Motherland, victorious and grieving

In each city on the territory of the Soviet Union, and often in villages, monuments were erected dedicated to the memory of soldiers who sacrificed their lives for the freedom and independence of our country. In the European part, much of which became the arena of terrible battles, these monuments became the tombstones of thousands and thousands of soldiers, the names of many of which remained unknown.

Monuments sometimes depict warriors, sorrowfully bent their banners and heads, sometimes soldiers rush to attack, and their faces express fearless determination. In Moscow and other capitals there is a monument to an unknown soldier, in the cities of Odessa and Novorossiysk, a seaman located by the sea.

All these statues, steles and obelisks express gratitude for the military prowess of our grandfathers and great-grandfathers. They look very courageous and as if they tell us, living today: "Remember the heroes, grandfathers and great-grandfathers." And we remember.

But there is one more character that has become part of our legendary history. This is Motherland. Its image is as abstract as the faces of soldiers, sailors, partisans on monuments. She absorbed the features of tens of millions of women, who led their children to the front and did not wait for their victory at the doors of their home.

In many large cities there are such monuments. The most famous of them was the statue "Motherland Calls" in Volgograd, symbolizing the whole country. The giant sculpture is very dynamic, it swung at the invisible enemy with a sword clamped in her right hand, with her left hand calling for her to follow the myriad ranks of the people's defenders. Might her movement, and there is no doubt that the blow will be devastating.

The size of the sculpture "Motherland" is enormous, its height is 85 meters. She is very lucky in compositional terms, her author, EV Vuchetich, who developed the artistic concept, and civil engineer NV Nikitin, who realized the idea in stone, showed remarkable talent. The whole composition, dedicated to the victory in the Battle of Stalingrad, makes an indelible impression on everyone who has visited the Mamayev Hill. At the heart of the idea is an analogy with the ancient Greek goddess Nika, a symbol of the people's power, which repels the enemy and causes death to him. The terrible events on the Volga in 1942 are an example of military operations of unprecedented scale, so heroics became the main motive of the monument.

Like the Theotokos in different hypostases, Motherland expresses many feelings that embrace the soul of everyone who meditates on the war. In addition to bloody attacks and hot battles, there was sadness. Millions of today's people of the older generation, many of whom in those terrible years were children, did not wait for their fathers. Each motherland for them is like their own mother or grandmother. Not always the faces of these women expressed a rapture of victory, it happened otherwise.

In Kharkov, on the Belgorod highway, in the forest park, in memory of the heavy bloody battles of 1943, the Memorial of Glory was built. Do not remain indifferent after his visit. The laconism of the solution was manifested in the modest design of the central sculpture. Motherland simply stands in the middle of the alley, her face does not express anger, there is no celebration in it. Even the sorrow is gone. This woman was crying all the tears, they have no left. Having folded her worn hands, straightening her back, she looks into the distance, and among the trees a soft beating of the mother's heart is heard.

The monuments are so different, and there is no contradiction in this. Each of them became a part of our culture and a symbol of the main feat of the Great Patriotic War - the Mother's feat.