This article presents divergent views of the national memories of the Germans and Russians, accumulated since the Second World War in two leading narratives, presenting the mnemonic syndromes of winners and losers. The railway disaster at Zielonka Pasłęcka in January 1945 and its consequences was used as a point of comparison. The author presents, amongst others, the impact of the work of the German researcher Heinz Timmreck, in the form of numerous reports from this incident, mainly highlighting the suffering of the German civilian population fleeing the region endangered by fighting. On the other side, the author presents memoirs of Soviet officers marked with personal ambitions and traces of vengeful attacks preserved in the military documentation. The juxtaposition of the narratives and their comparison provides a new perspective, prompting changes in the mythologised memory of both nations.