AP Photo Posted on 03/31/2005 12:51:58 PM PST by jb6
MOSCOW - The city formerly known as Stalingrad will erect a monument to Josef Stalin, Franklin D. Roosevelt and Winston Churchill to honor their historic Yalta conference in 1945, the city's mayor said Thursday.
AP Photo
Volgograd Mayor Yevgeny Ishchenko also said his city is considering changing some street names in honor of the Battle of Stalingrad, which is widely considered a turning point in World War II.
"We are talking about eternalizing the leaders of world powers, the powers that won in that war, about eternalizing a historic event," Ishchenko said.
Zurab Tsereteli — a sculptor known for grandiose statues that many consider more kitsch than art — is donating the massive bronze statue to the city, located about 550 miles southeast of Moscow. Ishchenko said they hope to erect the monument in time for the 60th anniversary of the end of the war, on May 9.
Erecting monuments to Stalin remains a controversial issue for many Russians, who say the dictator was responsible for the deaths of millions of his own people. Other Russians revere him for the Soviet Union's rapid industrialization and his leadership during the fight against Nazi Germany in what is known here as the Great Patriotic War.
Ishchenko stressed the Yalta monument was not to honor Stalin, but to honor the Nazi defeat and the Yalta conference that charted the postwar world.
It is important "not to blacken our past too much," he said, and to love Russian history "the way it is."
Volgograd residents are also considering renaming some streets in honor of the Battle of Stalingrad, he said. The city's public council may rename the city's main street, Lenin Avenue, to Stalingrad Avenue. Other streets may be named after heroes of the battle.
Ishchenko said there is also talk of returning the city to its previous name of Stalingrad. The city was renamed Volgograd in 1961 after Soviet leaders denounced Stalin for promoting a cult of personality.
Ishchenko, however, said the city will not back the proposal unless it is endorsed by the majority of city residents. A recent opinion poll found only 15 percent of Volgograd residents in favor of renaming the city, he said.
Too bad Chiang Kai Shek keeps getting left out of the "Allied Leaders of WWII" groupings.
Looks like typical Soviet-style sculpture. I can't help but notice the poses of the three leaders. Stalin looking ahead to the future while FDR and Churchill look to Stalin very deferentially for leadership. But, hey, it's a start. They are at last publicly acknowledging that there were other nations that fought, too.
I've got no problems with the Russians recognizing Stalin's role in WW2. Despite being a monster he did lead them to victory over Hitler. Any sculpture of Stalin honoring victory in the "Great Patriotic War" ought to show him sitting atop a pile of corpses in Red Army uniforms. He squandered the lives of his soldiers in order to win his high-stakes poker game with Hitler.
Stalin did a good enough job of that on his own.
It's a national disgrace for America that our children are not taught the truth about this monster who committed greater crimes against humanity than Hitler and the Nazis. If the truth were known, then perhaps leftist ideology would not be as popular as it is (which, of course, is exactly how the academic Left wants to keep it).
You mean "Cash My Check" as Vingegar Joe Stillwell called him? Chaing was worthless; he wanted us to do all the fighting against Japan, and hoard all the equipment we sent him to fight the Commies after the war. No, I'm not saying we should have backed Mao, either. I doubt there would have been any gratitude for the support. I'm saying Chaing was a rat-hole from which there was no return on the investment.
In addition to murdering almost his entire General Staff in the purges in the late 1930's.
And killing Ukrainians and losing to the Finish.
Which was a big reason why Hitler got to the gates of Moscow to begin with.
Stalin's brutality got the USSR in the mess they found themselves in 1941-1942. It took Stalin's brutality to get them out of it.
The statue would be fine with me if you could walk around the back and see Uncle Joe picking FDR's pocket.
I think that it has been slowly changing since the end of the Cold War. Right now, History Television is airing an excellent series called Russia's War: Blood Upon the Snow that is pretty rough on Uncle Joe, for both the prewar atrocities and his mishandling of the German invasion.
Just as long as they don't try to recognize DeGaulle as one of the Allied leaders.
Stalin was just as guilty as Hitler for starting WWII when they both invaded Poland in 1939.
Stalin was far worse than Hitler, but I think Mao was worse than both of them. No doubt all 3 are sitting in a very warm place now. I hope they enjoy the solar heating, they will have an eternity to think about it.
I wouldn't recognize DeGaulle as the leader of a one-man circle jerk!
Looks like typical Soviet-style sculpture. I can't help but notice the poses of the three leaders. Stalin looking ahead to the future while FDR and Churchill look to Stalin very deferentially for leadership.
Precisely. What a distortion. He should be depicted looking deferentially to FDR and Chrurchill.
True, with the backs to the wall at Stalingrad, Stalin did rally them to turn the tide. But were it not for the finance and arms from FDR and Churchill maintaining them as a viable fighting force up to this point in the war, they wouldn't have had the strength to turn the tide.
Truth is, General Winter had more to do with the turning back of the Germans at Stalingrad than any of the three on the statue.
Great insight, I hadn't looked at it that way.
Don't forget about the murdered in East Germany, as a result of Stalin's sacrifice of those in the Red Army. Also, many here don't know it but of course many Nazis went to work for the East German government. It's no surprise, as Hitler admitted that "basically Communism and Naziism are the same thing".
It's disgusting but not surprising that around Hollywood, they're going to create a "war memorial" for the Red Army. What country are we living in???
For better or for worse, he was the leader of the Republic of China. The Chinese people sufferred mightily at the hands of the Japanese from 1931 to 1945. Their resistnece and stubborness tied up half the Japanese army- troops that otherwise could be defending the Philippines, Solomons, East Indies or invading Australia, New Zealand or India.
True, he should be there. Not so bad that Deguille is left out, though.
It isn't widely known, because the socialists have done such a good job of disguising the fact, but Hitler was a leftist:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1010512/posts
Hitler is responsible for almost 40 million civilian deaths in less then 9 years, how do you figure? Stalin, a monster no less, killed 36 million civilians but he took 30 years to do the job. Imagine if Hitler and his scientific/industrial approach had had another 20 years.
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