December 21, 2020

"Hitler's Alligator" to Be Displayed


"Hitler's Alligator" to Be Displayed
This is no ordinary alligator! Image by H. Zell via Wikimedia Commons

The animals at Moscow’s Zoo are much beloved, even extending into their deaths. In May 2020, an alligator at the Moscow Zoo passed away, and, thanks to his exciting history, his body has been stuffed by taxidermists and will be put on display at the State Darwin Museum.

The alligator, named Saturn, was 84 when he passed away this spring. He was born in the US and then moved to the Berlin Zoo in 1936. It is rumored that Saturn was part of Adolf Hitler’s personal collection. During World War II, Saturn escaped the zoo in a 1943 bomb raid. He was brought to Moscow three years later, where he was installed at the Moscow Zoo.

Now, after six months of taxidermy, Saturn is ready to be displayed in the State Darwin Museum in Moscow. He will be located with other North American wildlife, such as bison, raccoons, and porcupines.

“Each employee treats the newcomer with special reverence — no reptile in the museum has such a rich biography,” stated the State Darwin Museum. The museum is currently closed due to the coronavirus pandemic, but plans to reopen in January 2021, when visitors will be able to see Saturn in person.

You Might Also Like

The Amazing Life of Moscow's Gator
  • May 27, 2020

The Amazing Life of Moscow's Gator

Saturn, a Mississippi alligator, saw Hitler and survived the Battle of Berlin. A tribute to the Moscow Zoo's greatest reptile.
Alligator Tears
  • May 27, 2020

Alligator Tears

The Moscow Zoo laments the loss of an 84-year-old, WW2-veteran alligator.
Like this post? Get a weekly email digest + member-only deals

Some of Our Books

Woe From Wit (bilingual)

Woe From Wit (bilingual)

One of the most famous works of Russian literature, the four-act comedy in verse Woe from Wit skewers staid, nineteenth century Russian society, and it positively teems with “winged phrases” that are essential colloquialisms for students of Russian and Russian culture.
White Magic

White Magic

The thirteen tales in this volume – all written by Russian émigrés, writers who fled their native country in the early twentieth century – contain a fair dose of magic and mysticism, of terror and the supernatural. There are Petersburg revenants, grief-stricken avengers, Lithuanian vampires, flying skeletons, murders and duels, and even a ghostly Edgar Allen Poe.
Chekhov Bilingual

Chekhov Bilingual

Some of Chekhov's most beloved stories, with English and accented Russian on facing pages throughout. 
Bears in the Caviar

Bears in the Caviar

Bears in the Caviar is a hilarious and insightful memoir by a diplomat who was “present at the creation” of US-Soviet relations. Charles Thayer headed off to Russia in 1933, calculating that if he could just learn Russian and be on the spot when the US and USSR established relations, he could make himself indispensable and start a career in the foreign service. Remarkably, he pulled it of.
Faith & Humor: Notes from Muscovy

Faith & Humor: Notes from Muscovy

A book that dares to explore the humanity of priests and pilgrims, saints and sinners, Faith & Humor has been both a runaway bestseller in Russia and the focus of heated controversy – as often happens when a thoughtful writer takes on sacred cows. The stories, aphorisms, anecdotes, dialogues and adventures in this volume comprise an encyclopedia of modern Russian Orthodoxy, and thereby of Russian life.
Moscow and Muscovites

Moscow and Muscovites

Vladimir Gilyarovsky's classic portrait of the Russian capital is one of Russians’ most beloved books. Yet it has never before been translated into English. Until now! It is a spectactular verbal pastiche: conversation, from gutter gibberish to the drawing room; oratory, from illiterates to aristocrats; prose, from boilerplate to Tolstoy; poetry, from earthy humor to Pushkin. 
The Frogs Who Begged for a Tsar (bilingual)

The Frogs Who Begged for a Tsar (bilingual)

The fables of Ivan Krylov are rich fonts of Russian cultural wisdom and experience – reading and understanding them is vital to grasping the Russian worldview. This new edition of 62 of Krylov’s tales presents them side-by-side in English and Russian. The wonderfully lyrical translations by Lydia Razran Stone are accompanied by original, whimsical color illustrations by Katya Korobkina.
Dostoyevsky Bilingual

Dostoyevsky Bilingual

Bilingual series of short, lesser known, but highly significant works that show the traditional view of Dostoyevsky as a dour, intense, philosophical writer to be unnecessarily one-sided. 
93 Untranslatable Russian Words

93 Untranslatable Russian Words

Every language has concepts, ideas, words and idioms that are nearly impossible to translate into another language. This book looks at nearly 100 such Russian words and offers paths to their understanding and translation by way of examples from literature and everyday life. Difficult to translate words and concepts are introduced with dictionary definitions, then elucidated with citations from literature, speech and prose, helping the student of Russian comprehend the word/concept in context.

About Us

Russian Life is a publication of a 30-year-young, award-winning publishing house that creates a bimonthly magazine, books, maps, and other products for Russophiles the world over.

Latest Posts

Our Contacts

Russian Life
73 Main Street, Suite 402
Montpelier VT 05602

802-223-4955