A CITY ON THE VOLGA FOREVER IN MY HEART

On the day of Celebrating Russia’s victory in the 2nd World War I’d like to tell you a bit about Volgograd, the city I was born in, and to show you what it’s like today.
     Volgograd, called Stalingrad from 1925 to 1961, turned out the epicenter of a devastating battle during the Great Patriotic War (the Russian name of World War II). The city was almost completely destroyed in the horrible battle – its enterprises, historical sights, 90% of all residential houses…
            The main battles were fought on Mamai Kurgan, a hill on the right bank of the river Volga. From up there the city was clearly visible, so capturing that strategic height practically meant winning the battle.  
            The Stalingrad battle lasted for 200 days in 1942-43 and ended with the victory of the Soviet Army on February 2, 1943. This battle is considered to be the turning point of the whole Second World War, but its death toll was 650 thousand lives of Soviet soldiers…
            Nowadays Mamai Kurgan is a place of memory and mourning…
            Later, in the place of the fierce battle, the memorial “To the Heroes of the Stalingrad Battle was constructed with its main monument “Motherland Calling”. It’s a unique 85-meter statue, personifying the woman, the mother, the land calling her son sons to protect it and mourning the loss of each soldier, each son, each husband… Every time I visit this memorial my eyes fill with tears. There you become acutely aware that we must do our best to prevent any other war and violence, that we must remember our past in order to have a future…   
What happened after the war?
After the war the city was rather quickly rebuilt. Of course, in those hungry post-war years little attention was paid to the architectural beauty… The economy had been destroyed, the people had to get roofs over their heads as quickly as possible… That’s why, sadly, now there are practically no elegant and beautiful buildings to admire in Volgograd…
            However, there is the fantastically beautiful Volga, wide, actively navigated. So the city is actually stretched along it for 90 to 100 km and is rightfully considered to be one of the “longest” cities in both Russia and Europe.
My Mum used to say “Why build this way? Cities should be round and convenient.” And I can’t but agree with her. It’s really not too convenient when there are literally 2 or 3 streets deep inland, but getting from one place to another on foot is virtually impossible.
            In the Soviet post-war years Volgograd was one of the biggest industrial cities in the Soviet Union, its machine-building, oil-refining, metallurgical, chemical, tractor-building and other plants worked at full capacity. The warm sunny climate was favourable for agriculture and fishing. Volgograd’s fruits, vegetables, fish and other products were sent to a number of other regions.
The city was constantly developing, life was in full swing…
            But what happened next?
Next came Perestroika and the 90-ies, and everything changed. Almost all the enterprises were shut down, went bankrupt or drastically cut their production.
Unfortunately, not much has improved since that time.  
            Today the city with its one-million population is suffering from unemployment, depression and general apathy. Young people, unable to find a decent job, are Volgograd for the capital or other Russian cities in search of a better life…
            But I so much want my inconvenient, not so beautiful, but so much beloved Volgograd to become rich, flourishing, prosperous and happy again! So that going up on the Observation Wheel (there are actually even two of those) one could say – how great it is to live here and smile at the Sun!   

Text and photos © Anna Pavlikovskaya