Dear friends and NKVD functionaries,
The degree to which Russians remember and honor the soldiers of World War II is astonishing. I grew up going to Memorial Day services every May 31st, but I am sorry Plainview, Petrozavodsk and Russia in general have you beat in their reverence for their fighting dead. Just check out this pile of flowers by the town eternal flame. Note the girl at right throwing coins onto the flame (the eternal flame here honors unnamed soldiers in the war - Russians throw coins onto it both to honor them and for good luck)
These flowers were not set here by the government, but rather they were bought at local shops and set down by individuals who wished to give thanks to those who made sure that they were not enslaved by the Nazis. Enslaved?You see, around this time of the year in 1945, a very large war ended which Russians know as "The Great Patriotic War." The reason for this other name is that for Russians more than any of the other nations allied with it during that particular war, it was not just a fight to extinguish a very nasty ideology in Germany, Italy, and Japan, but more so a fight for existence. It had been Hitler's plan to subjugate, and when convenient, remove the Slavs from Eastern Europe to make way for the Germans, hence, in Nazi ideology the life of every Russian wasn't worth very much. Knowing this, the Russians fought for their very lives under awful circumstances and in spite of everything, including Stalin seemingly doing everything in his power to lose, their bravery beat the Nazis all the way back to Berlin. Even the hyperbole of Soviet propaganda could not ruin this achievement since in all reality it's significance is awfully difficult to inflate. These regular folks who left their farms in 1941 literally saved Russia from quasi-slavery (not that living under Stalin was so much better, mind you) and out of the undeniable reality of this sacrifice, Russians block off the streets once a year on May 9 and celebrate.
The Soviet Union loved doing ceremonies for just about everything, and Russia hasn't lost this old habit. Thus, everyone who has ever done anything significant in the army, navy, or air force comes out showing off all of their regalia. It is really quite impressive to see so many heavily decorated men like this one lurking around every corner.
After all, they did prevent the capitalist Americans from invading the Soviet Union for all those years, so let's give them the respect they deserve (Its funny how we have such similar ideas, only with different names)! One of the real surprises of the day was to see the young Russian men who had managed to dig up their grandfather's old WWII uniform and parade it all day - there is something very cool about them, which is odd because these uniforms are quite worn and inornate. Perhaps it is their simplicity that gives them that mystique, either that or the cause for which they fought.The real treat of my tour of Victory Day in Petrozavodsk was Shashuik - basically a meat kabob. Below is my favorite shashuik maker who even managed to don a WWII uniform for the occasion.
I was warned after the fact that I might be eating dog meat, but I will tell you, if dog meat tastes this good then perhaps the Koreans are on to something...Ok, so this May 31st, I encourage you to celebrate Memorial Day in some meaningful way, and when you go to a service or whatnot, please remember too all those Russian peasants, miners, and factory workers who somehow managed to make it all the way to Berlin, and this despite frost-bite, little food, NKVD anti-betrayal death squads, an oppressive government, and sometimes fighting without even being issued a rifle.
War is awful, and I'm pretty near pacifism on this one, and people like me are often tempted to want to forget about wars we think are bad. Above are the graves of some generals and party commissars from the 1917 Revolution and the Civil War that followed. The morality issues with these wars make Vietnam look like Full House, but as you can see, Russians honor their lives and deaths nonetheless. You might say that those who laid the flowers there did so out of Soviet habit, and that might be part true, but it would not surprise me if I could take this same picture on Victory Day, 2058. Russians don't forget so easily.The degree to which Russians honor those fallen in battle is rightly humbling. I think that we in Americans could learn a little from Russian gratitude.
Celebrate Memorial Day.
Sincerely,
Peter.
4 comments:
Great post, Peter.
It was among the various memorials at the great battlefield of Al-Amein in Egypt that I felt the first inklings of a sense of duty that eventually led me to enlist. I think it was the British cemetery that planted the seed for me, but the other nations' monuments are no less moving. The Germans have an understandably difficult time memorializing their war dead, but somehow the German memorial is perhaps the most poignant. It includes a monument over the mass grave of those soldiers whose remains left no indication of their nationality. To memorialize the patriotism and valor of men who died, side by side, as comrades and bitter enemies... well, I'm not generally one for universalist sentiments, but this one hits home.
Evan,
Great comment. Where is this German memorial? I'd like to see it if I ever get the chance.
The battlefield stretches for hundreds of miles through the desert, but the memorials are all within a few miles of each other near Al-Alamein, which is an easy day-trip west of Alexandria on the Mediterranean coast. The area also boasts some truly incredible beaches and reasonable resorts, so it's got a lot to offer.
One of our professors in Cairo regularly lamented that Egypt was so far from America -- he saw it as a natural vacation destination for American families, who would be far more compatible with Egyptian hospitality and modesty than European vacationers.
Here's the Google maps image of the area. You can see the Italian memorial with the long drive, and the Commonwealth cemeteries are to the south of the highway. The German monument is a little ways east.
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