Volgograd Renamed?

Knight Templar · Mar 17, 2003

Stalingrad heroes fight for a name
February 4 2003

World War II veterans want to restore the name of the city for which they fought, reports Steven Lee Myers from Volgograd, Russia.

Isai Bramnik, 83, returned on Sunday to "this beautiful city", as he put it, "which was reborn out of ashes".

Although slowed by age, he managed to climb the hill to the enormous statue that looms over the city symbolising the tenacious defence of this place, once called Stalingrad.

On Sunday, the 60th anniversary of the Soviet Union's victory at Stalingrad, Russia honoured the veterans of one of the grisliest and most pivotal battles of World War II with wreathes, speeches, a military parade and a special payment of 1500 rubles, about $A80, to each veteran.

But what many veterans said they really wanted was not the honours or the rubles - they wanted the old name back. "We fought for Stalingrad, not Volgograd," said Mr Bramnik, a commissar for a sapper unit during the war. He travelled from Novorossisk, on the Black Sea, for the anniversary.

Nostalgic for a glorious past, inspired by the dwindling ranks of veterans and motivated, some say, by politics, a determined group of lawmakers has started a campaign to restore the name that came to symbolise the Soviet Union's stunning reversal of fortune in what is known here as the Great Patriotic War.

The campaign, which may soon head to the Russian federal legislature, is the latest manifestation of an awkward, emotionally charged debate about which parts of the Soviet Union's history are safe to celebrate as Russia's.

Stalingrad has had an almost mythic place in Soviet and now Russian history. It was the scene of an epic 200-day battle that came to represent the Soviets' determination to stand fast against the German army's thrust to the Volga River.

After more than a year of defeat after defeat, the Red Army desperately held the remnants of the city through the autumn of 1942, sometimes only a few hundred metres from the river, before mounting a daring offensive in November that encircled the German force and ultimately tore it to shreds. German commander Field Marshal Friedrich von Paulus surrendered on January 31.

More than a million Soviet soldiers and civilians and several hundred thousand Germans died in the battle.

Its legacy is an ambiguous one, not only because of its association with Stalin but also because historians agree that Stalin's policies and purges prolonged the suffering of the nation during the war, including his notorious order to troops not to retreat.

It was that legacy, along with the terrors of Stalin's rule, that prompted Nikita Khrushchev, himself a veteran of the battle, to have the city's name changed in 1961 to one that means simply "city on the Volga".

Among the ageing veterans gathered here on Sunday support for the idea of restoring the name was all but unanimous.

President Vladimir Putin, a cautious, sometimes coy politician, appeared to dash their hopes saying that a change now "would generate some sort of suspicions that we are returning to the times of Stalinism".

Appearing in Volgograd on Sunday evening, Mr Putin heaped praise on the veterans, saying they affirmed Russia's determination to unite itself against a common enemy.

Significantly, or not, he closed his remarks by referring to the veterans as "Stalingraders".

- New York Times
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http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2003/02/03/1044122320411.html

De Vlaamse Leeuw · Mar 17, 2003

The same opinion as Poetin. This wouldn't be a good idea. Seems to me that the veterans want the old days back.

dasreich · Mar 17, 2003

It would be similar to re-naming Munich "Hitlerburg."

Although I do admit the defenders of Stalingrad have a point, considering we on the forum refer to the city as Stalingrad, albeit in an historical reference.

[ 17. March 2003, 05:23 PM: Message edited by: dasreich ]

Brad T. · Mar 17, 2003

It would be a good Idea, not like Stalin did not save the Nations, (Worlds) ass.

Friedrich · May 9, 2003

Didn't know it... I think I'd agree with the veterans, but Mr Putin must take a step at a time. He has always reinstored the old and extremely beautiful Soviet National Anthem and has reinstored the Red Star into the Armed Forces. Next would be renaming Saint Petersburg and Volgograd as in WWII and have the old red flag back...

Kampfgruppe - von Root · May 18, 2003

Stalingrad

ww2buff · May 18, 2003

I think it should stay as Volgograd because to change it back to Stalingrad is like saying the Cold War isn't over. However, I do agree with the veterans that thye fought for the city known as Stalingrad, not Volgograd.

Kai-Petri · May 19, 2003

I think the name was changed to Volgograd ( back? ) after the public release of the Stalin purges etc. So I think it would not be right to bring the "Stalingrad" back. I mean naming a city should be for good things not just for dictatorship.

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Volgograd Renamed?

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