War memorial | Tales from the Hutt

Tuesday, 02-July-2024

I didn’t expect to find a monument to the Soviets in Vienna.

I didn’t expect to find a monument to the Soviets… at all, really. I mean, after so many countries that had previously been part of the USSR, and after learning about so many atrocities that were committed by the Soviets, the thought of a monument to them was a bit unthinkable.

Yet here I was, standing in front of a rather beautiful one, in the heart of Vienna.

Reading into it online, I couldn’t find much about why it’s still been maintained into the current era… but that it was originally built back when Vienna was separated into districts run by the different Allied powers after World War 2. Have I mentioned that, yet? Similarly to how Berlin was hacked in half during the Cold War, so too was Vienna… except that it was carved into four quadrants; USA, USSR, UK, and France. This monument was built in the Soviet block, but within easy viewing distance to the other three.

Regardless, it is a beautiful monument. And, I’m happy to add, has been added to recently… the large wall behind the monument, separating it from the Belvedere Gardens, has been repainted into the Ukrainian flag – a fitting way to add new context, in my mind.

Wikipedia link:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soviet_War_Memorial_(Vienna)

The Memorial to the dead of the Red Terror

Thursday, 06-June-2024

Logically, I know the horrors that the Soviet Union’s occupation of countries brought. I’ve read about it, I logically know the numbers. But I didn’t grow up with those numbers… for very good reasons, the Holocaust stands tallest in my mind due to the trauma it inflicted on my family. I was, simply put, raised in its shadow.

Standing in Estonia, in front of a memorial park dedicated to those deported by the USSR for use as slave labor and those simply executed, I’m reminded that World War Two was horrifying, and cast countless other shadows as well.

I didn’t realized that this was a memorial to those killed by the “Red Terror” of the USSR, at first. I saw the obelisk from the Reid Promenade, thought it looked interesting, and walked over. I mean, that’s what I’ve been doing this whole trip, and it’s served me pretty well hasn’t it?

Well, it continued serving me well, even if the subject matter was a bit tough.

The memorial was absolutely gorgeous – expansive, thoughtful, and… good. It was just a really great memorial, and I won’t try to describe it any further than that. Instead I’ll step back, and let the photos paint a picture for you.

What I can describe was the quiet of the park, the solemnity, and the sound of birds and wind in the trees… with the faint and distant sound of a lawnmower going off near the other side of the park, keeping the large fields of grass and stands of trees tamed.