Russia to Erect Monument to WWII Figures

Associated Press Writer ^ | 31 March 05 | MARIA DANILOVA

[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.

[Tribune7]

The should put Neville Chamberlain in there somewhere too. All he did was appease Hilter. Stalin was a co-conspirator.

[FreedomCalls]

Too bad Chiang Kai Shek keeps getting left out of the "Allied Leaders of WWII" groupings.

Chiang Kai Shek was at the Yalta conference?

[Atlantic Bridge]

Yep!

It is the truth, that the Wehrmacht was welcomed by waving children in the Ukraine in 1941, just like the Bundeswehr was welcomed in Kosovo by the Albanians just a few years ago. Of course I saw those propaganda "Wochenschau" films, that were sent home to Germany by one of Goebbels "Kriegsberichterstatter(s)". If you know the circumstances of the 40ties, the innocence of the Ukrainians and their nescience about Hitler, their motions were more than understandable, since they had to deal with with the maneater Stalin already since 20 years in that time. It got even worse and much more blood was wasted on lonely fields in Poland, Ukraine, Belarus and Russia.

The sad part of history is, that always the "common" people have to pay for the insanity of their "leaders"...

[Atlantic Bridge]

I do not believe in a monument that celebrates the betrayal of all those brave nations (like the Poles) and people in the East. It would have been okay to delay Stalin for a little while, but Churchill and Roosevelt found themselves bound to the appointments they made with Russia. This is the reason why we had to go through the cold war and many years of communist oppression.

Do you remember the recent rise of freedom in eastern Europe? Maybe we could have had this 60 years before if the right decisions would have been made in the right time.