January 29, 2020

The Motherland Calls... Reenactors


The Motherland Calls... Reenactors
Historically accurate. VKontakte, Sergei Stepanov. Posted to @vproriv.

A quiet St. Petersburg suburb was recently transformed into a war zone worthy of an action film. 20 automobiles, 15 tanks, and 600 reenactors celebrated the 76th anniversary of the end of the Siege of Leningrad with a "war-historical festival" (the Siege was broken on January 27, 1944).

The event, dubbed "The Breakthrough Strip," pays homage to the over one million Soviet citizens who perished during the over-two-year blockade of the city by Nazi forces 1941-1944. Another half-million Red Army troops died attempting to relieve the city.

Even now, nearly 75 years after the war ended, World War II has not lost its power as important historical touchpoint in Russia. In fact, the government has been encouraging national unity around the "Great Patriotic War" through the invocation of war glory since Putin took power in 2000 (expect this May's 75th anniversary celebrations to get significant coverage). And, as any traveler can tell you, Russians love their monuments.

We think it looks pretty cool, if we're being honest. Check out their promotional video.

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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.

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The Samovar Murders
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The Samovar Murders

The murder of a poet is always more than a murder. When a famous writer is brutally stabbed on the campus of Moscow’s Lumumba University, the son of a recently deposed African president confesses, and the case assumes political implications that no one wants any part of.

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