Painting over Soviet Monuments in Bulgaria

http://www.thewire.com/global/2014/08/russia-kindly-asks-bulgarians-to-stop-painting-over-their-soviet-monument/378844/
And I do believe someone is trying to point out the role US aid played in the East-a factor the Russians have pooh-poohed since the Great Patriotic War.
JeffinMNUSA

 

Pretty much irrespective of why it might be done, the vandalism of war memorials is very unpleasant. The Soviet dead of WW2 (and those of other combatants) should be respected.

 

I largely agree with Richard71, the one quibble however I have is that this monument, like many others in Central./Eastern Europe, was somewhat forced upon them by the Soviet Union as a propaganda device as much as a record of heroic deeds.

 

That's a fair point belasar. My response to the photographs was on an emotional level and there are rational reasons why the memorial might not sit well with some Bulgarians. It's sad to see a memorial so defaced though.

 

while I understand why people destroy Stalinist monuments (unrelated to the war) , I do not support those who vandalize war memorials.

 

I have an impression that in the effort to get rid of Soviet era reminders we are going to see some "rewriting of history" that is no closer to reality than the Soviet propaganda was, cold war era western history was not exactly objective.

Nothing surprising there, it takes time for events to become sufficiently politically neutral for "propaganda free" research .... and then the internal dynamics of accademia take over to muddy things up :eyebrows:.

And in the case of the great patriotic war momuments outside the USSR we should not forget quite a number of the current population lost parents fighting against the red army, I do not justify vandalism but the issue is not simple, there certainly are not many monuments celebrating Napoleon's victories left in Italy.