The Dramatic History of the Stalingrad Statue of Mother Russia

Volgograd, formerly known as Stalingrad, was home to one of the nastiest and bloodiest battle of history, in the winter between 1942 and 1943. Total casualties are estimated to be at around 2 million. It is at the same time one of the key moments of WW2, changing the momentum of the war with the Germans suffering a strong defeat on the banks of the Volga, the longest river in Europe. I had always wanted to see the historical battleground with my own eyes, and that’s why I originally set off on a journey from Moscow going through Astrakhan and Elista, before finally arriving in the Volgograd region. In my quest to set foot in every single federal subject in Russia, the region of Volgograd was number 18. Here’s where I stand as of now: Moscow ✔️ Moscow Oblast’ ✔️ Saint Petersburg ✔️ Leningradskaya Oblast’ ✔️ Vladimirskaya Oblast’ ✔️ Yaroslavskaya Oblast’ ✔️ Ivanovskaya Oblast’ ✔️ Krasnodarskij Kraj ✔️ Tulskaya Oblast’ ✔️ Tatarstan Republic ✔️ Tverskaya Oblast’ ✔️ Nizhegorodskaya Oblast’ ✔️ Kaluzhskaya Oblast’ ✔️ Murmanskaya Oblast’ ✔️ Ryazanskaya Oblast’ ✔️ Astrakhanskaya Oblast’ ✔️ Kalmykia Republic ✔️ Volgogradskaya Oblast’ ✔️ Which means I’m at 18/85. Still 67 to go! Hopefully a lifetime will be enough ⚠️ In Volgograd stands one of the tallest statues in the world: the Motherland Calls Statue, originally known as “Rodina Mat’ zovyot“, is more precisely the 9th tallest free-standing statue in the world, and the absolute tallest in Europe. It is also the largest statue of a woman in the world. The monument-ensemble which surrounds the statue is known as the “Heroes of the Battle of Stalingrad“ on the Mamayev Kurgan hill on the outskirts of Volgograd. Behind the statue is a graveyard, where some of the thousands of the bodies of the soldiers fighting for the Red Army in Stalingrad are now given a chance to rest eternally. It is there that I got emotional reading some of the names of the people buried there, and, more importantly, looking at the dates of birth and death. Most of the soldiers buried died incredibly young: most of them were younger than me. 18-year-olds, 20-year-olds, . With a population of over 1 million people, Volgograd is the fifteenth largest city in Russia, and it was known as Stalingrad up until 1961, when following the destalinisation process started under Kruschev it was renamed to its current name. And of course, Volgograd is a hero-city, a gorod-geroj, one of the twelve cities in Russia which ere theatres of key battles during WW2, or, as the Russians refer to it, the “Great Patriotic War“. One could say that the battle of Stalingrad was THE battle, the defining battle of WW2. That is why after all the Motherland Calls Statue was erected right here in the 1960s. And IF YOU’RE A FAN OF FOOTBALL: Volgograd both has a team playing in the Russian Premier League and it was a host city for the 2018 World Cup held in Russia. At one point in the video we actually take a look at the football stadium of the city, which is located right in front of the Motherland Calls Statue. I imagine it must be cool for visiting teams to play in the stadium with such an intimidating figure watching over them. Follow @davelegenda on Instagram for more stories from every country in the world! ​ #davelegenda #russia​ #TheRussianSeries​ FOLLOW ME ON SOCIAL MEDIA: 📷 INSTA: ​ 🟦 FB: ​ 🎵 Tik Tok: @​ WHO AM I? I started making videos for Youtube when I was a university student. I was always trying to find cheap getaways to do some traveling in spite of the adversities put in place by being a broke university student living on their own! Traveling became more and more a fundamental passion of mine, and now that I’m gradually moving on to make a job out of it I couldn’t be happier, and I can only continue making this kind of videos both for mine and your enjoyment! I also run an ONLINE SHOP with TRAVEL MERCHANDISE, feel free to check it out here 👉