War, as it was much more horrible and tragic," Vyatovich said.

The Ukrainian ministry of education and science did not make any comments on the National Ukrainian Memory Institute’s initiative.

Under former president Viktor Yushchenko, the term Great Patriotic War had already been removed from Ukrainian history textbooks, but this mention was brought back during Viktor Yanukovich’s presidency.

Kiev has earlier denied the St. George Ribbon as a symbol of Victory Day. On the Day of Great Victory, official events in Kiev passed with the use of the British symbol of red poppy in remembrance about victims of the First World War. Later, this symbol began to be used in remembrance of victims of all battles.