The city of Volgograd, formerly Stalingrad, is the site of one of the most significant battles of World War II. To this day, the Battle of Stalingrad, in which approximately two million people were killed, is of great symbolic importance to the city and is commemorated by an 85 -meter monument familiar to many around the globe.
It thus seems beyond comprehension that, until recently, Hitler's Mein Kampf, together with other radical nationalist literature, was openly sold at certain book stalls in the center of Volgograd; that the birthday of the Nazi leader was openly celebrated by local youngsters at Volgograd's central quay; and that painted or scratched swastikas could be found almost everywhere in the city. In addition, the last five years have seen dozens of incidents in which representatives of ethnic or racial minorities have been abused or even killed for no apparent reason. How could this be possible in the former Stalingrad, the city that paid so many lives to drive away the bearers of swastikas and adherents of racist ideology? […]
