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When the train started to move from Rostov, I was tired enough for a sleep. The destination was from one big river of Europe to another big one which draws the border between Euorope and Asia. I started from Don and I would end in Volga. The wagon I was traveling in was like a dorm. Beds were located right and left along an aisle, and wagon was full of both men and women. As someone who was born in Middle East, it was a little hard to absorb the fact men and women who were totally strangers sleeping all togather in a common place. And I did not know how should I change my clothes. I felt myself close to a Kyrgyz passanger, sitting next to me. He explained to me after a while lights would be turned off and we might change our clothes. Anyways after this cultural experience of 12 hours we arrived at Volgograd early in the morning.
Like to every city I first arrived, I bought a map of Volgograd from the station and started to explore the city. The train station of Volgograd has a historical importance. During the battle of Stalingrad in 1942-1943,
this station changed hands almost 30 times. The battle was the greatest and probably the most fierce one in human history and the marks of it can be seen everywhere. I can easily say Volgograd is a monumental city and by Russian people it is called “Gorad Geroi”, “City of Heroes” . Another thing that puzzled me after I got out of the staion was the river the city took its name from. When I first saw Don, I said to myself “What a big river” but after Volga Don was like tiny channel. Volga in its widest place is 2 kms and resembles more like a lake than a river.
By the way I should clarify the names of the city. Like many Russian cities Volgograd changed names a few times. Its first name was Tsaritsyn, coming from a Tatar word meaning “Yellow water”. (In contemprary Turkish “Sari Su” still means “Yellow Water”) First settlers were Tatars and they settled to an island on Volga. Because of the damage given by floods, the city’s place was changed and founded again on the European bank of Volga. In 1925, the city’s name was changed to Stalingrad for the honour
of communist leader Joseph Stalin. Probably this name would bring the disaster the city lived through during the Second World War. And lastly city’s name was changed into Volgograd from Stalingrad after Stalin’s death.
Hitler wanted this city for two reasons. Firstly he wanted to destroy the city which had the name of his eternal enemy, Stalin. Secondly by capturing this city, his army would have blocked the water ways which connects South Russia to the other parts. By this way he would have easily conquered Caucausus, the oil rich region of Russia. But as we all know his plans did not work.
The city is also the second longest city of Europe extending almost 100 kms. Three main avenues pass through the city from nort to south. Transportation is so easy as the trams move along these avenues to the center. It is hard to get lost in Volgograd. Also one spot you can’t miss and can be seen from almost every point of the city is “Motherland Calls” statue. She is a giant women which has a height of 52 meters without the sword and totally 85 m's with her sword, erected in 1967. When seen
far away, it gave me a feeling like a ghost flying over the city. She is located at the highest point of Volgograd, Mamaev Kurgan.
In my second day in Volgograd, not to miss anything I hired a guide. Anna, my sophisticated, charming guide explained to me many things in details. We started our tour from Mamaev Kurgan. As I metioned it is the highest point of the city and very fierce fights happened for this hill during the Battle of Stalingrad. Mamaev Kurgan is actually a Tatar burial site. Kurgan (todays Turkish: Korugan) means; a sheltered place. For its strategic importance dozens of times the hill changed hands. The hill is now an open air museum, and Anna told me 35 thousand Russian soldiers are burried under this relatively small land. Maybe it is a place where highest number of people died for. Also the graves of some famous figures of this war are located in this hill. Like famous Russian sniper Zaitsev (He was portrayed in the movie “Enemy at the Gates”) and the commander of the Russian army marchal Chuikov. Chuikov is the only Russian marchal who is not burried at the walls of Kremlin. By
his will, he was burried to the hill next to the men he commanded.
Many things in Mamaev Kurgan are symbolic. There are 200 stairs which go to the statue, each representing a day in the battle. And the alley of poplars is also 200 m’s long, again every meter represents a day in the battle. After the poplars alley, we ran into a statue having a granade and an automatic rifle in his hand. The upper body of the statue is naked which means it is for every Soviet soldier regardles of rank and the facial features are made like Marchal Chuikovs. Besides this statue you may see “Motherlan Is Calling” statue. (In russian 'Rodina Mat' zovyot' ) So it is meant the soldier is protecting his country.
Then we reached to ruined walls where oaths, phrases from the soldiers who fought during the war were written over the walls. The most famous one is probably “Kajdiy dom -eto krepost” (Every building is a fortress). Also you hear recordings of gun fires, war songs of the time as you pass along these walls.
Next we came to the square of heroes, actually 6 sculptures erected for
Stairs to Mamaev Kurgan
All togather there are 200 ones, each for one day of the battle nurses, sailors and soldiers who took action in the war. One of the sculptures was about General Glazkov who did not want to leave the front even he was shot. After he died, someting about 160 bullets were taken out of his body.
Our next stop was the hall of the warrior glory. It is actually a conical building where an eternal fire lits and in the walls you see the name of the soldiers who perished in the war. I asked to Anna there must have been close to one million names but these walls couldn’t take so many names. She told me that Russian soldiers were carrying boxes which had paper with their names written on. But because of the supertition if they had written their names to these papers, they would have died. So many did not write their names and they were never identified.
And after getting out of the hall finally you reach to Mother Russia and Sorrowfull Mother sculptures. At this point Volgograd can be seen more clearly. I tried to use my imagination how it looked like when there was that big war. It was really difficult cause all the famous
battle sites were visible and I can’t imagine how two armies of one million men had fought with each other at such a small landscape.
After Mamaev Kurgan, we had a walk in the city center, and later on I myself visited Panaroma museum. Almost every part of the city there are some monuments or writings about the events which happened during the war. Even though Volgagrad till that time was the city of nice friendly people for me, once more I could not avoid some weird attitude of old museum workers of panaroma museum. After this trip rule number one for me is staying away from these old aged working women in Russia. Always and always deal with young, pretty girls or young guys unless you want to get upset.
At my second night I caught up with Lena. Lena is a middle aged women with having grown up, married kids. We met in the internet and she advised me a lot about hotels and other things in Volgograd. I brought a present with me, a packet of Turkish delight, and she came to our meeting with brochures and maps of Volgograd in her hands. While we
were sipping our coffees I thought if men was not so stupid, every city could have been conquered by delights and brochures.
Next day after a walk in the river side, I headed from the Gorad Geroi to Moscow.
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Alan Vignoli
non-member comment
Congratulations! I envy you! I reading a book about the battle, and I`ve got fascinated by anything about it, specially the fantastic complex in Mamaev Kurgan. Hope one day I can visit it also. Till there, I keep on apreciating your nice photos. Thanks. Alan