Places of Interest - Russia

The centre:

Because the city was completely in ruins after the disastrous battle in WWII, the center has been completely rebuilt and has many open spaces, wide boulevards and a remarkably amount of greenery. The main attractions are "the headquarters of Field Marshal Friedrich Paulus", the war museum (see below) and the many war memorials. Most impressive is perhaps the white pillars that formed the bridgehead of the 62nd Russian army that was situated here during the Battle of Stalingrad. The loss of this bridgehead would mean the end of Stalingrad for the Russians and because of it very important. Now there is a propylene in honor of the city and you have a good view where the thousands of Russian soldiers came ashore under constant heavy German fire. From here you can walk back into the center and walk through the avenue of heroes flanked by countless memorials and monuments. Next to the war museum you can see the only remaining ruin (of a flower mill) that was left as a memory in its ruiined state.

Outside the center:

Perhaps the most important monument in the city and certainly the symbol of the city is the gigantic "mother of Russia" monument of 72 meters high on the Tatar burial mound "Mamaev Kurgan". During WWII this strategically very important hill was called "102" and this exchanged several times sides for four months. The whole hill is full of memorials, monuments and ruined fortifications of the battle. In the "Pantheon" the 7200 Russian soldiers names are inscribed that would died here. About 8 km north of the center you can visit the famous tractorfactory where heavy fighting took place during the Battle of Stalingrad. As a tribute, there is a T34 tank on a pedestal in front of the door but the factory has been rebuilt and is active again. A similar factory (this time a grain mill) can be viewed (also this is not accessible to the public) three kilometers south of the center on the same continuous "Lenina" road that runs parallel to the Volga river. Here too, a bitter struggle was between the Nazis and the Red Army. Here too there is an impressive monument as a tribute. 

Other attractions:

The museum of the Volga-Don canal.

The current city "Volgograd" was founded in the year 1598 and was then named "Tsaritsyn". Originally it was a fortification with a big fortress on the Volga that served as a southern defensive post for Muscovia, the empire that preceded Russia. During the Russian Civil War that raged between 1918 and 1920 in Russia, Stalin played a leading role in the fighting around this city. That is why the city was named after him in 1925. It was a red stronghold in conflict with the whites in the civil war. Wolgograd became world famous under the name Stalingrad because of the decisive major battle (Battle of Stalingrad) that was fought there in the Second World War. The Battle of Stalingrad was one of the bloodiest battles of the Second World War and also one of the most symbolic. It meant a turning point in the course of the war, where from then on the Germans were no longer winning, but on the losing hand. The battle began at 23 August 1942 and ended on 2 February 1943 when the German Field Marshal Friedrich Paulus surrendered with his 6th Army. Stalingrad received in 1945 the honorary title Hero City of the Soviet Union. 

Stalingrad became Volgograd in 1961 during the period of liberalization and destalinization under former president Khrushchev. This change of name met a lot of resistance from the Russian population, who considered the name Stalingrad from the Great Patriotic War to be more important than all bad associations with the person of Stalin. Under the reign of Konstantin Chernenko (1984-1985) the name was almost changed back to Stalingrad, but it never came that far. The enormous monument called “Mother Motherland” was built on the Mamayev Kurgan (a burial mound) and is now by far the most appealing and impressive monument to be seen in the city. At the end of 2013, a few weeks before the Olympics in Sochi, Volgograd was brutally resurrected by a number of bombings claimed by Chechen rebels. Dozens of people were killed and many injured.