May 09, 2019

Victory Over the Past


Victory Over the Past
War Veterans at a May Day celebration Pavel Losevsky | Dreamstime.com

May they all rest in peace. 

1. “On the sixth of May we announce a subbotnik [Saturday community service day] to collect human remains on the river bank,” read a sign in a village of 400 in Perm region. The area along the river was a mass grave – or, in the kinder Russian phrasing, a brothers’ grave – for victims of the Civil War (1918-1922). Erosion has caused many of the bones to become unearthed. Every spring for the past ten years residents have volunteered to gather them for reburial. 

2. Speaking of dead soldiers, ten Great Fatherland War heroes will forever rest not only in peace, but with honor. The graves of air force officers, including the female division nicknamed the “Night Witches,” were declared objects of cultural heritage of regional significance. The Night Witches played a key role in battles to free Sevastopol, Minsk and Warsaw, just to name a few. One of the other memorialized graves belongs to Vitaliy Popkov, whose life is depicted in the Soviet movie Only Old Men Are Going to Battle. You can pay your respects to all of them at the Novodevichy Cemetery in Moscow.  

Night Witches
“Night Witches” pilot Nadezhda Popova buried alongside her husband, general Simyon Kharlamov, who was also a war hero. / Website of the mayor and government of Moscow

3. A Russian psychologist proposed that a new term, “the carry-on bag syndrome,” can help victims understand and move past the tragedy of the airplane that caught on fire at Moscow’s Sheremetyevo Airport this week. Many Russian outlets blamed passengers that grabbed bags on their way out of the plane for slowing down the evacuation, e.g. Komsomolskaya Pravda’s Facebook post: “Are things more valuable than people?” Emergency psychology specialist Olga Makarova explained that, when under extreme stress, people automatically act in accordance with their habits. She also said the media’s reaction has been akin to blaming the survivors of a tragedy. 

In odder news

Boy rides tank
Even severe illness didn’t tank this boy’s dreams. / Press Service of the Central Army Region 
  • A thirteen year old boy suffering from spinal muscular atrophy fulfilled his dream of riding on a tank at the rehearsal of the May 9 Parade in Yekaterinburg. 
  • While we are still shaken by the fire at the Sheremetyevo Airport, here’s a feel-good story about the fire-that-wasn’t. A fourth grader out fishing with his grandpa caught sight of some burning grass and immediately hopped on his bike to ride five kilometers to warn the local fire department, which got there in time to prevent a forest fire. 
  • It will soon become legal to hunt with a bow and arrow in Russia. May the odds be ever in their favor

Quote of the Week

“Can they really do that? State honors are placed on that ribbon, it is a symbol of victory, and they put it on vodka and pasta.” 

– A 97-year-old Great Fatherland War veteran who does not approve of the Ribbon of St. George being placed on food products. 


Want more where this comes from? Give your inbox the gift of TWERF, our Thursday newsletter on the quirkiest, obscurest, and Russianest of Russian happenings of the week.
 

You Might Also Like

Why Invading Russia was Hitler's Downfall
  • June 22, 2020

Why Invading Russia was Hitler's Downfall

June 22, 2020, marks the 79th anniversary of Operation Barbarossa, the Nazi invasion of Russia that changed the course of WWII and, perhaps, history itself.
Like this post? Get a weekly email digest + member-only deals

Some of Our Books

Maria's War: A Soldier's Autobiography

Maria's War: A Soldier's Autobiography

This astonishingly gripping autobiography by the founder of the Russian Women’s Death Battallion in World War I is an eye-opening documentary of life before, during and after the Bolshevik Revolution.
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.
The Samovar Murders

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.
Murder and the Muse

Murder and the Muse

KGB Chief Andropov has tapped Matyushkin to solve a brazen jewel heist from Picasso’s wife at the posh Metropole Hotel. But when the case bleeds over into murder, machinations, and international intrigue, not everyone is eager to see where the clues might lead.
Steppe / Степь (bilingual)

Steppe / Степь (bilingual)

This is the work that made Chekhov, launching his career as a writer and playwright of national and international renown. Retranslated and updated, this new bilingual edition is a super way to improve your Russian.
Life Stories: Original Fiction By Russian Authors

Life Stories: Original Fiction By Russian Authors

The Life Stories collection is a nice introduction to contemporary Russian fiction: many of the 19 authors featured here have won major Russian literary prizes and/or become bestsellers. These are life-affirming stories of love, family, hope, rebirth, mystery and imagination, masterfully translated by some of the best Russian-English translators working today. The selections reassert the power of Russian literature to affect readers of all cultures in profound and lasting ways. Best of all, 100% of the profits from the sale of this book are going to benefit Russian hospice—not-for-profit care for fellow human beings who are nearing the end of their own life stories.
Okudzhava Bilingual

Okudzhava Bilingual

Poems, songs and autobiographical sketches by Bulat Okudzhava, the king of the Russian bards. 
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.
A Taste of Russia

A Taste of Russia

The definitive modern cookbook on Russian cuisine has been totally updated and redesigned in a 30th Anniversary Edition. Layering superbly researched recipes with informative essays on the dishes' rich historical and cultural context, A Taste of Russia includes over 200 recipes on everything from borshch to blini, from Salmon Coulibiac to Beef Stew with Rum, from Marinated Mushrooms to Walnut-honey Filled Pies. A Taste of Russia shows off the best that Russian cooking has to offer. Full of great quotes from Russian literature about Russian food and designed in a convenient wide format that stays open during use.
Jews in Service to the Tsar

Jews in Service to the Tsar

Benjamin Disraeli advised, “Read no history: nothing but biography, for that is life without theory.” With Jews in Service to the Tsar, Lev Berdnikov offers us 28 biographies spanning five centuries of Russian Jewish history, and each portrait opens a new window onto the history of Eastern Europe’s Jews, illuminating dark corners and challenging widely-held conceptions about the role of Jews in Russian history.

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