Lithuanian here. Got no issue with certain monuments being left to stand. Some represent regular people or locals, they can be maintained. Monuments that glorify the occupation or random Russian communists (in non Russian nations) can be destroyed or put into museum.
Here is the thing my man, they dont represent russian communists but regular soldiers and many of the red army's soldier were infact ukrainians not just russians and btw most soviet leader werent even russian to begin with not only that the first bolsheviks were almost all jews
On a visit to Hungary in 2016, we visited a park with all the demolished Soviet statues from around Budapest. Like a graveyard for statues, it was fascinating.
Difficult to say, as someone who is from a country once ruled by the british empire as so many countries were, should we tear down all the momuments the british built? I imagine this same situation can be said about many countries around the world who were liberated or seperated from their respective empires like Britain, France, Germany and of course Russia. Like i imagine the Irish might have a different view of british rule than say the Canadians or Austrailians. And the tearing down of monuments like this after the collapse of a major empire is nothing new. Its happened all throughout history as empires come and go and regimes and idealogies change. Ultimately i guess its upto the nations themselves to decide what they want their identity to be.
Its a nuanced question. There is no such thing as perfect morals. Every Empire and nation has done terrible things, be it the British Empire, French Empire, Spanish Empire, or even the Russian Empire. Should we tear down Roman architecture because they invaded and counquered many peoples. Because of all their bad deeds. Or should we preserve them as an important part of the history of the nation? Most of history and indeed the legacy of most nations and empires is often not all black and white, history is of course nuanced in that way.
@@livethefuture2492 Of course not,but you're missing a point.Ukraine is being attacked right now by Russia.Roman Empire hasn't and isn't attacking anyone anymore.Same goes for the Brits
If people of the world could only understand that this is all part of the WEF agenda. This war and everything associated with history to be erased from humanity. By tearing all statues down is the marker of what they want. We are walking blindly right into it. What they want will be statues of transhumanistic garbage! Statues of Bill Gates Klaus Schwab and robots. Watch and see it’s coming. Wake up world!!!
Як ви це порівнюєте взагалі? Британія дала вам квиток до цивилізації і теперь не намагається вас завойувати а навіть навпаки, ви тепер завойовуєте її зсередини. І у нас взагалі інша ситуація, де нам говорять що ми не існуємо, що ми один народ. Що з вами не так?
The monuments may be preserved as history, but they must not be revered. Having stalin's words in Berlin's center in gold is showing reverence. That stuff could be moved to a warehouse-museum where appropriate context can be provided for them.
Capitalist monuments should also be removed. The vile hand of psychopathic capitalists should not be revered. Countless people suffer and die under the brutal capitalist regime still to this day
@@andrewgodly5739 tell me where is capitalis monument?? , capitalis doesn't need monument. Only stupid socialis need monument for the purpose of brainwashing..
I'm surprised this documentary didn't mention Lithuania's Gruto Parkas. It preserves the monuments, but in a way that properly mocks the brutal regime that inflicted them on Lithuania. I actually think Germany's own war memorials have the best approach. They mourn the dead, but also condemn the regime and ideology they fought for. They strike the right balance between rememberance and remourse.
As a German myself i simply think we shouldn't forget, i had nothing to do with what happend during a time when my Father wasn't even alive and im past 40... but we can learn from our past not to make the same mistakes over and over and over again... hiding the History... avoid teaching History... beeing afraid of facing History... will result in forgetting the History and thus History repeats itself. And nobody absolutly nobody with atleast 1 1/2 Braincells wants this.
Of course, they didn't mention Gruto Parkas. Baltic history is not well understood and countries like Germany don't care to learn. Instead they try to tell us what to do or even worse - listen to the side of Russian aggression.
„We didn’t become a Soviet Republic. The indelible evidence to that our churches and cathedrals still stand today. Hungary was stabbed in the back by the conspiracies in Budapest. The country was handed over to our arch enemies, the Bolsheviks. But our grandfathers did not kneel” Fűrer Orbán
Cannot agree more - this is erasing history and many other "regimes" in the past have done it, with the result being that today there is so little left about what they destroyed and the history of what was destroyed that we have to 3D model them...
We also dismantled numerous Soviet monuments in Mongolia, as they were excessively abundant. Regrettably, the quantity of these monuments surpassed even that of our revered Genghis Khan memorials.
Btw, what is the attitude to Genghis Khan in Mongolia today? In fact what he was doing - capturing other nations' lands just the way russia is doing today ( and with much more atrocities) . I also recollect the monument to Alexander the Great in Skopje, Macedonia, who was a capturer too. I have doubts that it's appropriate in today's world to have monuments in honour of capturers in the cities. What is your opinion?
@@helenivanova5440 completely agree, Genghis Khan was a genocide. Even if those were different times, murder, rape, plunder, abuse and brutality are not the type of things we need to commemorate and idealize
There is also the problem that Putin claims to be the successor to the USSR and all those statues osf Soviet soldiers and Stalin etc. are basically still staking a claim on former iron pact countries.
@@morho9422 Russia is the successor ask all the other SSR if the wanted the huge debt burden of the soviet union russia took it all really they all should of had a share of the huge debt also the decision making centre was the kremlin
The UN claim that Russia is the sucessor state of USSR, so this is why they have a seat in the security council. This don't is the same as saying that Russia is the USSR, it was a union of several republics, Ukraine was one of these, as Kazakhstan or so on, and is not true saying that the russians rules the country, as many of the Soviet leaders were not really Russians, as Stalin, a georgian. Turning down monuments built by this union of peoples that fought and won against Nazi Germany say more about who is demolishing them than about who built it.
Putin wasn't even president when Russia became the successor of the USSR lol. Also Russia became the successor so it could keep the USSR seat at the UN
I would never judge this people for toppling this stuff. Regardless of Ukranians being part of some of this monuments the reality is that Russians allways saw themselves as the "true and only Soviets". Other nations in the USSR were there just to serve their purpose, as we can all clearly see on how they see Ukraine.
Вы, я так понимаю, из страны, которой не коснулась война. Так вот. Земля в каждом городе восточной Европы полита кровью советских солдат. За освобождение каждого города от нацистов отдали жизни тысячи наших солдат. Тысячи советских детей не родились, потому что их потенциальные отцы остались лежать в земле этих городов. Нет советской семьи, которой бы не коснулась та война. Эти памятники поставлены в тех городах, где лежат кости, погибших за эти города. А вы хотели бы собрать эти памятники в одном месте, оторвать их от того места, где лежат те, в честь кого они поставлены. Вы хотите видеть лес памятников, музей скульптуры. Это от того, что вы слишком далеки от всего этого. Вам всё это чуждо. Война не коснулась вас.
@@Дмитрий_Тихомиров most of your "soviet" areas belong to another country. Its their blood that was shed, in the name of a force that did nothing but suppress and replace their culture, identify and government.
It’s presented here as the tanks and monuments in Estonia were destroyed/demolished. They were not, they were just moved to museums. Completely different thing.
So where are all the monuments in Narva apart from the tank huh? Thrown into the gutter by those savages. We only discussed the tank but they violently tore down others without asking for permission. We mourn that day and will continue to forever because its clear that was an attempt to exercise power and rewrite history.
@@PaperReaper they are in museums around the country, like Ajaloomuusem, Eesti Sõjamuusem where they were taken. Some were also taken to smaller museums. Nothing was destroyed, no history was erased like the soviets did. The Estonians don’t destroy history or rewrite it in a way that fits them, they are not Russians. No statues were taken down “without permission”, they are state owned, and if Estonian people decided that they had to go, then they had to go, the state can’t go against peoples wishes.
@@tankart3645 nope, most of em were DESTROYED. Like nothing but trees (Grafov monument, the memorial plack in front of the Russian border on our square etc). Those monuments were under the city of Narva which was still formalizing the move of them. But the government removed them heavy handedly. Please check your facts and not only on ERR or Delfi. Those are state sponsored outlets. And I am not talking Russian media either, they also don't know the whole story. Only the tank was moved to Viimsi, which in of itself absurd since it could have remained in the city. But noooo, needs to be removed and all.
@@overdrivelzma.9219why do you think so, imagine to have 100+ monument's for Pushkin and only two for Lesya Ukrainka and Taras Shevchenko. We have such situation in all our cities in Ukraine and I don't think we need those monuments for Pushkin what exactly he did for us I don't remember anything, he is only a symbol of russian occupation.
Yes, history should always be preserved, but not displayed for the public to see if that history is very questionable. Bring it into a museum or sanctuary, etc.. preserve it out of the public eye with the proper education that comes with it as opposed to plaques commemorating a man responsible for the death of 40 million people. This doesn't just go for Soviet error things as well, this is just in general. History should always be preserved, not necessarily glorified.
@@BlitzOfTheReich Russians, unlike others, never own up to their own guilt. Russian history books it is a matrix. They think WWII started in 1941 and they were liberators. They were anything but.
Why not? Whats wrong with power, strength and might? These are virtues. Being a victim isnt an accomplishment. Everybody can be a victim, but not everybody can be successful.
It's not that black and white. Let's say my guys like to associate themselves with "wisdom". Wisdom is clearly a virtue, nothing wrong with that. And now my guys conquer your guys and erect a statue of wisdom in your capitol. See how the lines blur?
“Those who cannot remember their past are condemned to repeat it”. The soviets were not only russians, it was a state composed of 15 republics with more than 100 different nationalities. You cannot just deny almost 70 years of common history filled with tragedies on the one hand, but also glorious victories and accomplishments on the other. And why no one is bothered by the ultranationalist slogan “Ukraine above all” while the statue is being demolished? 2:36
You can start expressing your disapproval or approval of soviet monument removal after the soviets have deported or imprisoned around 280k of your countrymen, have exterminated over 20k freedom fighters and dissidents. Lithuania for one, does not need these monuments, history books are enough to remember the history.
I think the young blonde woman is being hypocritical. She wants to preserve these monuments as art because she recognizes the power and importance of art, yet she refuses to acknowledge the harm that the power of art can be used for like propaganda. Personally, I think they should choose which objects represent them today and the future they desire. Some might be destroyed but most will probably be preserved in museums and cemeteries, but perhaps they might alter some to make them their own. Like the crack on the friendship arch, Ukraine could cross out or otherwise shame certain parts, like individual names, to better portray past and present.
Isn't a either/or convo though. Some of the statues can be reworked, especially given a lot of the statues that directly touch on the Ukrainian experience during the Soviet Union. You've gotta keep in mind that historical memory is extremely controversial in Ukraine. There's the folks who have historical memories of WW2, and there's the folks that want to replace every Lenin statue with a Bandera statue. And even within these groups, there's splits on what parts of the history deserve to be recognized.
they already do that choosing though. the giant motherland statue also prominently displays the symbol of the old ukrainian SSR. and thats not coming down anytime soon.
@@moiseshuerta3984 when the successor state of the liberators are now the invaders and murderers, people have every right to reinterpret these monuments.
Ain't nothing wrong with that, the Americans toppled a big as king George III statue in New York after they declared independence from Britain, and look at them now, the US is doing just fine, and the Brits don't seem to be mad about it either. It is now Ukraine's revolutionary war of independence against russia, so let them do what they see fit with their statues in their own country and worry about the lenin statues in yours, germany.
@@numbersix8919 The Soviets destroyed countless markers of History when they overthrew the czars and destroyed most of the churches in Russia and other nations.
Ukraine woman: I can’t imagine us to have for example in Ukraine some monument’s With hitler name. Ukraine: monument with bandera that committed genocide of innocent poland people, Jews and ussr people. (Totally hero)
We had bloody war in Ex Yugoslavia , but huge monuments ( Spomeniks ) stayed intact . They are part of history and landmarks and no way someone is going to destroy them. People even renovate them
Not really. Some in Istria probably weren't, but the majority were destroyed. There are almost no statues thet depict any communist hero/solder left. Except Tito's in Kumrovec. I see in Ukraine's war a lot of similarities with the war in Croatia. Even regarding the statues.
because yogoslavia fought nazi themselves, they should be proud. It is very different in countries occupied by nazi/Japanese, later, "liberated" by allies. They not only did not participate in the process. or even fought the war for the wrong side, they see both side as invaders.
Her argument on the equestrian statue, oh boy... He might be criminal but "It is beautiful and if we remove it, the place will be empty". Sadly, instead of offering a counter argument, that lady is just a joke.
A very interesting documentary. In my opinion, contextualisation is key on this issue. Although in the case of huge monuments that loom over entire cities, there is justification for removal as they are landmarks of triumphalism over the modern populations that have moved on.
It’s like removing the Statue of Liberty because of the "terror" of the French revolution...Keep the large monument and change the shield to that of a trident!
And it’s not like they are destroying them!!! They are carefully and taking these “Monuments” down. She must not understand what they actually stand for - and how many people suffered ?!?! Scary cause this is how a lot of people are things. pain for many people, and preserving those “monuments” - s. They aren’t erasing history. Just not displaying Stalin relics anymore. This girl shows exactly Russian thinking.
@@anthonypazana6105 did French revolutionaries occupy US, killed its citizens, sent them to Syberia, stole from them, kept them under awful regime for many decades? No? than it is not the same.. for my people these monuments is like picture of person who raped them, on their own night table. Nothing but a scar in our memory. Only mistake is that they where not removed sooner.
Do you have culture or identity as Ukrainian???? You are just a bunch of people veered of course in a confused and just a puppet and vassal state..... We all know who was responsible for bucha. The coup d'etat in 2014 and the killing of 1400 your own people in the Eastern part of Ukraine. Seems you have forgotten history just summarized it up for you
Germans thought in a similar way to Ukrainians today when they decided to tear down the Palace of the Republic, the former DDR parliament building, in the early 2000s. Whatever its architectural merits, it was seen as a symbol of oppression.
What an interesting comparison. I think that it would be more correct to compare the current actions of Ukrainians with the actions of the allies who demolished the Nazi monuments of the Third Reich. Does it come across as awkward?
lol. it was a waste of money to tear that down. Hopefully it will be replaced by an islamic center. A good symbol for the direction to where Germany is headed right now. Being attacked with knives is the new liberty. Obeying the new muslim clan overlords is freedom. Banning pork from school canteens is the new tolerance. I want the wall back, sincerely, an East German.
This thought-provoking documentary delves into the complex debate surrounding Soviet monuments in Eastern Europe.The film encourages us to reflect on the importance of acknowledging history while navigating the delicate balance between memory and moving forward. An insightful and timely exploration of a controversial topic.Thank you!!
Headline:“How should history be remembered?” “Because that’s history- not what happened, but what people make themselves believe must have happened.” - Alistair Cooke
As it happened to Italy, in my hometown: better to place them all, in a Museum or a dedicated Area, where you can go explain why all of these things mattered in the past and why back then and now, are controversial. You save the monument(s), you educate generations. But yeah, after years of living in Poland, this idea should be ALWAYS asked from local authorities to locals living there, in before making ANY decision
It's a nuanced question to answer. Should we tear down Roman architecture because they conquered many other nations and peoples. Should we tear down their culture and monuments because of their bad deeds. Certainly Rome itself erased many cultures themselves. Or should we preserve their culture for the achievements they made, and preserve it as an important part of the history of the nation and it's people. But I guess it's that complex legacy that makes a nation what it is, the good and the bad. After all thats what history is, not back and white but nuanced shades of grey.
History is not about having the choice of remembering, forgetting or what are their political views and beliefs. It's a reminder for us of how important history is and how we can avoid it from repeating it again.
If you are not from eastern Europe I don’t blame you that you don’t understand. Russians are deeply proud of that period of the past, having these monuments give them assurance that they can feel this way.
@@kristinesaulite7945 Although it is hard, people must remember for the better and move on or else it would occur again just like in most countries that have been colonised by other foreign superpowers.We also have lots of historical statues and monuments of our former occupiers. So, I can understand from your point of view but it is significant that we must remember.
@@josh_ewe i think russians are the ones who need to remember who they occupy, we dont need these statues, believe me, we never forget what they do despite if their gouls stand on a pedestal or not
@Broski Snowski who suffer the most will deeply remember more than who not or less suffer that human after all when you remove or destroy all of it what is left is hate anger for everyone who willing to revenge and repeat all over again.
I understand the need to tear down these statues, but what many are not willing to realize is the fact that the spirit of what they represent is still present. Even if we remove the physical representation, we cannot remove the ideology, just look at the nazi movements. The ideology did not disappear, despite the fact that every symbol, book or art is banned
I'm from Russia and i know the matter of soviet monuments is a deal of independent states. In Russia in soviet times the communists destoyed almost all pre-1917 epoch's monuments, churches, cemeteries etc. They almost deleted our history and traditions.
What history? How did the Nazis from the «forest brothers » kill the Soviet people of Lithuania? Or maybe how your bourgeoisie exploited you in 1917-1940 and has been exploiting you now since 1990? Don't worry, progress can't be stopped, it can only be slowed down, so World socialism and Communism (a commonwealth without a state, class, gender, sexual and racial oppression, as well as the high development of science) will come and ALL MANKIND will finally get REAL freedom, and not oppression and bourgeois false freedom, where your freedom is limited only by choice another exploiter every 4-7 years
@@JamesStoltzMan i live in Brasil and i have no Idea what most statues here are for. Statues can be good looking but history IS in The books and old itens( knifes , bows etc) but They should be mostly in museum
@@samfire3067 you don't understand because you don't care. Many others do and if people will destroy all the memorials, it will easy to rewrite the history as you want.
On the one hand one cannot tolerate having monuments to the murderous regimes that have ruled for so long being on display in prominence places. On the other hand destroying such works is erasing historical record. Which puts one and the same footing as those like the Soviet Union and now Russia that have been doing that for a hundred years. In general I'm against the destruction of art works and the editing of reality. I propose removing the monuments but preserving them in a museum some place. A museum of shame. A museum that explains what really happened.
And why then Russian culture, Russian language and Russian history were imposed on other peoples conquered by this bloody empire! Why were all those who were against it killed?
@@DucedGonzaga wooow, you should know a fact that Russian culture was almost destroyed by Soviet rule. Traditional Russian clothes, language, churches and the whole lifestyle of Russian peasants (which was 80% of the population). Millions of Russian people were killed by new international communist government. Many more was deported and enslaved on the new places called 'kolhoz' (collective farm/households). USSR destroyed and damaged more Russians than all the other nations combined together. PLEASE LEARN THE HISTORY and stop being so dumb!
@@MrBell-iq3sm well depends how they are told. Either way it all comes down to education and values under which you are raised. Not to some random structures put there in the world
as a person from an ex soviet country the truth is ussr or communism isnt viewed as a genuine ideology of communism its treated more like extension of russian imperialism lot of us didnt want communism or ussr but were forced to "join" so thats why due to current geopolitical situation with russia, we ve decided to remove such things
lol. Forced to join. Kinda like the EU, right. Who does not join gets a nice color revolution, or whoever does not obey America....gets their country bombed to smithereens. Ask Iraq.
Imagine statues of Adolf Hitler or Nazi Germany soldiers in 2023, say in Belgium or France. After all, he did conquer those countries. And some belgians or french being dissatisfied with removing them.
@@DWDocumentary Your documentary is so amazing and pleasing.Thank you so much.But can you tell me your personal opinion about the USSR?After all, the communisim in 19th century is so advanced.And why it became so awful after it is operated in the eastIs Blanquisme?
You know, yeah, manically biased as it was. I haven't taken so many notes from a vid about Orcraine since last year, viewing Oliver Stone's monumental documentary, "Revealing Ukraine, 2019."
Being from the South East of the United States, I can't help but draw parallels to our own statue situation. It also makes me think to the past..... waay past. How many statues have been toppled over the millennium by successive generations for their own reasons.
South East of the US is a little bit different, as those were put up long long after the events that took place, as part of historical revisionism. Tearing down Confederate statues is fine, expanding that to tearing down statues of the founding fathers is utter nonsense though. Luckily most of that idiocy has been held at bay.
@@melonbobful They are correct though that the vast majority of confederate monuments you see in the streets were put up well after the fact to help perpetuate the Lost Cause. They're monuments to a false narrative, not monuments to real history.
I’m from Springfield, Illinois, home of Abraham Lincoln and also a large cemetery on the site of a Civil War POW camp. I took a trip through multiple states a few years ago and encountered 3 Confederate memorials. One was a life size statue of a soldier in Morganton, North Carolina, similar in size to a Union monument I saw a few weeks before in northern Illinois - that one didn’t bother me. One was the ostentatious column in Franklin, Tennessee, a few blocks north of a battleground - that monument did bother me because it’s so large. The third one was in Paducah, Kentucky, and that one made me angry because Paducah was never under Confederate control, it’s actually commemorating the enemy.
Well, for one thing, the confederate statues were built in honor of losers, who wanted to keep human beings in chains and went to war for that they were losers The Soviet memorials were built in honor of the saviors from fascism context is important. They were created by the victors so they should stay. The red army, and the Soviet union did more than the British or the Americans in helping see if you’re up, and possibly the world from fascists where, in rages me to see the arrogant belligerence of the Ukrainians, thinking that they can go to any country whatsoever and dismantle a monument when their own people or part of that very red army the Soviet union was not a pro Russian state it was made up of multiple backgrounds and nationalities very different from the Russian empire, and the Russian federation Russia didn’t emerge as its own independent country until after the Soviet collapse
We do not erase past in Baltic. We are preserving and upholding truth of it. It's shameful that Germans are preserving and justifying glorification and rememberence of war criminals, yearly rememberence of sufferings, normalizing rememberence of criminals, who commited immesurable crimes against humanity and so on. It's strange that it's okay to preserve Soviet, but not Nazi objects of past.
Is anyone not considering the fact that many of these memorials are in memory of Soviet comrades on the frontline, not just for the sake of the glorification of the Soviet Union? (Few exceptions.)
They have indeed been moved to a monument graveyard. You are free to go and look at them there anytime you wish. I'm sure, if you really want, you can pay the quarry contractor to take a few pieces away with you to stick in your garden, if you are so inclined. Or look out for them in their new home as part of a motorway strut or multi-story carpark - living art!
As Mines stated. Most if not all east block countries and the baltics have started removing this stuff to various museums. I have seen a few. You can go and look at the collections of Stalins and Lenins and what not, all standing around staring at each other with serious faces. But you have to want to see it. You are not forced to see it every time you go downtown.
Grutas park in Lithuania is a very interesting monument park founded in the late 1990s with Soviet monuments taken from all over Lithuania. It preserves the monuments and educates people about why they were put up. People can then choose to visit these monuments if they like, without being confronted by them all over their cities.
I visited the Soviet monument in Riga and thought it was quite ugly, but it was breathtaking the size and brutalist style it was super cool to imagine your standing there with the old guard in 1983 in the LSSR.
That big ugly thing are gone now, For most Latvians it's like a having Nazi Monument next to Big Ben, or Elizabeth II monument next to O’Connell Monument in Dublin.
These monuments were erected to remind the people that they were now the subjects of the Soviet Empire. Resistance is futile. We will erase your history and culture and send anyone who resists to Siberia if you are lucky. All these nations remember the occupation.
You can photograph and document the memorials, and teach in the textbooks what crimes were commited and how people propogandized and tried to rewrite history with such memorials. They do not need to be forgotten. The monuments are part of the crime. But you don't need to keep promoting the crimes by letting the offensive monuments stand. Start healing. Tear it down and put something uplifting in it's place.
The main problem with most of the statue is Putin using it as a justification for his imperialistic vision and when Putin claims his country is the successor to the Soviet union it put a severely negative image on these monuments and to be real honest these monuments could be used as justification to invade other country.
@09:18 she just explained in a few seconds why we are against keeping colonizers' statues in Africa too. The other side says its history and you cannot erase it but those statues represent our history being erased , a sig n of victory and control , a reminder that we still own you .
I remember when in Poland we were renaming streets and trying to find a balance between erasing Soviet occupation and preserving history while demolishing monuments. Lots of hard discussions and disagreements. Not easy things to do.I understand various points of view to me all Soviet should be taken down but that me. Everyone feels differently
Good job DW for showing different sides of the same issue. 1) Soviet memorials has nothing to do with Putin or modern day Russia. In fact Putin is an anti communist and a hard core Christian. 2) That Soviet memorial in Tiergarten is an important landmark of the German history. It's a German heritage now, and has nothing to do with Russia or Ukraine. 3) If they hate Putin and modern day Russia, they should get rid of Orthodox religion first, because it associate with Putin more than any Soviet memorial.
Putin always been glorify of Soviet especially Stalin in his speech. In facts he was a KGB himself. You must proof your loyalty to the communist party in order to climb the rank. Are you communist?
People think they can just imagine whatever meaning they want for this monuments, and demolish them, for a sake of hate, and rewriting history, forgetting the core idea behind this monument, or actually doesn't care about core, their interpretation is more important than reality behind.
The core idea of these monuments is Russian imperialism, a reminder that they can always rule over us and they can always conquer us again. No!! Never again!! 😡 Never!!!
@@Registeredprofile The reality is those core ideas in practice led to the deaths of millions of people, regardless of how nice they sounded on paper. That being said I do not support the destruction of monuments in any context. Also, no need to be condescending.
We have this issue in the US with old Confederate monuments in the South. I always found these monuments charming but this gives a little different perspective.
I can appreciate wanting to preserve history without glorifying atrocities. It’s the difference between a war memorial that lists the names of the dead from a town and a statue that glorifies the regime that they were sent to fight for.
I think eventually after the war, some of these monuments might be remade, in a reimagined way, celebrating Ukrainian history, instead of russian oppression, but currently, i see why many people dont like em
Let’s remember that soviet monuments are not russian monuments. Soviet union included 21 state. It belongs to all of them, to history, to socialism. You can’t rewrite history by removing piece of art.
As a history nerd and lover of art I find it sanding that I won't be able to visit Europe to see theses monument I've always found them interesting and have wanted to see them but I'm still a teenager in school so I don't really have the ability to travel yet but they're all being torn down before I can even go to see them
lol. You will still work for a minimum wage and be regarded as worth less than a Westerner. They laugh at you, as you eat yourselves from the inside out for a handful of dollars and some McDonald's.
It frustrates me to watch this because in the states we are having a similar conversation over statues that depict Confederate Soldiers from the U.S. Civil War. It is just so irritating because politicians are just using it as a wedge issue.
I am positively surprised about the number of comments emphezising the point of having the duty to honor history . I guess most of the level headed commentators are being German . I am not guessing... but almost certain ,that mainly Germans and Russians learned from history... while Brits,Poles,Balts etc. are falling back into the old patterns without any hesitation .
Russians never learn. Poles and Baltics simply know USSR was no better than nazi Germany for them. USSR invaded Poland just 17 days after Hitler and USSR was Hitler's ally till 1941.
Young, Woke and of course deserving to have voices about their future country. What a complex situation. Good luck to Ukrainian youth, I truly hope they still have a country to call home.
20 years ago I visited Moscow. There was, and probably still there is, a park where each of the Soviet Socialist Republics that formed the Soviet Union erected a monument to celebrate the achievements of communism with the name of the Republic (Ukraine, Moldova, Estonia, Belarus, ......). The monuments were huge, some richer than others (probably reflecting the size and wealthy of the Republic that built it). Now that most of those former Soviet Republics have turned against Russia it would be interesting to know the fate of those monuments too ....
As a Southern American who lived through the Black Lives Matter protests back in the summer of 2020, I see a lot of parallels between 2020 America and 2023 Eastern Europe. During the summer of 2020 we went through this same identical crisis in which we had to come to terms with our past. In our case, it was the Confederate monuments that for some people represented important Confederate patriots and heroes while others saw slave owners, traitors, and tyrants. In the end, some statues stayed while others were torn down or relocated just as is described in this documentary about Soviet statues.
@TOFKAS01 You need to read how genocidal European colonizers were and how many tens of millions they killed. India, the largest ex-British colony, today has better relations with Russia than with the UK or America. You know why? Because for one, your hero Churchill starved 4 million Indians to death in the 1940s. That's why so many in the UK wanted his statue removed.
It’s interesting that the pro Russian woman at around 19 minutes who was saying “we’re so proud to finally wear the St George’s cross” etc was speaking with a Ukrainian accent. I speak Russian with a Ukrainian accent as well, so it jumped out at me.
I mean there were so many gorgeous buildings demolished in the Kliningrad oblast when soviets overtook it and also so many in Poland when Prussia stopped ecisting so i do support this decision of Ukrainians.
75 years ago, on the night of August 27 and 30, 1944, the British Air Force raided Koenigsberg (Kaliningrad), which killed more than 6,000 civilians and destroyed the historic city center.
Absolutely share this approach. Russian "putinist"s don't want to admit the reality of the all, including really brutal parts of the history, it's a USSSR' habit - to not recognize offensive and hostile politics of USSSR, unfortunately half of Russian middle ages people follow this path today. These Ukrainian girls(I share their pain) want to demolish the history, the same approach, as Russian "putinist"s and pro-Stalin. So we observe using the same tool for history demolishing from opposite sides. It's a blind way.
In the Baltics, the Soviets committed mass genocide and attempted colonization. I personally think these monuments should either be destroyed or relocated to a museum/park detailing the victims of communism and Russian occupation
As a traveler from South Africa,I learnt a lot from asking questions to the local people from European cities.... Some moved the statues to a different location.....like Budapest. Then you can visit the place,if you so wish... But driving into Minsk,you see all the war tanks along the road,and it may be offencing to some people.... I think moving them is perhaps better than destroying them. But that is only my opinion.......
My grandparents were born in 1940s where India achieved independence and the second world war between Nazi Germany and the Soviet Unions... And my brother was born in 1990,where the collapse of the Soviet Unions..
1:00 this is probably one of the coolest looking statues i've ever seen, why would anyone wanna tear that down? Can people not separate art from artist?
actually no one is talking about detryoing this statue. quite otherwise. it was a symbol of Ukrainian resistance, and after the russian invasion became an even bigger symbol, it's literally everywhere. the meaning of the statue was redefined after Ukraine gained independence. the only issue is the USSR coat of arms on the shield. they consider to change it to Ukrainian tryzub, but it's estimated to cost +- 1 million dollars (38 million hryvniasd). idk why so much, but I think we can change it a bit later))
@@idontwanna1838 well, i'm not sure if there are such monuments across all post soviet states. it's actually called 'батьківщина-мати', literal translation in English is 'fatherland-mother'. another famous monument of this type is actually 'motherland calls' as you told in Volgograd
Some that can be moved should be moved out to museums not in center of main areas. I was sort of agreeing with Elmira at the beginning but then when she said the “crack” on the arch doesn’t look good, I’m like, “that’s the point, you are valuing the “artistic” value over the meaning.” Then I’m against her. If moving and storing is not a choice then demolishing is the next best option
Which you accidentally bring out another interesting point. Should graffiti and damage to a statue be be preserved if it happened during a significant event?
Thank you for such a great and interesting documentary. I like how you showed the situation among European countries with soviet monuments. As a Ukrainian, I agree that soviet monuments should be toppled and kept in the special history museum, not on the streets of cities, especially now. But I really like that the video showed people with different points of view that you can listen to them and make personal minds and attitudes to things.
the Kiev metro is a cultural heritage of the USSR, an architectural monument, like the Moscow metro, one of the most beautiful in the world, probably, ukrainians suffer when driving in the metro, urgently need to bury the metro.
Bandera. And they can rename the Maidan to Adolf Hitler square. That is a suitable replacement to all the Soviet monuments. they did not deserve one drop of blood that was shed to liberate them. But the upcoming yoke, being owned by American companies, will be impossible to overcome. Nobody will come to liberate them. But knowing how they are, they will once again just scatter across the world and try to instigate others to fix their problems for them. Nothing new.
Those monuments honor over the 28 MILLION citizens that died fighting Nat sism. Included MILLIONS of Ukranians. The Fuhrer would be smiling now from hell.
Putin comes to that monument every year not to say that Russia is a successor to USSR, but to pay tribute to all fallen soldiers in WW2, including ukranians
The Soviet leader Comrade Leonid Brezhnev & Soviet space engineer Sergie korolev are Ukrainian. There's many Ukrainian poets , story writers, movie director, producers and even many musicians since Russian Empire to Soviet Union ( USSR) & till today.
How come that the Soviet army became Russian army? That is not correct. It also included Ukrainian, Belarusian , Polish, Checoslováquia, all the Baltic countries, Mongolian, Kazakhstan, ect ect. It’s incorrect to say that it was only the Russians that did bad things during the Soviet time. There were plenty high rank Ukrainians in the Soviet nomenclature. Stalin was not Russian by the way, he was Georgian. Everything so mixed up in this 🙄
The Red army Was the sovjet army. They occupied all the satalite states and supressed uprisings. The warsaw pact states had their own army which never turned against their fellow poles
If a relative comes to my house, kills my wife, rapes my daughter and kidnaps my son and I have memories of him before that time, I don't think I should display them in my house. I must show the world that he is a murderer and rapist. The Crimean Bridge may be a magnificent architectural work, but it is actually the memory of an invasion and must be destroyed
@@pipo590 Oh, I see, translation peculiarities. In Ukrainian "Україна понад усе" means not Ukraine over all nations but Ukraine over everything. That means for Ukrainians that our state and our independence value more than everything we have, even our own lives. It has nothing in common with national superiority.
It makes you wonder if say France had attacked Canada claiming that it was never a country. Would we as Americans tear down the Statue of Liberty since France made it for us? This is just hypothetical but it makes you wonder if the same mindset would be applied.
The Soviet monuments honoring the heroes who fought against Nazism represent all the peoples of the Soviet Union. They are not Russian monuments. Those who advocate the demolition of these statues are those who today honor Nazi collaborators. So it is in Ukraine today. The toppling of these monuments is absurd and disrespectful. Only Nazis celebrate their overthrow.
