The Zodiac fountain was build after I've left the town. So this was the first time I saw it. And the square in front of it (not shown on my pictures) was always a square with Lenin's monument in the centre of it. Of course the Lenin's monument has gone now and there was a mosque built right opposite of its place. As if laughing in his face, really. I don't like changes that follows the fashion. And when the fashion said: take off all Lenin monuments, that upset me. I think, good or bad, this is our history and we should keep it as it is...as it was...not amend her...so that we can remember not to repeat mistakes of the past…
There is another line of history that runs throughout the town. This one is shared with all of ex-Soviet cities. There is not a single settlement on a territory of Soviet Union, that hasn’t been touched by the WWII. For my generation it was a fact that my granddad and grandma were at war, my friends’ grands were there, my classmates’ grands have been and so were just about everyone else’s grands that I know of. So this is forever imprinted on our share of history and the reminders are always there. Every town has got a many. The marks of respect to the feat of arms…Oskemen has set up the one in the most beautiful place in town – on the actual confluence of the two rivers.
The Eternal Flame burns there in memory of all those killed
I made this picture on purpose:
These are the numbers of soldiers who never made it back from the front lines of WWII. Listed in the order of the local towns and villages. If anyone would care to count, the numbers totalled to around 37.5 thousands. Just from the one province of Eastern Kazakhstan. Maybe because we are reminded all the time, we remember…Maybe I do not appreciate any kind of war because I can’t walk around WWII monuments without tears in my eyes…maybe we need to be reminded more, since we seem to forget the lesson…Anyway…further on the topic of heroic past reflected in beautiful monuments of human memory…there is another one that I would like to mention…
You know, whatever the World says about the just or unjust war in Afghanistan, this is still just another war and like any war, she billed us dearly. Back in July 1984 my classmate was killed in Afghanistan. In 1984 he was 18. I’ve found his name among those listed on the plate…It is an eerie feeling to see those you used to know on a memorial’s wall…