Blogs from Volgograd, South, Russia, Europe

"I soviet piu' l'elettricita' non fanno il comunismo, anche se e' un dato di fatto che a Stalingrado non passano", cosi' cantavano i CCCP negli anni '80 in quella che e' ormai diventata la colonna sonora di questo mio viaggio nelle terre dell'ex impero sovietico. Stalingrado oggi si chiama Volgograd ma ospita ancora uno dei pochi musei dedicati al baffone rimasti aperti fino ai nostri giorni. Qui si respira ancora aria di guerra anche se nessun conflitto e' ormai piu' alle porte: il sacrificio, la sofferenza e la vittoria vengono ricordate e celebrate per mantenere vivo lo spirito della grande guerra patriottica (la nostra seconda guerra mondiale) che proprio alle porte di questa citta' ha visto svolgersi la piu' grande battaglia nella storia dell'umanita', conclusasi con la prima grande sconfitta dell'armata nazista che ha segnato l'inizio ... read more

Firstly, apologies on how late and rushed this one is. The next will be better, I promise! I arrived in Volgograd mid-afternoon on Tuesday and walked to my hostel on Heroes Alley. Volgograd is probably better known to history buffs as Stalingrad, but before Stalingrad it was called Tsaritsyn, 'Yellow River'. Founded in about 1589 to guard Russia's southern boundary, Tsritsyn was also a trading port. Although it was only named 'Stalingrad' for 39 years, this is the name most people recognise. The Battle of Stalingrad had a devastating effect on the city and the people. I visited Mamaev Kurgan (Hill 102) and the Battle of Stalingrad Museum. Mamaev Kurgan is a monument to the battle and the museum is, well, a museum dedicated to the battle. At Mamaev Kurgan I was given a guided tour ... read more

The roadsides are littered with war memorials. They come in all shapes and sizes: tanks, rocket launchers, MIG fighter jets, large Soviet era statues, small star topped stones engraved with names. This, south-west, corner of Russia saw a lot of action during WWII and was occupied by the Germans. We tend to erect monuments honouring the people who fought but the Russians also genuinely honour the equipment too. We got pulled up by a young local for saying “another tank monument” they told us “this tank saved Russian lives, tanks like this helped us in the war, we are grateful to them, why shouldn't we honour them?” We are on our way to Volgograd, still travelling across the Kuban steppe with its giant fields. We're on the E40, the big main road that runs from Rostov-on-Don ... read more

Po slunnych dnech u Cerneho more jsme se vydali smerem na Volgograd, coz je zhruba 1000km. Cesta byla dobra, celkem slusna hlavni silnice a tak bylo spousta casu se kochat planema, ktere si clovek z precpane zapadni Evropy muze jen tezko predstavit. Slunce nas provazelo celou cestu a tak ani nevadilo, ze nam prestaly fungovat sterace. Po prejeti z Rostovskeho rajonu do Volgogradskeho se silnice zhorsila, ale stale to jde. Prijezd do Volgogradu uz je po rozbite ceste, ktera vypada jako z dob valky. Mnohem rychlejsi je pouzit cestu vyjetou v lesiku. Kdyz najizdime na siroky bulvar ve meste netusim, ze tam jsou jamy az 40cm hluboke. Klickujici auta ve vysoke rychlosti, jamy,prach..to je prvni dojem z mesta. Jako prvni se zastavujeme u pamatniku " Mat Rodina", coz je obrovska socha zeny se zvednutym mecem. Cely ... read more

When we studied the history of WWII in school we learned of the triumphs of the allies over the Nazi regime. We watched films and read accounts of the fierce fighting that raged for four years in the fields of central Europe and watched shaky black and white films of soldiers grovelling up the beaches of Normandy while warships launched barage after barage of cover fire and many of us came to regard "D-Day", rather by default, as the most critical event in the war. The role of the Russians was either largely left out or we missed it somehow as we passed notes beneath our desks, but to people on this side of Europe, the Second World War was one of the most devastating and unifying events in modern history. After all, they suffered more ... read more