Posted on 04/19/2006 10:15:10 AM PDT by NormsRevenge
MOSCOW (AFP) - A Russian region has restored a memorial to Josef Stalin in a bid to boost tourism, in the latest of a spate of new statues and busts of the former Soviet dictator.
"The idea was launched by travel agents," Yevgeny Pashenko -- a deputy governor of the Krasnoyarsk region in south Siberia -- was quoted as saying by the Interfax news agency.
"It's a purely commercial project aimed to attract tourists in the region, without any political basis," he added Wednesday.
The 400-square-metre memorial has a life-size statue of Stalin in the centre. It has been closed since 1961 and was almost completely destroyed by a fire in 1995.
Statues of Stalin were once dotted across the Soviet Union but disappeared after his personality cult was condemned by the Soviet Communist Party in 1956. But he has made a comeback in several Russian towns in recent months.
In December a Stalin museum was opened in the city of Volgograd.
The same month a bust of him was erected in the Russian Caucasus town of Digora, drawing protests from human rights activists who cited the bloodshed and deportations he presided over during his nearly 30 years in power.
During ceremonies marking the 60th anniversary of the end of World War II last May, campaigners succeeded in briefly getting a bust of Stalin erected in the city of Krasnoyarsk, but it was taken away on the orders of the authorities.
An elderly communist lays flowers at Stalin's tomb at Moscow's Red Square in 2000. A Russian region has restored a memorial to Josef Stalin in a bid to boost tourism, in the latest of a spate of new statues and busts of the former Soviet dictator.(AFP/File)
--gee whiz--wonder what the world would think if the Krauts started using Hitler as a tourist attraction?
Tourism's next hot spot ... Gulags of Siberia.
"An elderly communist lays flowers at Stalin's tomb at Moscow's Red Square in 2000. A Russian region has restored a memorial to Josef Stalin in a bid to boost tourism, in the latest of a spate of new statues and busts of the former Soviet dictator.(AFP/File)"
I believe the writing is on the wall. In the next 10 years, Russia will be back as a Communist country.
Why not, Europe makes a killing off of Nazi death camp museums. (pun intented)
Yeah elderly pensioners are definitly a mark of the future.
Weren't there plans for a StalinLand theme park a few years back?
"Yeah elderly pensioners are definitly a mark of the future."
Well in this country elderly pensioners had a huge influence on killing Social Security reform which wouldn't affect them in the least.
Anyway, you are looking at the pensioner. I am looking at the statue. The statue will be there long after that geezer is dead and buried.
"Weren't there plans for a StalinLand theme park a few years back?"
Yeah, that Lubyanka interactive ride was sure to draw thousands each day.
The statue in the photo is in Moscow, which has been steadily removing communist statues and renaming streets for 10 years.
(Which btw makes travel a pain because guidebooks become outdated quick)
I beleive that was in Georgia (Stalin's home country) not Russia.
Just looked at the picuture again. I know that old guy.
It's Popeyeski.
Can't touch that without drawing a penalty.
The map in #9 was excellent. I'm tossing a dart to see where I will take the wife this winter.
The island right below the first "c" in "Arctic Ocean" looks like a good spot to soak up some rays.
That old guy is pretty much a poster child for the few remaining communists in Russia. Pensioners holding on to the past and griping about their smaller and smaller government handouts.
(Read this amazing factoid in the last issue of Natl. Rev.)
The Lithuania park is not a theme park in the sense of an amusement park. It is a genocide memorial with "socialist realism" statues.
The way Putin's going, some Russkis will be getting an all-expense paid gulag tour sooner than they think.
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