World War II was a very long time ago.... Why should it deserve a post?
Thats a fairly logical line of thinking for someone who has never been to Russia.
If you have been though, you'll know and understand that World War II. or as they call it here, the great patriotic war, always deserves a post by Russian standards. Even today, the country is filled with memorials, museams, and even has a holiday dedicated to the war, and the determination of the Russian people not to forget it.
I find everyone's dedication to the memory of such a war incredibly admirable. The only thing that worries me slightly is that there is a bit too much of a focus in my opinion on the remembrance of Soviet victory as apposed to remembing those who died, or the attrocities commited. The holiday after all is called victory day.
I had the privledge of visiting arguably the biggest and most extreme (you'll see what I mean by extreme in a moment) memorial of all in Volgograd when I was there about a month ago. It is almost like a city within its self. I will now give you all a virtual tour.
The memorial starts out on the street, where there gigantic are red flags each symbolizing a city, that like Volgograd, was heavily affected by the war. The woman you see here is named Elena Ivanovna, she is one of our lovely voulenteers.
We now arrive at the second square, which has an even bigger pool, also symbolic of the Volga. On the sides there are lots of statues, and at the other end.....
Then looming above it all is the gigantic stone statue of родина мать (mother of the homeland), who is a sort of Russian uncle sam. She is 87 meters tall, which makes the statue of liberty at 46 meters seem like a baby. This is a detail I'm sure the Soviet government took into account when they built it.
The entire thing is unbelievable. Unbelievable that they'd build such a thing, unbelivable what it looks like, unbelievable how much the people respect it (there is no trash, and no graffiti in sight, but now that I think of it, this could also be due to frequent cleaning).
And this memorial isn't the only way they show their dedication. There are other, slightly smaller ones all over the country. Even in Nihzny, which was hardly touched by the war, there is a large memorial and also a fire which never goes out.
In addition to the memorials there is also a holiday, Victory day. This means
no school, and a parade and fireworks in every big city. The streets of both Nihzny and Moscow (where I went to see the parade), were both covered in banners and signs. Almost everyone wears orange and black ribbons, a symbol of the day. Even the bread we bought at the supermarket had a special wrapping that celebrated.
It is strange though, because a lot of people I've talked to seemed to only know about the Russian losses in the war. I was talking with a girl from my school, and she even didn't know that the United States took part. A lot of people have misconceptions about it actually, Russian and American. Still though, how could she think that? 300,000 American soldiers died in the war. This seems like a very large number. 300,000. How could she be ignorant of such a tradgedy?
I'll tell you how. Because 23 million Russians died, men women and children. When you think of it like that, it is quite understandable how someone could believe that the US took little to know part in the war, and its quite understandable how badly they want to remember.
Thats a fairly logical line of thinking for someone who has never been to Russia.
If you have been though, you'll know and understand that World War II. or as they call it here, the great patriotic war, always deserves a post by Russian standards. Even today, the country is filled with memorials, museams, and even has a holiday dedicated to the war, and the determination of the Russian people not to forget it.
I find everyone's dedication to the memory of such a war incredibly admirable. The only thing that worries me slightly is that there is a bit too much of a focus in my opinion on the remembrance of Soviet victory as apposed to remembing those who died, or the attrocities commited. The holiday after all is called victory day.
I had the privledge of visiting arguably the biggest and most extreme (you'll see what I mean by extreme in a moment) memorial of all in Volgograd when I was there about a month ago. It is almost like a city within its self. I will now give you all a virtual tour.
After walking by the flags, you come to these steps. Translation: For our soviet homeland, the USSR!
Then you come to the first square. It is filled with more flags and at the end a statue (which you see a bit of) and a pool (which you can't see).
After you walk past the pool in the fist square, which by the way, is symbolic of the Volga, a river which begins close to Yaroslavl (north of Moscow) and ends in Astrahan. It runs through Volgograd, and also, Nizny Novgorod, where I live. Anyways, after the pool, you walk up more steps, which are flanked by these incredibly cool stone sort of collages. They are covered with quotes from soldiers, pictures, and other symbols of war. From unseen speakers music from the war plays 24/7.
there are these walls. Which have carvings like the one you see now. Translation: Facist soldiers wanted to see the Volga. The red army gave them that opportunity. See what I mean by the focus on victory being unsettling?
There is a small opening in the carved walls at the entrance of which stands a guard, who is there 24/7 (not the same one, but you know what I mean). Then you walk through this tunnel which opens up into this underground memorial. On the walls are close to a million names of dead soldiers, and the fire never goes out. You can't see them, but in this place there are six soldiers, also on constant guard. No one speaks. There is no official rule, but when you're in the room, you can't really.
Then looming above it all is the gigantic stone statue of родина мать (mother of the homeland), who is a sort of Russian uncle sam. She is 87 meters tall, which makes the statue of liberty at 46 meters seem like a baby. This is a detail I'm sure the Soviet government took into account when they built it.
The entire thing is unbelievable. Unbelievable that they'd build such a thing, unbelivable what it looks like, unbelievable how much the people respect it (there is no trash, and no graffiti in sight, but now that I think of it, this could also be due to frequent cleaning).
And this memorial isn't the only way they show their dedication. There are other, slightly smaller ones all over the country. Even in Nihzny, which was hardly touched by the war, there is a large memorial and also a fire which never goes out.
In addition to the memorials there is also a holiday, Victory day. This means
no school, and a parade and fireworks in every big city. The streets of both Nihzny and Moscow (where I went to see the parade), were both covered in banners and signs. Almost everyone wears orange and black ribbons, a symbol of the day. Even the bread we bought at the supermarket had a special wrapping that celebrated.
It is strange though, because a lot of people I've talked to seemed to only know about the Russian losses in the war. I was talking with a girl from my school, and she even didn't know that the United States took part. A lot of people have misconceptions about it actually, Russian and American. Still though, how could she think that? 300,000 American soldiers died in the war. This seems like a very large number. 300,000. How could she be ignorant of such a tradgedy?
I'll tell you how. Because 23 million Russians died, men women and children. When you think of it like that, it is quite understandable how someone could believe that the US took little to know part in the war, and its quite understandable how badly they want to remember.
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