Stalingrad gets its name back for a day

Updated

The Russian city of Volgograd has approved the use of its wartime name for one day, to commemorate the 70th anniversary of the end of the 200-day Battle of Stalingrad.

The city council's decision is designed to please war veterans, but is unlikely to have been taken without the approval of president Vladimir Putin, who is expected to attend.

Events on Saturday include a military parade, a laser show and fireworks. German and Russian musicians will perform a concert on Sunday.

Named after Soviet dictator Josef Stalin in 1925, the industrial hub on the river Volga was renamed Volgograd in 1961 during Nikita Khrushchev's "de-Stalinisation" campaign.

I categorically do not justify Stalin's repressions, but you have to recognise the positive things he did, whether you want to or not. 92-year-old veteran Gamlet Dallatyan

That outraged veterans of the battle to hold the city, which was flattened by relentless bombing, tank fire and heavy artillery during fighting which ran from July 17, 1942 until the German surrender on February 2, 1943.

In a move not sanctioned by the city authorities, admirers also plan to display portraits of the late Soviet dictator in minibuses on Saturday to honour his role in the defeat of Nazi Germany.

There are also plenty of other signs of nostalgia for Stalin and the Soviet era in Volgograd despite the millions of deaths from collectivisation and the murder of political opponents.

"I categorically do not justify Stalin's repressions, but you have to recognise the positive things he did, whether you want to or not," said Gamlet Dallatyan, a 92-year-old veteran of the battle which Russian historians say killed nearly 2 million people.

"It would be good to go back to the name of Stalingrad, though not so much because of Stalin himself but because that is how the city was known during the war."

In a sign of the fascination Stalin still holds for some Russians, a businessman in Volgograd has opened a Stalin museum.

Many streets still honour Soviet leaders such as Vladimir Lenin or hark back to communist ideology.

On the corner of Worker-Peasant Street and Trade Union Street, the USSR restaurant, next to a branch of McDonald's, welcomes diners with a sign declaring "Eaters of the world unite".

Hand-to-hand combat

In what is said by some historians to have been the bloodiest battle in history, the struggle for Stalingrad saw soldiers fight in trenches, streets and buildings, sometimes room to room.

Many died of cold and hunger.

About 920 Stalingrad war veterans still live in the region. They not only praise Stalin for firm wartime leadership which they said helped unite them, but have urged Mr Putin to restore the name of Stalingrad to keep memories of the battle alive.

"It was awful but I never doubted we would win. We were all patriots," said Mr Dallatyan, who was responsible for communications during the battle.

"I am full of pride. I never thought of it as just our victory, but as the victory of the Soviet people."

The decision by the city government this week will allow the name Stalingrad to be used officially at public events on February 2 and on four other days every year including May 9, when Russia marks the Allied victory over Nazi Germany.

I would rather they used the money to repair the apartment block where I live. Valentina Olekhina, who turns 70 on Saturday

This is not enough for the local communists. They say they have in the past two months collected 35,000 signatures for a petition calling for Volgograd to be renamed and plan to take their demands to court in the next few weeks.

A poll in 2008 ranked Stalin, who died in 1953, the third most popular figure in Russia's history.

An opinion poll in October found 48 per cent of respondents thought he had played a positive role in history, a big rise in the past 25 years. Only 22 per cent saw it as very negative.

Some residents welcomed the decision to revert temporarily to Stalingrad but did not want a permanent change.

"I would rather they used the money to repair the apartment block where I live," said Valentina Olekhina, who was born in the ruins of the city on February 2, 1943, the day German Field Marshal Friedrich Paulus surrendered.

Reuters

Topics: 20th-century, history, world-war-2, world-politics, russian-federation, germany

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