[1] The circumstances of the composition and first performance of the song were hurried; the lyrics were published on 24 June 1941, and Alexandrov immediately wrote the music for them, writing the notes out on a blackboard for the singers to copy manually.
[2] In the 1990s, Russian media published the allegation that the lyrics had been plagiarized by Lebedev-Kumach, and that they were indeed written during the First World War by Aleksandr Bode [ru] (1865–1939).
[4] One of the most famous Soviet patriotic songs, "The Sacred War" has been sung in several languages including Russian,[5] Finnish,[6] Hungarian,[7] Estonian,[8] Latvian,[9] Chinese,[10] Korean,[11] Japanese,[12] Vietnamese,[13] Hindi,[14] Punjabi,[15] German,[16] French[17] and English,[18] as well as several other languages of the Soviet Union.
Дадим отпор душителям Всех пламенных идей, Насильникам грабителям, Мучителям людей!
Гнилой фашистской нечисти Загоним пулю в лоб, Отребью человечества Cколотим крепкий гроб!
Dadím otpór dušíteljam Vseh plámennyh idej, Nasíljnikam, grabíteljam, Mučíteljam ljudéj!
Gnilój fašístskoj néčisti Zagónim púlju v lob, Otrébjju čelovéčestva Skolótim krépkij grob!