The Horrors of Valaam Island
How can it be that no matter how much I read, I find out about things that I had never heard of before?
Valaam Island is a beautiful place. An ancient monastery in the middle of Lake Ladoga - in the north of Russia. It hides a terrible history.
Valaam Island is a beautiful place. An ancient monastery in the middle of Lake Ladoga - in the north of Russia. It hides a terrible history.
posted by e-kvetcher at 8:48 PM
3 Comments:
Прочла, и с ужасом рассказала Маме. Оказываетса она знала об этом и рассказала что помнит этих после-военных калек на улицах Житомира (наша семья от туда) и как в одинь день они все исчезли....
Она рекомендавала прочесть книгу Михаила Веллера. "Самовар" (Аннотация о книге: Кто такой самовар? Это мужчина, оставшийся без рук и без ног... Жесткое повествование о жизни таких «самоваров», фантазией автора собранных в одной больничной палате...). Легко нашла на www.flibusta.net и уже скачала в мой Кindle.
Thank you for sharing this bit of history of our scary homeland. This is something that few people in the former Soviet Union know or even want to think about. But we all know what happens when we do not study history....it repeats.
When I think of these people who had sacrificed themselves for the war effort - they came back crippled, their families gone and no one to take care of them - and this is their reward. This yet again reaffirms my belief that to sacrifice for anything other than your immediate family and friends is utter stupidity.
Here is another link(in Russian) to the stories of the invalids on Valaam island.
Right after I read through the link you posted originally, I did some digging online and found the Russian article you linked and a related video too: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vzDV0nb3FuY.
These people sacrificed it all for their ungrateful society. But they had no choice...going to fight or not was not their choice to make. The scarier thought is that society has not changed all that much in ways it treats its warriors to this day. Sure, there are no more Vaalam Island type places (at least I hope so), but veterans there are not treated with much care or regard for their needs. And I agree with you about sacrificing, but sometime going to serve in the military IS for your friends and family, as it is in Israel.
Thank you so much for posting. You need to resurface more often - I always enjoy the stuff you find out there.
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