Day 18-21

Volgograd, the City on the Volga River, is something of an historian’s dream. This is the spot where, in 1589, Russian explorers first came to the Volga River, a river so prominent in the Russian psyche, much like the Mississippi River is for us. For over 300 years, this city was called Tsaritsyn, after the Tsar of Russia. In 1919, this city gained immense fame in Soviet culture as a White Russian stronghold that was stormed and won over by a small group of Red soldiers, most of whom would be killed 20 years later in Stalin’s purges for being “too famous.” Clearly, there was no place for a city bearing the name of Tsaritsyn in Soviet Russia, so the name was conveniently changed to Stalingrad, City of Stalin. Subtle… Anyhow, Stalingrad’s place in history is well known, and now, 65 years later, I had the opportunity to visit this incredibly city. The first thing one notices about Volgograd is how clean the city center is. Perhaps it’s the money from tourism, but this place is spotless compared to Voronezh. This makes for a pleasant experience, and it was a nice change to not be dodging broken glass and mud while contemplating the spot where more three times as many Germans and Russians were killed in 6 months than Americans in the whole war. We began our tour on the banks of the Volga River, the spot where desperate Russian soldiers fought desperately with no hope of escaping across the river to the relative safety of the opposite bank. We came to a park with three memorials in it. The first was a memorial to the Red victory in Tsaritsyn, the second was a memorial to the Soviet victory in Stalingrad, and the third… a memorial built around the only tree left standing in the city by Spring 1943. From there we made our way through the city to the Mamaev Kurgan, a hill that overlooks the entirety of the city of Volgograd. For this particular reason, Mamaev Kurgan was the most desperately fought for piece of ground in the Battle for Stalingrad. Here, the largest war memorial in the world stands, visible from ever point in the city, much like the Christo Redentor in Brazil. The whole hill has been turned into a memorial, replete with the ubiquitous statues of Russian soldiers, who, if you take the statues for reality, all fought shirtless. Anyhow, the whole place is really quite something. In an interesting comparison, I thought back to my visit to Normandy Beach and all the Civil War battlefields I have seen. Those battlefields have been turned into a massive memorial for all the dead of both sides who fell in battle. Volgograd is a giant memorial to the Party of Lenin’s victory over Fascism. The only names of soldiers who fought there I found were the names of the Heroes of the Soviet Union, including Vasily Zaitsev, the sniper immortalized in the terrible movie, Enemy at the Gates. We also visited quite a museum about the battle. It is filled with the detritus of war that was scattered about the area for years (and an Afghan rug of Stalin) and was really a very well put together museum. One last anecdote about the Russian people: in the recovery of bodies after the battle (and continuing now) the parties involved have run into quite a difficulty. German soldier all carried identity disks, much like American dog tags, with one disk that could be left with the body, and another to be given to the headquarters. The Russians had no such system. Instead they were issued pieces of paper that they were to write their names and addresses on. However, the Russian soldiers believed that if you filled out the piece of paper, you were sure to be killed. As a result, thousands of Russian bodies lie in mass graves, all carrying strips of blank paper. Anyhow, many eternal flames, 8 hours and one boat cruise on the Volga River later, I had seen all there was to see in Volgograd. Quite an experience!

Voronezh Moment of the Day

This is just a little something I thought up on my long walk to and from school/bar. As you can imagine, Russia is a bit different than America, and really the rest of Europe, in many ways. I’d just like to put down a little list of things I that I just haven’t seen here in Russia that have caught my eye. I thought of about 70 examples yesterday, but now that it comes time to write, I can remember about 5, so this could be an ongoing post.

Things I don’t see in Voronezh:

Wheelchairs

Crutches

People with disabilities of any kind

American cars

Men’s fashion that isn’t pitifully laughable

Poorly dressed women

Middle aged women (you’re either under 28 or you’re over 70)

Obesity

Clean sidewalks

Storm drains

Any kind of rainfall management system beyond: a) it’ll run down to the river eventually or b) it’ll evaporate.

White socks

Mexican Food

Mexicans

Khaki pants

Women in their twenties wearing modest clothing

More later…