Page 10 - ARUBA TODAY

A10 WORLD NEWS
Thursday 21 June 2018

Volgograd provides the proper perspective at World Cup

By PAN PYLAS Mitterrand bequeathed to
Associated Press the city in 1984.
VOLGOGRAD, Russia (AP) The horrors of the Battle of
— Nearly 60 years since it Stalingrad are clear, but
changed its name to Vol- there's no antagonism to-
gograd, the Russian city wards the Germans.
once called Stalingrad and In a cemetery some 40
its bloody history loom large miles northwest of Volgo-
even in the midst of the fun grad in Rossoshka, there's a
and football of the World dignified cemetery for Ger-
Cup. man soldiers who perished
Stalingrad, the name of the at Stalingrad and nearby
city on the Volga river be- Rostov-on-Don.
tween 1925 and 1961, is now Local historian Svetlana
often shorthand for one of Kostrykina writes in a local
the most violent battles in travel guide that 52,000
history. The exact death toll of them are buried in two
can never be known, but mass graves and that an-
historians believe about a other 120,000 Germans
million people from both thought to be missing are
sides died that savage win- inscribed on rectangular
ter of 1942-3 when the Nazi panels around the site,
war machine was stopped "like huge dice lost in the
from crossing the Volga, steppe."
then surrounded and de- Vitaly Danilkin, as grizzled a
feated. 72-year-old as you are likely
The city was basically re- to see, cares for the site as
duced to rubble and its well as a Soviet cemetery
modern-day residents will on the other side of the
forever remember the sac- road. Cutting the grass in
rifices of their ancestors. the summer, and clearing
"It's sacred for us because the snow in winter, Danilkin
in every family in the Volgo- is always on the lookout for
grad region, there are peo- war-related artifacts. His
ple who died in the battle 43-year-old son, Alexei, with
and we mustn't forget the permission of the state,
about it and every year we runs a small team that does
do patriotic action and do exactly that and is alert to
some lessons for children so anyone illegally looking for
they know all about it," said memorabilia — there's a
21-year-old Daria Kolomy- big black market for Stalin-
ichenko. In this photo taken on Sunday, June 17, 2018, graves of Russian soldiers in a cemetery near grad-related helmets, guns,
"It's our history and we are Stalingrad in Rossoshka, Russia. medals and tags.
very proud." Associated Press Vitaly, who has been do-
To visitors, particularly from ing his job for three years,
nations that fought against the Hero City — the honor thorities more or less en- Russia may be facing in- said he's the only one who
the Nazis, the monuments granted by the then-Soviet shrined the hill's status as ternational censure for its would do it for "only 7,000
around the city — especial- Union — Volgograd is now sacred. A collection of me- annexation of the Crimea rubles a month" when he
ly the 85-meter (280-foot) a thriving regional center, morials and outsized struc- Peninsula from Ukraine, for was hired. He has since
statue known as "The Moth- bustling with attractions, tures on the hill include a its alleged role in the poi- gotten a raise to 9,000 ru-
erland Calls"— are also a parks and visitors. There is granite pool, an eternal soning of an ex-Russian spy bles ($140) a month.
reminder that the sacrifices more than enough to ap- flame and mass graves. But and his daughter in south- "Someone has to do it," said
of Russians at Stalingrad preciate to ignore the oc- it's the sculpture on the top ern England and meddling Vitaly.
were crucial to the Allies casional swarms of flies and that draws one's breath. in the U.S. election, but visi- For those few who still have
winning World War II. With mosquitoes that hounded The Motherland Calls casts tors from all over the world a connection with the bat-
Britain and Russia feuding fans as England beat Tuni- a long shadow across the are reminded of the mag- tle, the pain remains.
politically, the English team sia 2-1 at Volgograd Arena city. nitude of the nation's role Just a few months ago, Vi-
played their first match of Monday night England fans also joined in World War II, regardless taly saw an elderly lady de-
the World Cup in Volgo- The stadium was construct- with dignitaries to lay a of what one thinks of Josef scend into floods of tears
grad. ed on the banks of the wreath to commemorate Stalin. as she kissed one of the
"To see the statue and Volga and at the bottom the dead. The Panorama Museum portraits in a small museum
have an understanding of the Mamayev Kurgan, "I'm into football and you're in Volgograd, built next room on the side of the So-
of the history reminds you the hill that was savagely into football, but when you to the gutted remains of viet cemetery.
that some things are even fought over by the Red have an event like this, you a ruined mill, showcases As for the World Cup, Vitaly
bigger than football, and Army and the Nazis. Some- realize it's more, there's an array of tributes to the is not so interested but he
that's good perspective for times changing hands sev- more than just football," city, including a sword clapped when Russia won
us all," said England coach eral times on any particular said fan Billy Grant. from King George VI that its first match against Saudi
Gareth Southgate. day, it is said the ground Football is a game that was presented to Stalin by Arabia 5-0.
The battle is a constant on the hill was so soaked in perhaps unites the world British Prime Minister Win- "I'm a patriot," he said. "I
presence in the city of blood that the springs were more than any other, and ston Churchill in 1943, and love my Russia."
around 1 million. While the poisoned. certainly more than any the Legion d'Honneur that Stalingrad, it's clear, was full
monuments loom large in No wonder the Soviet au- political or religious creed. French President Francois of patriots.q