If you have seen the movie "Flags of our Fathers" you will know the story of the iconic photograph of the Raising of the Flag on Mount Suribachi during the Battle for Iwo Jima.Less than three months after that famous picture was captured the Photograph on the left was taken and in its time it was equally iconic. The reason for posting it today is that Abdulkhakim Ismailov the last survivor of the Red Army soldiers in this picture died on Tuesday at his home in Dagestan.
Makes you think, old glory as raised on Mount Suribachi has gained two more stars since that day but remains essentially unchanged.
While the flag that flew over the Reichstag that day in May in 1945 and which symbolized the end of World War 2 in Europe has been replaced by the Russian Tricolor, White, Blue and Red, which is a return to pre-revolutionary Russian Flag.
And there are those amongst us who would change our flag, the flag which draped the coffins of those who gave their lives in that epic struggle in an attempt to restart our history.
I wonder if they succeed if we will eventually see the need return to our own historical flag?
It's apt really, isn't it - a photo of one totalitarian regime's flag being replaced by another as a metaphor for people in this country who can't bear the fact their country has a history (albeit a decidedly brief one in comparison to Russia's). An enthusiasm for ditching the past isn't necessarily progressive.
ReplyDeleteIt plays both ways though - I remember when I lived in Germany in the early 90s there was great enthusiasm for eradicating any trace of the Bolshevik tyranny from their country. Streets and squares named after Soviet heroes must be renamed, buildings and monuments erected by the commos must be destroyed, etc - it struck me as exactly the same kind of over-enthusiastic rejection of your country's history that the commos had been keen on. Fact: there were 40+ years of Bolshevik tyranny - why not recognise it?
"..there was great enthusiasm for eradicating any trace of the Bolshevik tyranny from their country."
ReplyDeleteAlong with the history of the previous co-operation between the Nazis and the communists.