To try everything Brilliant has to offer for free for a full 30 days, visit brilliant.org/presentpast or scan the QR code onscreen-or you can click on the link in the description. You’ll also get 20% off an annual premium subscription. Corrections/nuance: - the monument mentioned at 06:37 is not located in Croatia, but in Bosnia&Herzegovina. Sources: docs.google.com/document/d/1rWGGUDg6HOsuL7PRroJsrEuVZsHkfjh14Gcqpwdtdww/edit?usp=sharing
I liked this video as a presentation of the monuments but this video is still very far from what I had anticipated. What even is this "genius design" that you've literally mentioned in the title?? Where is the "GENIUS"? You compare these monuments to western ones in the thumbnail but barely mention the differences. There is no exploration of the artistic and philosophical intentions, or any explanation of the methods and the process in erecting them. This was an utterly disappointing video.
The philosophy behind these monuments is best described by one of their most famous architects Bogdan Bogdanović:"While I built them, I wished for a world without monuments. It seems that these people are created to suffer, and new generations complicate that suffering further. Monuments to suffering are dishonest, often stupid and comical. They explain nothing and call for nothing. Philosophical and metaphysical ideas don't need matter. Every monument is a little bit aggressive, and the memories it evokes are always dangerous. The world without history is truly impossible, but we should build a history of intelligence, ideas and sensations, not of overpowering. But it seems that is just my wishful thinking."
"While I built them, I wished for a world without monuments." "Monuments to suffering are dishonest, often stupid and comical." "Every monument is a little bit aggressive, and the memories it evokes are always dangerous." Man, I dislike communists so much. There is such an overpowering sterility of the soul to be found any time you are unfortunate enough to delve into their psyche. Is this what dialectical materialism does to a motherfucker?
An eloquent quote, but easy to disagree with. Ideas don't need matter, but matter can represent or evoke ideas. A artist not appreciating that is comical. Monuments do not have to be made to suffering, but can also be made to the cause for which the suffering was paid. But monuments to suffering can also be important, as a closure to trauma and a physical symbol of rehabilitation and rebuilt strength
1:16 In Russian this monument is not called as "Mother Russia". It is called "Родина-мать зовет" (Rodina-mat' zovyot!), which means "The Motherland Calls". Because Russia was part of the USSR. And the name of such a monument could not mention Russia.
Yes it's called The Motherland Calls I never said it is called Mother Russia. I said it is (a personification of) Mother Russia.The source for this claim can be found in Keith Lowe, Prisoners of History: What Monuments to the Second World War Tell Us About Our History and Ourselves (2020) 5-8. But if you have a different source that claims it is not a personification of Mother Russia do let me know.
@@ThePresentPast_ as a Russian, i would argue that we don't even have (nor had) the "Mother Russia" as a popular concept. It is more of a distorted "Western" (for the lack of better word) interpretation. If we speak about Soviet tradition, it is unified Motherland of all the Soviet people. If we speak about old Slavic folklore, we have a "Mother Earth" (Мать - сыра земля), which also has nothing to do with the concept of "Russia", but relates to the concept of life-giving earth. It is worth noting in this context, because in Russian bylina folklore bogatyrs called to Mother Earth for strength beyond ordinary human's limits (силушка богатырская) and even brought a "motherland's" earth with them in long journeys to not lose connection with the place they were born in. I'm not sure about non-Slavic ethnicities of USSR as i am not an ethnographer, but pretty sure they did have some similar pre-Christian/Muslim concepts, just like pretty much every pagan folklore. So as a conclusion, I would say, that Motherland Calls refers to both ideas, because they're closely tied, but has nothing to do with the word "Russia". Dunno if I explained properly, but hope it helps a bit. P.S. incredible video. Sadly I have never even heard about the monuments of Yugoslavia before, so the info you brought is really interesting.
1:14 It is not Mother Russia, it is the Motherland (Statue is named "Motherland Calls"), which calls all the children of the Soviet Union to battle: Russians, Ukrainians, Belarusians, Karelians, Kazakhs, Tuvans, Uzbeks, etc, to battle the invaders.
Ukrainians are an artificial nation, created at the beginning of the 20th century and finally formed in the USSR, after World War II. They were created by the Austrians and Germans, then by Soviet party leaders. The share of other peoples is less than 5%. Russians (Great Russians, as you like to call it today) were over 90%. All Slavic population (and not only Slavic) in that area are historically Russians.
This [pseudo-research] ignores a large number of structuralist memorial sculptures with a strong sense of mathematical abstract form in Soviet Russia. The reason why it is subtly avoided is that the similarity between the artistic styles of Soviet Russia and Balkan memorial sculpture is too strong, and once it is displayed, it is obvious to individuals. Throughout the article, the same type of monument in the Balkans is repeatedly emphasized as "to break with Soviet” In the beginning, briefly mentioned "learning from the West." shameless. After the Cold War, Western architectural history has always regarded itself as the pioneer of structuralism, rationalism and modernism. And those communistic architects,who truly create new technologies, new schools and new artistic ideas for all human beings in mind, their names have been erased, their works have been plagiarized, their meanings have been maliciously tampered with, and the history of artistic ideas has been stigmatized as a whole.
Just like the art pieces of the great artists of the past. Their works was deeply humiliated, and even worse, they became a money exchange game among the rich. Their sufferings, insulted. There isn't really a place for creators in this world.
@@NonneinP..Thanks to McCarthism, now nobody even truly knows how much the Soviet soldiers sacrificed themselves to defend their homeland, they fought for their family , loved ones and not politically driven madness inflicted on them but yet now they are being dishonored by this world
Here at 6:38, you're wrong; this monument is not in Croatia, it is in Bosnia (Kozarac) and it's called Mrakovica. My great-grandfather's name, as well as the names of his three daughters and his wife, are engraved there.
@@0bserver416 Strictly speaking, Mrakovica in the Kozara Mountains is the name of the hill on which the monument stands, commemorating the Battle of Kozara in World War II. The monument is officially called the "Monument to the Revolution" (Spomenik Slobode), but none of the locals call it that; they simply refer to it as Mrakovica. In the Yugoslav languages, "Mrak" means the same as in Russian and Ukrainian, namely "darkness" and probably in many other Slavic languages as well.
This monument is not in Kozarac, which is a village near Kozara. The monument is actually located in Mrakovica. On the long list of names there, many of my ancestors, Serbs, who were killed by the Ustaše (Croats), are commemorated. My family roots are from the other side of the Kozara mountain, in the Prosara area. Today, Kozarac has another monument that honors Bosnian Muslims (Bosniaks) killed by Serbs during the most recent war. Tito’s regime avoided properly commemorating victims, sweeping the tragedies under the rug. As a result, a few decades later, those unresolved tensions resurfaced, leading to more bloodshed in Kozara and Bosnia
@@WatermelonDog202 I much prefer the Soviet Realism style. Motherland Calls is a really neat monument. Special mention for the Rear-Front memorial because it looks like the two giant men are lifting Cloud Strife's sword above their heads. Not a fan of the USSR's...policies, but they made some damn fine heroic statuary.
The monument you mentioned, that became one of the most important memorial places, is not in Croatia, but on mountain Kozara, in the North of Bosnia and Herzegovina ;)
@generalrodcocker1018 to be fair that's more of him either forgetting, or not doing enough research. i highly doubt most people even know where that mountain is without having explicitly looked up info about it (and americans not knowing geography is more of a stereotype honestly)
The monuments that are broken or abandoned seem to tell another message. That the trauma from the war seems to fade away and the next generation will make the same mistakes the old generation made, hence continuing the cycle.
It's not about trauma from the war fading away, but those monuments for a lot of people symbolize another trauma like communism, oppression, dictatorship
Wether you like it or not not everyone will listen and humanity will always make the same mistakes the best we can do is educate those who will listen and hope it’s enough to stem the suffering of the next cycle
because Yugoslavia, unfortunately, was a country where the bad guys won 50 years later. A whole generation sacrificed themselves to liberate their people only for the grandchildren to turn against each other and destroy the monuments that were meant to be symbols that the barbarism witnessed in the 40s was confined to history. Hopefully the younger generations will see through the nationalism for what it is: a tool used by lazy politicians to mask their blatant corruption and laziness
@@Jakaj99and don't forget about most traumatic things like rebuilding/building factories, schools, roads, economies and somewhat of stability in post war republics😢😿😭
Фишка таких монументов в том, что они ничего тебе не навязывают, не преподносят фактов или ненужной информации. Все что тебе нужно ты найдешь в них Сам. Как и музыка без слов.
Я думаю, что удаление человеческого аспекта из мемориалов слишком легко использовать для прославления нации над личностью. Однако я согласен, что у них есть какая-то странная красота. Однако спасибо за вашу точку зрения.
@@mortypsg9599Когда нужно поблагодарить всю страну за победу или показать общее горе, нет смысла говорить о личностях, разве не так? В честь героев строили други монументы, эти больше в честь всех, кто сражался и терял в этой войне. Человек сам увидит себя/своих родителей или дедушек и бабушек в монументе.
I think there’s an Error in 3min. You’ve missed at least one country. Poland lost around 18.7% of its prewar population which isn’t showed in the chart. Cool video thank you!
Как минимум нужно упоминать , что Родина мать это лишь второй из трех монументов составляющих единое целое: первый где тыл отковал меч для фронта в Магнитогорске, второй где он был поднят и поразил на врага в Сталинграде и третий где меч был опущен воином спасшим немецкую девочку в Берлине
1:14 better be "Mother-homeland". its important because in the Great Patriotic War (that's what we call the part of WW2 that took place on the territory of the USSR) not only Russians participated and died
Everything these memorials represent are ideas of people that did not want anybody to suffer anymore, the desire for a world where everyone could live, and not only survive. Dreams that were smashed, shattered by a system where dreaming is a sin, because it does not make the values and the numbers go up. Great video
Concidering that I visited the "Denkmal für die ermordeten Juden Europas" (Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe) in Berlin. I already had a strong suspicion watching the first part of this short-documentory. And I have to say, that the "abstract" way of designing those Monuments pay the most respect to (almost) every party involved, without painting an image of a single "good guy"
it is a way a conqueror marks the conquered with an equivalent of a "white elephant: - absolutely tasteless, huge, unusable piece that stamps a prime land in the centre of the city for a concrete whatever.
The US has invested heavily in "good guy" marketing to convince everyone that they are victorious and exceptional. Unfortunately, they have even succeeded. Many people think that the Americans actually defeated fascism after their bold attack at the end of the war (summer 44). Although I do not in any way belittle their assistance with the second front.
I wouldn't be so sure about them rejecting the Soviet style. In my city, Bryansk, the Mound of Immortality is very much similar to the star monuments in the video.
if I did my research well, that one is from 1972, whereas the star monument in Kosmaj was finished in 1971. While I really doubt either of the two influenced the other, more likely they were made similar by chance, technically you could say the Soviets used the Yugoslav Style
@@IvanAntunovic-i2g Mound of Immortality was a work that took many years to complete. 1967-68 the mound itself was built, 1975-76 the star was built. The star design won the competition between 14 concepts. IMHO it was simply the trend at the time in the Communist block.
Its a very anti-humanist style which reflects the suffering and inhumane behavior the soviets are built upon. There is no humanity in this brutalist garbage. It does not inspire the better things in us: It only serves as a thorn reminding us of terrible things.
Hey I actually live in the closest city to Kozara national park which houses that cylindrical memorial. That memorial is called Mrakovica memorial. My grandparents from my father’s side were prisoners in Jasenovac, they survived and are still alive at the age of 92 - my grandfather and 94 - my grandmother. Nonetheless, seeing this video did put a smile on my face.
Would be nice to make them tell their story in front of a camera if they’d like. Since there’s huge implications of Ustashis erasing proof and mentioning fake articles especially on Wikipedia (leading even more to whole generations closing in the to ultranationalist narrative) would be nice to have a touch of truth brought by wise people. I did a recording of my grandma who was deported, really looking forward to put it on YT once my mom agrees with the idea.
I wonder where does the author draws border between his West and East. East communist memorials should be found in Chinese PR or Campucia or PDR of Korea I guess.
As a child of croatian refugees (that fled to germany) I never had many points of contact with croatia or yugoslavia. A few years ago, however, I somehow became interested in learning more about yugoslavia, probably spent hundreds or thousands of hours reading or watching videos about yugoslavia. Every time I see these yugoslavian monuments, they trigger something in me. Some kind of deep sadness and sorrow. These massive concrete buildings that somehow captured the spirit of yugoslavia. no hand-chiseled natural stone, but reinforced concrete. somehow cheap and quickly made, like the socialist prefabricated buildings in east germany or the soviet union. But these monuments, even if they look so alien, somehow express the suffering of the partisans in the second world war much more clearly than, for example, the western ones. They somehow make you think about the fallen, about their fate, their hopelessness, their dreams, their goals and wishes, which were shattered by the brutal reality and coldness of the war. Somehow it makes me realize every time that behind each of these memorials are tens of thousands of men and women who gave their lives for a future without war and to live together as a common brotherhood. It also makes me realize that there were many many more to whom no memorial was dedicated. People who, no matter how hopeless the situation looked, stood up and fought. People whose names will never be remembered again. To see what happened only a few decades later and how people slipped back into the stone age, brutally murdering each other despite living the same culture, speaking the same language and living in “brotherhood and unity” for decades, is somehow also a disrespect to those who gave their lives so that we could live together in peace. Thank you for the video and that there is someone who pays attention to these almost forgotten memorials.
Did you listen to Michael Parenti's lectures on Yugoslavia? The crimes of the Nazis and Americans are immeasurable. The evil of fascism (be it European or American fascism) can't be overstated. The USSR and Yugoslavia would live and its people would be prosperous and the most advanced on earth if it weren't for the Nazis and Yanks.
OVI SU SPOMENICI .......... ,MRTVI SE PREVRĆU U GROBU ,ALI KOMUNIZAM JE TRAŽIO TAKO.NIJE SE SMELO DOPUSTITI ,DA SE SRBI PREDSTAVE KAO VEĆINSKE ŽRTVE I KAO VEĆINSKI BORCI PROTIV NACISTA (ŠTO SU I BILI ) KOMUNJARE SU PROPALE .I AKO SU.
@@lynth Yeah sure man. Yanks had nothing to do with us destroying ourselves. The majority of ex-yugoslavs are still primitive. Tito tried to change that and failed miserably. We only have ourselves to blame.
@d_rooster The Yanks destroyed Yugoslavia. Tito would have succeeded if it weren't for the Nazis and Americans. Same goes for the USSR, Korea, Cuba, Indonesia and all the South American revolutions.
Exactly. In 1-200 years, likely noone will know the reasons for those whacky Soviet monuments. They'll just see it and say, "wow, cool." And that'll be the case until those monuments turn to dust.
I find them fascinating more than alien. But something about it looks foreign; alien. But to me, I am more fascinated. Maybe it’s just me liking how abstract and mesmerizing these monuments are.
I'm from Bosnia, and even as a child, I was always in awe of these structures when we went to see them occasionally. Still prefer them over anything more recent that I have seen. New stuff does not have the same impact. Also, thanks for introducing me to spomenik database site. It's great. 👌🏼
@@NedoBoi if Yugoslavia still existed, it would've have their own unique monuments, just as their own unique style of architecture, music, movies, city planning, and general society. It would've been a completely independent way. Instead now in the so-called "independent republics" like Bosnia and Herzegovina which is basically a EU protectorate, there isn't any original and unique art, either people choose to embrace the "global culture", aka trends and norms which are almost entirely created in the USA, giving up originality entirely, or people choose to be merely nostalgic for the old regime, like its cartoons or architecture, while doing literally nothing to create new stuff in this genre. But if course why have a strong and powerful country when people chose to betray their motherland all for the fascist dream of creating a big country merely for their own ethnic group only, that's of course the best humanity has to offer. "Greater Serbia", "Greater Croatia", "Greater Albania", obviously that's such an amazing strategy that immensely helped the Yugoslavs. Lol.
@@gamermapper In defense of Serbia, it is said that the Serbs tried their best to prevent the disintegration that apparently led to many Yugoslav wars in the absence of such a strong leader as Tito.
Don’t forget to mention the sculptures, artists, and architects who made this incredible futuristic work possible! Some of them are: Bogdan Bogdanović, Dušan Džamonja & Vladimir Veličković, Vojin Bakić, and more. And of course, the person who ordered these monuments must have a great sense and wide knowledge of art!
People who ordered these monuments are communists, and usually they didn't even have three grades of elementary school. But since they seized the houses of the richest with all things inside, paintings, sculptures and the like, it is very possible that they became great experts in art, although most of them still took parquet out of the rooms to burn the stove. Civilization is good but a warm room is even better
@@aleksandarjokic2918 You must be pretty high to assume that high-ranking Soviet governors are undereducated. Acknowledging the mistakes of that regime doesn't mean that you have to undermine their intelligence based on stereotypes.
I saw the monument in Mrakovica and even went inside. I was only 15 at the time but it was one of the most memorable and impactful things I've ever seen. My family is from Bosnia and we escaped during the civil war, so it hits close to home, every recent ancestor I have lost someone, or themselves to war. Thank you for sharing their stories with the world.
I personaly like the victory statue in germany, The oneof a soldier holding a lowered sword in one hand while carrying a child in the other. It’s based off a real story of a soviet soldier who dashed through eneny fire into a imminent bombing zone because he heard the cries of a child. He’d make his way to said child who was crying and confused, her mother had died to the rumble of the bridge they hid under. He picked uo the child and made his way back while his comrades provided him cover, saving the german girl he had no obligation to help. The statue was raised in his honor, and to remind people that the red army wasn’t there to eliminate or destroy the people of germany, they were there to liberate and rescue an enslaved people from the boot of a war mongering tyrant who had no care or love for his own people. Altough it’s very much glorifying and on the edge of worship but I will never forget nor take for granted the sacrifice and pain the people of the USSR had to endure. They fought with everything they had and pushed the Nazis back and onwards to berlin, bringing and end to that horrible monster. we all have a free future today, able to live in a life where most of us don’t have to fight in war, thanks to the tremendous sacrifice and heroism of the soviet people. The unbroken patriotism and loyalty to democracy of FDR. Churchhills resolve and refusal to surrender. And ever man, woman and child who refused to stay mute when nazis occupied their homes. I believe it’s important that none of us ever forget those who gave everything they had so we could live free today, be they soviet, american or british.
I literally bought a book yesterday before this video showed in my recommendations that shows photos of abandoned buildings cities and industries Its called abandoned cities of the USSR by Arseniy Kotov. Its so unbelievable how humanity can build something giant and butiful so makes you feel blessed but at the same time you feel sadness and doom because all of those insane buildings and inventions now abandoned
You can also mention who did the demolition of those monuments: Croats destroyed around 3000 of them (some were demolished by civilians and some by the croatian military) which is roughly 50% of all the monuments in that country, Bosnian Muslims did the same and the Albanians in Kosovo and Metohija are responsible not only for the vast destruction of such cultural heritage sites but for the desecration of tombs and ossuaries. Meanwhile in Srpska, the Serbian part of Bosnia, Montenegro and Serbia itself these monuments remain intact and a lot of them are under the protection of the state. Makes you wonder then why and where these pieces were destroyed - for some these monuments symbolize the defeat of their puppeteers in WWII, for others its a reminder of the suffering that those puppeteers and their puppets have caused
Many are still present in other parts of Bosnia and Herzegovina and are being cared for. There are some examples, like one from Konjic, where a partisan bust was thrown into the river in the nineties, but later, people of the city decided to retrieve it and place it where it once stodd.
The need to erase the past because all of those people legally or illegally gained independence from Yugoslavia and needed to justify their statehood. You can't create a narrative that you were always supposed to own x piece of land if cultural heritage sites of other ethnicities stand there. You can see it in Kosovo where Albanians either started destroying or claiming local heritage sites as there's to deny the Serb claim to the region.@@basic5926
Also, fascist disinformation leads to people hating socialism and spitting on the graves of the millions of people who defended their countries against the fascists and tried building socialism to make the world a better place. There's a reason why the overwhelming majority of all people who ever lived under socialism love socialism and keep supporting socialism to this day: Because socialism is good. Unfortunately, Western propaganda keeps strengthening the fascists and brainwash people into blaming socialism for all the problems caused by the fascist West. In places like Ukraine, it's not Muslims who destroy the monuments but the fascist collaborators who have taken practically complete control over the country at this point with the help of the Americans. Oh how the Ukrainians who fought bravely against the Nazis would feel if they could see these horrible people ruining their country and fighting against their brothers in an American proxy war. Disgusting.
Yes, fascist disinformation leads to people hating socialism and spitting on the graves of the millions of people who defended their countries against the fascists and tried building socialism to make the world a better place. There's a reason why the overwhelming majority of all people who ever lived under socialism love socialism and keep supporting socialism to this day: Because socialism is good. Unfortunately, Western propaganda keeps strengthening the fascists and brainwash people into blaming socialism for all the problems caused by the fascist West.
As the ussr deleted everything from regimes prior to their own. Call it a type of justice in its own way. They tore down the cities and castles of the kings of old, and in return, they get the same treatment.
But these monuments are not from the USSR. However, like USSR monuments while to some they might seem like innocent memorials to others they feel like imperialist victory sculptures. This is why you see statues of Lenin removed but also the same with these in the Balkans. To a Serbian the monument means something different to how a Croatian will see it. A Croatian might see it as a symbol of a (in their opinion) Serbian dominated dictatorship for example. Memorials, like any artwork are subjective and their interpretation will vary by audience. Especially when they are done in an abstract style.
I very much appreciate an English speaking RUclipsr talking about socialist states, accomplishments, and tragedies with the gentle and mindful tone they deserve. Even if you're not a socialist yourself, as one I love having a break from the tone of "Grrr, look at these evil socialist states abstracting their art to make their citizens feel like they're all the same with no individual freedom" when someone talks about a socialist state
Very intelligent comment. You are exactly right. Usually they cannot discuss Soviet or socialist art in the West without lapsing into triumphalism and arrogance ... propaganda even.
Hey, I just wanted to leave a comment saying that this video is well researched, paced and scripted, and I thoroughly enjoyed it. I'm seeing a lot of people comment based on their preconceptions rather than what's presented here and I want to say that that's not your fault, that's just people being people. Thoroughly interesting and enlightening video. Thank you
"Do you really know who the local man on the horse is?" Daaamnn I wasn't prepared for such a call out 😅 I live in Prague and there are are so many of them, I genuinly don't know, I had a friend visiting recently and we saw one and I literally said that it's some dude on the horse.
wow this is already super selective. No. Eastern WWII memorials look like the ones you showed for the west in 95% of the cases. The rets are your shown OUTLINERs. Which also exist in the west. In Berlin there are 8 WW II memorials most for the soviets but some for others like poles. All look like what you showed the "west" In my hometown we have three smal memorials all a pedestal with a asoviet T 34 on top and the soviet flag beneath it. The village next to that tow has one. Soviet soldiers hoisting the soviet flag on a rock and so on.
Watch a little longer, I also was about to kneejerk post but he makes the distinction between Soviet Realism and the "weird" brutalist and abstract monuments mostly found in the Balkans, which are the focus of the video. But yes you are correct there are PLENTY of Eastern Bloc memorials in the "traditional" style of statues of men hoisting flags and looking heroic and whatnot. He also points out that those "weird" ones were inspired by the West when Tito was looking to distance Yugoslavia from the USSR. Perhaps the video's title could have been a bit more specific.
@@senerzen I selected the thesis made in the title as well as the beginnign. I could go on on how he did not even try to stay with his initial thesis but regardless of what you say. I remain correct in my assesment and statement. Its not my job to make a proper thesis and proof it. I just pointed out how the thesis is already proven incorrect under minimal scrutiny, as was shown in the video
Since those monuments represented a victory over fascism, why do you think they are now disrespected and demolished? Who could possibly hate on monuments depicting victory over fascism, or commemorating victims of fascism? Who would be the people who would hate any symbolism that depicts fascists in a negative light? If only there was an easy answer I mentioned like 4 times in the previous 3 sentences. Just like WWII wasn't exactly a distinct event but merely a continuation of WWI, the same can be said with demolishing of monuments dedicated to victory over fascists and to most socialist countries that formed in response to WWII fascist violence - the fascists weren't defeated in WWII, they were merely put on hold (like Trump said, "stand back and stand by"), and the western allies helped most of them escape justice. Never lose sight of the fact that the reason why WWII was started by the fascists was not extermination of any race or ethnicity, but the goal was to kill all socialists/communists - that's why the heaviest losses happened in the USSR and China (the part of China that fought back, the communist part). Fascism is the ultimate weapon of the capitalist ruling classes, and socialists and communists are the ultimate enemy of those same ruling classes - put two and two together, and you see clearly what is going on. The west first cleaned it's own ranks of all leftists immediately after WWII (Charlie Chaplin, who arguably led the charge in the US public against Hitler on the movie screen, was famously banished from the US after the war), then they turned on other socialist countries (the Cold War), then when they (mostly) succeeded, then they ramped up their exploitation to eleven, which caused the predictable reaction of the people (leftist ideas become popular again) and of nature itself (the collapse of the environment and record-breaking pollution), and what do you know - fascists "all of a sudden" start knocking, and the far right "happens to take power". It's literally the same song and dance that has happened post WWI, and we are unswervingly hurtling into WWIII, same actors, same ideological clash, only the methods keep getting bloodier.
as an actual fascist you need to stop associating us with conservative capitalists. trump is literally pro-israel. no one can even tell what the fuck the statue is supposed to be what do you expect.
Touch grass. Some eastern european countries are destroying those monuments because their many people's families were killed due to communism directly or indirectly. To such mourning people, communism represents murder and oppression.
Like you said, except where the communists were merely put on hold (Like Harris said, "Unburdened by what has been"), and the murder of millions, the murder of modern day Kulaks, will resume if the indoctrinated romantics you align with have control. The evil is Anitfa and collectivism; it only ever serves the highest of the elite, treats it's useful idiots as expendable fodder, and treats the common man even worse than Capitalism.
Make sure to write your will before starting off, just in case, the roads can be pretty bad and drivers don't really recognize cyclists as a legit life form.
That important monument you said its in Croatia, well its not. Its close to my home city Prijedor on Kozara mountain, on one of the peaks called Mrakovica. It was designed by Dušan Džamonja and it has a cool story. It shows unity of people during one of German - Croatian ( ustaša) offensives in 1942. Pillar represent unbreakable will of fighters and huge concrete blocks around pillar represent enemy divisions advancing on the mountain from all sides. Behind the memorial there is a small yard with bronze tablets with names writen of every partisan fighter that died in battle protecting people of Potkozarje region during Croatian ustaša terror.
1:16 this statue is second out of three part complex- First- Worker passing a sword to a soldier in Magnitogorsk, monument to collosal work done by workers suplying army (тыл фронту) Second- Motherland raising this sword at Stalingrad, beggining of an end to german supremacy on the battlefield (Родина мать зовет) Third- Soldier lovering this sword in Berlin, Nazi defeat and soviet mercy (Воин освободитель)
Quite an important and very interesting symbolism! Thank you for sharing this ideas and connection behind those three! As a Bulgarian, I would like to also mention one Communist monument of ours that is literally "out of this world" -> the Buzludzha Monument (it is shaped like a huge UFO)...sadly it is also in horrible condition and I wish our government would put aside some money to restore it, but being such pathetic EU vassal puppets -> they prefer to funnel such money into their own pockets and destroy all Communist monuments instead of repairing them... Cheers from Sofia brother! 🥃🥃🥃
Why is there no Poland un this graph... We lost 16% of the pre-war population. Obviously all of the casualties are terrible, and the number of deaths in the USSR is monstrous. I just wonder why Poland is missing from it
I just wanna say you have become my favourite channel on youtube and I'm excited whenever you post. Particularly love this series on western balkans, I have grown up around people from the area and I'm so glad someone shares the interest in their history.
The number of killed in Jasenovac is far more than "around 82000". The independent government committee from Yugoslavia 20 years after the war estimated that it was around 700000, mainly Serbs, Jews, and Roms. Most of them are killed without bullets and gas like in German death camps. Croats kill them by knife, saw, sledgehammer, wire... Simon Vizental said that the Jasenovac death camp was "hell on earth". Even Nazis were disgusted by the Ustasha's brutality. This number you mention in your film is propaganda made by the Ustasha descendants from current independent Croatia in which now you can hear the same slogans as from the NDH German puppet state of Croatia in the period when those atrocities were committed. Do your research better when you mention sensitive things like this...
Also I just want to add up that a majority of monuments were destroyed in Croatia and in Kosovo, and partly in Bosnia and what we see today is that only few remain there, but there are also monuments in Slovenia and Macedonia where there was war and monuments still stayed, because they didn't hold a grudge of former state where they were living . There were many of them ranging from tomb stones to porters, to futuristic designs to simply plates with few words.
Macedonia didn't have a war. It was the only country that separated peacefully. Unfortunately many of the monuments there are also in a state of extreme disrepair.
@@karamakate9 80k is also a lot. 1 is to many. The killings at Jesenovac were also done in terrible ways with knifes. It's terrible to know what we're capable of. It's sad to see that such a beautiful region as the Balkans can be painted in blood yet and yet again:(
"The Motherland Calls" is only part of the monument, it stretches from the Ural to Berlin. The first is in Magnitogorsk (Ural Mountains), called "Rear to the Front", a worker hands over a forged sword to a soldier. The second is in Volgograd (Stalingrad), actually "The Motherland Calls", she raises a sword forged in the Urals, in the place where the turning point, the Battle of Stalingrad. And the third is installed in Berlin "Soldier-Liberator", a soldier with a lowered sword and a German girl in his arms, symbolizing liberation from Nazism and the end of the war.
Unfortunately, it is not a matter of ingenious design, but rather of hiding a crime. Yugoslavia was a country of several nationality and in ww2 everyone accepted Hitler very gladly except Serbs. Serbs tried some resistance but were mostly punished bloody, by Germans but also by other peoples of Yugoslavia , German servants. After the war, communism won, we should have lived in peace. How then should they build monuments? If they built a monument where they would show the fight against the Germans, they would have to show only Serbian flags and men and women in Serbian national costume how they fight , if they were to show crimes against our peoples, again they would have to show mostly Serbs suffering, but even more dangerously, members of other nations of our country committing crimes agains Serbs.
really, really, really well made!! I love the 3d art and the emphasis on a neutral yet understanding standpoint for different parties involved and the emphasis on the yugoslavian perspective. Amazing!
1:12 in Russia we don't call it "Mother Russia", we call it "Родина-мать" in English "Mother - Motherland". Without mentioning the country, because it was a terrible war for everyone.
Yugoslavia did not fail on its own. It had outside help with that. This time "the fight against Communism" *7:58* was not about resources (such as crop land in Cuba, Oil Reserves in Venezuela nor Rubber Plantations in Nam). The world could look to Yugoslavia as a successful, open society Communist country that was looking to enter the world Market (the Yugo car had issues but it was the very first model for export... learning curve. Well, that form of communism; aka "sharing the wealth" violates every "principle" of capitalism so Yugoslavia "had to go". I mean, if Capitalism is ever going to cooperate with Communism, it must also be a country with a dictatorship (am I right China?). Dictatorships can occur in any political system, a Monarchy for instance or a "democracy" with cult of personality front-man urging devotees to overthrow an election...
Thank you for that! My late father made a whole video art work about the subject of war and the Soviet Union/uguslavia. In the video he used a poem made by Anna achmatova and has a lot of imagery of the statues and memorials, and I ever knew what their background was. I feel like I am closer to the art now. As a thanks, if you want to watch it I’ll be happy to show. Thanks
I see the abstraction of a human being in comunist designs. It perceived an individual as a part of something not well - defined, while in the western one you can see the attempt to define a human as it is.
I’m gonna be completely honest when I visited the ww2 memorial in d.c. I personally thought the atmosphere was more somber than uplifting more a monument in remembrance of those who fell on the path to victory rather than the victory itself
Pretty cool documentary but the subtle anticommunist propaganda kind of ruins the credibility. If u can filter that, its nice. If not, you'll be pissed Also, can these monuments be categorized into the soviet brutalism style? I'm trying to study more
Soviet monuments scare you. You feel uncomfortable next to these overbearing, grey abstract forms of concrete. You feel alienated, like you don't belong here, like something is wrong. It doesn't glorify war and courage and strength, but highlights the pain, the oppressive feelings and the fear soldiers felt. Western memorials are pro war, eastern ones make you fear it.
Советские памятники, песни, стихи и произведения преследовали главною цель, сохранить память об этой страшной войне, воспитать человека, который сможет предотвратить войны, защитить угнетенных. К сожалению, некоторые жертвы этой войны, вместо светлой идеи недопущения преступления сделали иной вывод… Чтобы тебя не съели , сам стань людоедом, сам ешь других… И весь мир молчит.
Once an editor, I wrote an article about these spomeniks, and during that time, I came across a picture which captured a soilder holding guns during Yugoslav wars, and in the background, stood the Jasenovac spomenik, also known as the Stone Flower. It's a ground of tears and blood.
"dehumanizing" "brutalist" and "hideous" all come to mind. There's nothing "awesome" about communist ideology. It's just slavery pretending really hard to be the good guys.
@@lutenic6111You're thinking of awesome in the way we normally use it. But awesome can mean some just awe inspiring for any reason. You could say Gettysburg is awesome. As in it's awe inspiring. It's impressive and makes you feel there's something bigger than yourself.
So many angry people in the comments. I usually don't like abstarct but I find these monuments interesting, and I think the location they are in adds to them. They stand out in nature, not jammed into a city or something. But even if you don't like how they look, goodness, why so hateful? :p
I have traveled to many places in Russia over the past 15 years and I would not say that there is a shortage of such abstract monuments. Of course, you will not find such monumental and huge ones, but 3-5 meters in size are always welcome. Monuments to science, war, and artists. Especially many such monuments can be seen in the south of Russia, the Krasnodar region, Rostov, the Caucasus and the Caucasus itself. But if we talk about monuments dedicated to war, then such forms seem unnecessary to me. In a hundred years, who will understand what this monument is dedicated to? What image does it carry? People of the future will not be able to perceive this. Therefore, my favorite composition is "Sword forged in the Urals, raised in Stalingrad and lowered in Berlin", which includes "The Motherland Calls", it has a lot of meaning for future generations.
Such faceless monuments were deliberately created and ordered to preserve brotherhood and unity of the Yugoslav peoples. Of the 1.7 million dead in WW2 in Yugoslavia, 1.5 million were Serbs and it would be "inconvenient" to show someone in Serbian national costume on the monument ,how he is slaughtered with a knife or his head is smashed with a hammer by someone in the national costume of other peoples of Yugoslavia, those who supported Hitler. Or if a monument symbolizing fight against Germans, they would have to show someone in Serbian national costume again, because other nations in that fight were represented at the level of a statistical error (that is, after the fall of Stalingrad, at the end of 1943 and beginning of 1944, when it was already clear where the wind was coming from) ", they began to respond massively to the fight against enemy. At the beginning of 1941, Yugoslavia had 15 thousand fighters against Germans, mostly Serbs, AT THE END OF THE WAR, IN 1945 WE HAD 900 THOUSAND FIGHTERS, mostly members of other nations, not Serbs.
Bully Yugoslavia was also a traitorous country who sold out to the West, also Tito's socialist self-management economic policy alienated workers in the different republics, keeping ethnic tensions very present which tragically was manipulated by the West & as a result came to a head throughout the 1990s in ways that everyone should be aware of & never forget
3:00 Interesting that you didn't show Poland, that has the highest losses by percentage (19 - 22 in different data sets) except for a few tiny islands (almost 45% ). Why?
probably because 60-70 percent of those victims were not Poles from Poland, but Jews from Poland, who were killed by the Germans with the GENEROUS help of many Poles. Nasty, but google it, google is free
@@kindlingkinghis entire video ignores the Serbian/Russian domination of their respective communist states. It's the classic Serb/Russ POV where they think everybody was happy and full of joy and peace living under their rule. Lenin statues get torn down in Ukraine because Lenin was an oppressor, not a liberator to them. In Croatia and Bosnia monuments from Yugoslavia do not necessarily symbolise Socialist liberation but totalitarian oppression of their own national identities. If you ever go to Split for example, notice how the football club is referenced so much about the city (and the year 1950). It was one of the few expressions of national identity they could have under Tito. Similarly, look at the Cazin rebellion from the same year. This is the same reason Polish people in these comments are noticing he ignored their nations sacrifice, it's part of a wider Russian narrative that claims all of WW2 was them saving others who are ungrateful. These comments are full of people pushing that narrative.
@@Kav. and this is a comment from someone who only knows just enough about the topic to form an opinion, but not enough to form a substantiated one. I don't know that much about Yugoslavia, so I'll focus on USSR. For starters, Ukraine had the largest communist party in the Union and a constant strong presence in the government to lobby their interests. Secondly, Lenin was the reason Donetsk-Kryvoi Rog Republic became part of UkrSSR instead of RSFSR like it's people wanted. He was the only who satisfied most demands of ukr nationalists. And his monuments are getting demolished because ukrainians are stupid. A lot if them are just banderites, but most just have what's called a "small nation insecurity", which makes them constantly try to prove to everyone how ancient and powerful they actually are. How could Lenin build the great thousand year old ukrainian empire? Obviously he's a lier and oppressor! RSFSR had it's resources and especially brains constantly siphoned out to other republics to make them catch up on development. When in RSFSR people were standing in lines for bread, in Baltics people were eating in restaurants and enjoying imported goods. Does this sound like russian rule to you?
i clicked on this Video expecting the typical "these monuments are signs of repression and evil" but seeing the video describing the idea behind the monuments without saying whether they are bad or good was really nice.
I really liked your video, and how you approached these serious topics. The Balkans are a special place indeed, and I've always wanted to visit for many reasons--mostly the natural beauty of mountains, rivers and sea, but also the architecture.
Im so happy whenever i find a real person making quality historical content! not lazy ai voicovers, which there seem to be a LOT of, as of recent. Keep making these videos brother, I really appreciate the effort u put into your content. Although some have pointed out possible innacuracies thats totally fine, we can have a convo unlike with the ai "content" creators
"Monuments did not succeed in their goal [of keeping Yugoslavia unified]" Idk. Maybe they would succeed if Yugoslavia weren't bombed into oblivion by NATO when USSR collapsed?
Maybe NATO wouldnt bomb them if the seres werent litterally invading all of their neighbours, ignoring UN warnings, comiting and openly admitting for war crimes, at least the americans had the decency of not admitting those, and actively destabilizing the region, then yugoslavia wouldnt be bombed. But NAH, its totally just NATO fault, its not like the americans gave 5 warninfs to serbua that were ignored
Hi, I'm from Serbia. I have to tell you that, by the time NATO bombed Serbia, 1999, Yugoslavia had long since broken up, the only remaining countries were Serbia and Montenegro and they were only formally called Yugoslavia and shortly after changed it's name to Serbia and Montenegro, and it had absolutely nothing to do with the Soviet Union.
@@fertfert4661 makes no sense NATO warned serbia to not continue the war on bosnia and croatia, warnings that were ignored They also litterally announced to the world multiple crimes they allowed to happen. So quit painting serbia as some sort of victim. Its deffinitly terrible for the population to suffer the toils of war, but blaming a organization thwt didint even want to intervene is another level of denial
Yugoslavia wasn't bombed until 1999. Almost a decade after the collapse of the USSR and more than half a decade after Yugoslavia had already started collapsing.
These monuments are just another example of how bankrupt the argument is that "Socialist Countries had no artistic expression". I'm always blown away by such claims.
American anti communisms propaganda is so generally so wide spread that it distorts reality for a lot of folk's. they are the "victor's" so they get to write the history of this stuff. heck its so strong even to this day that many people genuinely would prefer facism over anything that remotely look's "communist" even if it itself is not.
Same, absolutely the same. This notion can be disproven simply by analyzing the three artistic eras of the Soviet Union - Constructivism, which was literally Bauhaus-inspired avant-garde at its finest, Stalinism, which is a Soviet spin on neoclassicism plus Art-Deco and then post-Stalin eras, marked by Brutalism and some absolutely wild, even psychedelic imagery. An average bloody *BUS STOP* in socialist countries looks more visually appealing and tasteful than 90% of its contemporary architecture in the outside world.
Your wrong, the art is censored and abstract. This is the art of a culturally bankrupt society. They have abstract paintings and works of abstract thinking. But they abandoned logic and reason. The society is not allowed to freely express itself instead people are put down by a gun for disobeying. Everyone is slaves to the state.
If someone says such a thing, to me at least, it shows that they don't understand what human life looks like in reality. People who would make such a statement are likely stuck in the Cold War mentality of "Socialism evil, Capitalism good" and don't realise that actual human beings lived their lives in these countries. People will be creative, create art and express themselves regardless of where they live; even in the most stifling and authoritarian regimes out there. To me saying (a) people have no art is like saying they have no culture, which, whether through ignorance or malice, chips away at their humanity.
when you mentioned how the war memorials went from stone slabs with names to grand abstract monuments a thought came to mind. the slabs with names represent a personal loss, an idividual that is no longer in the world whose loss only affects a few people or perhaps a small village. but large abstract monuments with no names embody a collective loss, that the one death in the indiviual slab is part of a grander whole loss rather than a singular instance of loss. when trying to create a socialist identity in Yugoslavia it makes a lot of sense why the art work quickly changed, as building a collective identity would obviosuly be much harder when people are focused on there individual instance of suffering and loss. Unfortunately yet another example of one of the key contradictory axioms of commmunism, people will always moarn more for there individual loved ones rather than a manufactured identity. bte awesome video and a super interesting part of history ive never come across before 😃
I think the Yugoslav example is a great case study for what we see elsewhere. As an American, I can't help but think of how we omitted "First they came for the communists" in our Holocaust memorial. Even in a place dedicated to remembering those horrors, we couldn't handle their uncomfortable totality. So we trimmed off a small but important part we didn't want to confront. Is it any wonder why greater or total holocaust denial can gain traction so easily when we've already normalized and accepted a lesser form?
I am born Dutch, but also am half Bulgarian. The difference between the monuments in the West and in the East are staggering. There is many of these soviet monuments left in Bulgaria, they all appeal to the architectural style of Brutalism, as it became to be known as after the fall of the Berlin Wall which opened the still Communistic states to the Western idea's. As is known, Communism collapsed shortly afterwards. All these remaining monuments are still highly controversial everywhere but most are to stay. -- Top video, goed gedaan!
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Corrections/nuance:
- the monument mentioned at 06:37 is not located in Croatia, but in Bosnia&Herzegovina.
Sources: docs.google.com/document/d/1rWGGUDg6HOsuL7PRroJsrEuVZsHkfjh14Gcqpwdtdww/edit?usp=sharing
MEH
lack of creativity is whats weird
It's been 1 day why is this comment 3 days old??
I liked this video as a presentation of the monuments but this video is still very far from what I had anticipated. What even is this "genius design" that you've literally mentioned in the title?? Where is the "GENIUS"? You compare these monuments to western ones in the thumbnail but barely mention the differences. There is no exploration of the artistic and philosophical intentions, or any explanation of the methods and the process in erecting them. This was an utterly disappointing video.
There was very much Ukrainian architectures that was totally destroyed by russians
The philosophy behind these monuments is best described by one of their most famous architects Bogdan Bogdanović:"While I built them, I wished for a world without monuments. It seems that these people are created to suffer, and new generations complicate that suffering further. Monuments to suffering are dishonest, often stupid and comical. They explain nothing and call for nothing. Philosophical and metaphysical ideas don't need matter. Every monument is a little bit aggressive, and the memories it evokes are always dangerous. The world without history is truly impossible, but we should build a history of intelligence, ideas and sensations, not of overpowering. But it seems that is just my wishful thinking."
You paint memorials with only a single photon.
"While I built them, I wished for a world without monuments."
"Monuments to suffering are dishonest, often stupid and comical."
"Every monument is a little bit aggressive, and the memories it evokes are always dangerous."
Man, I dislike communists so much.
There is such an overpowering sterility of the soul to be found any time you are unfortunate enough to delve into their psyche.
Is this what dialectical materialism does to a motherfucker?
An eloquent quote, but easy to disagree with. Ideas don't need matter, but matter can represent or evoke ideas. A artist not appreciating that is comical. Monuments do not have to be made to suffering, but can also be made to the cause for which the suffering was paid. But monuments to suffering can also be important, as a closure to trauma and a physical symbol of rehabilitation and rebuilt strength
damn
This is huge bs
1:16 In Russian this monument is not called as "Mother Russia". It is called "Родина-мать зовет" (Rodina-mat' zovyot!), which means "The Motherland Calls". Because Russia was part of the USSR. And the name of such a monument could not mention Russia.
Thank you for your explanation
Yes it's called The Motherland Calls I never said it is called Mother Russia. I said it is (a personification of) Mother Russia.The source for this claim can be found in Keith Lowe, Prisoners of History: What Monuments to the Second World War Tell Us About Our History and Ourselves (2020) 5-8. But if you have a different source that claims it is not a personification of Mother Russia do let me know.
@@ThePresentPast_ as a Russian, i would argue that we don't even have (nor had) the "Mother Russia" as a popular concept. It is more of a distorted "Western" (for the lack of better word) interpretation.
If we speak about Soviet tradition, it is unified Motherland of all the Soviet people.
If we speak about old Slavic folklore, we have a "Mother Earth" (Мать - сыра земля), which also has nothing to do with the concept of "Russia", but relates to the concept of life-giving earth. It is worth noting in this context, because in Russian bylina folklore bogatyrs called to Mother Earth for strength beyond ordinary human's limits (силушка богатырская) and even brought a "motherland's" earth with them in long journeys to not lose connection with the place they were born in.
I'm not sure about non-Slavic ethnicities of USSR as i am not an ethnographer, but pretty sure they did have some similar pre-Christian/Muslim concepts, just like pretty much every pagan folklore.
So as a conclusion, I would say, that Motherland Calls refers to both ideas, because they're closely tied, but has nothing to do with the word "Russia".
Dunno if I explained properly, but hope it helps a bit.
P.S. incredible video. Sadly I have never even heard about the monuments of Yugoslavia before, so the info you brought is really interesting.
Wow, thank you. That makes a lot of sense.
Thank you from Italy.@@stanislavbudarin3207
1:14 It is not Mother Russia, it is the Motherland (Statue is named "Motherland Calls"), which calls all the children of the Soviet Union to battle: Russians, Ukrainians, Belarusians, Karelians, Kazakhs, Tuvans, Uzbeks, etc, to battle the invaders.
Ukrainians are an artificial nation, created at the beginning of the 20th century and finally formed in the USSR, after World War II. They were created by the Austrians and Germans, then by Soviet party leaders. The share of other peoples is less than 5%. Russians (Great Russians, as you like to call it today) were over 90%. All Slavic population (and not only Slavic) in that area are historically Russians.
This [pseudo-research] ignores a large number of structuralist memorial sculptures with a strong sense of mathematical abstract form in Soviet Russia. The reason why it is subtly avoided is that the similarity between the artistic styles of Soviet Russia and Balkan memorial sculpture is too strong, and once it is displayed, it is obvious to individuals.
Throughout the article, the same type of monument in the Balkans is repeatedly emphasized as "to break with Soviet”
In the beginning, briefly mentioned "learning from the West." shameless.
After the Cold War, Western architectural history has always regarded itself as the pioneer of structuralism, rationalism and modernism.
And those communistic architects,who truly create new technologies, new schools and new artistic ideas for all human beings in mind, their names have been erased, their works have been plagiarized, their meanings have been maliciously tampered with, and the history of artistic ideas has been stigmatized as a whole.
Lol don't lose
Can you give examples of such monuments in the territory of the USSR and names of artists?
🎻
Just like the art pieces of the great artists of the past. Their works was deeply humiliated, and even worse, they became a money exchange game among the rich. Their sufferings, insulted. There isn't really a place for creators in this world.
@@NonneinP..Thanks to McCarthism, now nobody even truly knows how much the Soviet soldiers sacrificed themselves to defend their homeland, they fought for their family , loved ones and not politically driven madness inflicted on them but yet now they are being dishonored by this world
Here at 6:38, you're wrong; this monument is not in Croatia, it is in Bosnia (Kozarac) and it's called Mrakovica. My great-grandfather's name, as well as the names of his three daughters and his wife, are engraved there.
Does Mrakovica mean darkness (Mrak?)
I just speak both Russian and Ukrainian so it resembled word Mrak - Dark.
@@0bserver416 Strictly speaking, Mrakovica in the Kozara Mountains is the name of the hill on which the monument stands, commemorating the Battle of Kozara in World War II. The monument is officially called the "Monument to the Revolution" (Spomenik Slobode), but none of the locals call it that; they simply refer to it as Mrakovica. In the Yugoslav languages, "Mrak" means the same as in Russian and Ukrainian, namely "darkness" and probably in many other Slavic languages as well.
This monument is not in Kozarac, which is a village near Kozara. The monument is actually located in Mrakovica. On the long list of names there, many of my ancestors, Serbs, who were killed by the Ustaše (Croats), are commemorated. My family roots are from the other side of the Kozara mountain, in the Prosara area. Today, Kozarac has another monument that honors Bosnian Muslims (Bosniaks) killed by Serbs during the most recent war. Tito’s regime avoided properly commemorating victims, sweeping the tragedies under the rug. As a result, a few decades later, those unresolved tensions resurfaced, leading to more bloodshed in Kozara and Bosnia
potato potato
Honestly seeing these monuments i got to say some just evoke emotions so well that they're simply better than the alternatives
Yea i don't like Communism but Brutalist architecture is really cool
It's so special to walk past the colossal statues, was the highlight of my trip!
Agreed, it's a damn shame that the soviets tended to be so self-destructive
@@WatermelonDog202 I much prefer the Soviet Realism style. Motherland Calls is a really neat monument. Special mention for the Rear-Front memorial because it looks like the two giant men are lifting Cloud Strife's sword above their heads. Not a fan of the USSR's...policies, but they made some damn fine heroic statuary.
@@fiel81Self-destructive? You must mean when the space faring nation with the second largest economy in the world was illegally dissolved.
The monument you mentioned, that became one of the most important memorial places, is not in Croatia, but on mountain Kozara, in the North of Bosnia and Herzegovina ;)
Dang, yes you are right!
@generalrodcocker1018 Dude relax. It was an honest mistake.
@generalrodcocker1018 to be fair that's more of him either forgetting, or not doing enough research. i highly doubt most people even know where that mountain is without having explicitly looked up info about it (and americans not knowing geography is more of a stereotype honestly)
@generalrodcocker1018 Isn't he Dutch?
Muslims Croats
The monuments that are broken or abandoned seem to tell another message. That the trauma from the war seems to fade away and the next generation will make the same mistakes the old generation made, hence continuing the cycle.
That is because WW2 i Yugoslavia didn't have proper ending. Too much was pushed under carpet in the name of brotherhood and unity.
It's not about trauma from the war fading away, but those monuments for a lot of people symbolize another trauma like communism, oppression, dictatorship
Wether you like it or not not everyone will listen and humanity will always make the same mistakes the best we can do is educate those who will listen and hope it’s enough to stem the suffering of the next cycle
because Yugoslavia, unfortunately, was a country where the bad guys won 50 years later. A whole generation sacrificed themselves to liberate their people only for the grandchildren to turn against each other and destroy the monuments that were meant to be symbols that the barbarism witnessed in the 40s was confined to history. Hopefully the younger generations will see through the nationalism for what it is: a tool used by lazy politicians to mask their blatant corruption and laziness
@@Jakaj99and don't forget about most traumatic things like rebuilding/building factories, schools, roads, economies and somewhat of stability in post war republics😢😿😭
Фишка таких монументов в том, что они ничего тебе не навязывают, не преподносят фактов или ненужной информации. Все что тебе нужно ты найдешь в них Сам. Как и музыка без слов.
Я думаю, что удаление человеческого аспекта из мемориалов слишком легко использовать для прославления нации над личностью. Однако я согласен, что у них есть какая-то странная красота. Однако спасибо за вашу точку зрения.
@@mortypsg9599Когда нужно поблагодарить всю страну за победу или показать общее горе, нет смысла говорить о личностях, разве не так? В честь героев строили други монументы, эти больше в честь всех, кто сражался и терял в этой войне. Человек сам увидит себя/своих родителей или дедушек и бабушек в монументе.
I'm so glad I could translate this into english and read it. this is a very thoughtful comment. thanks.
Could not have explained it any better
Agree. This kind of monuments just remind us about old times with all good and bad things happened.
Doing parkour on a war memorial is absolutely insane to me wtf
Why?
@darkrainah because it's a war memorial? What is there to explain?
@@Onjiix You cant argue for shit.
I think there’s an Error in 3min. You’ve missed at least one country. Poland lost around 18.7% of its prewar population which isn’t showed in the chart. Cool video thank you!
I don't think his point was to list all countries but to give some comparisons
polish people lost so many because Migration into allie countries, not directly through war (kills)
@@maxkraus7063six million polish people were killed.
If you don't count the Jews.Poland Only lost 8%
@@JunitafluxcyfatriciaJunita it was about 3 million Jews and 3 million polish ppl
Как минимум нужно упоминать , что Родина мать это лишь второй из трех монументов составляющих единое целое: первый где тыл отковал меч для фронта в Магнитогорске, второй где он был поднят и поразил на врага в Сталинграде и третий где меч был опущен воином спасшим немецкую девочку в Берлине
Не нужно, автор рассказывает не о союзе, а о югославии
Довольно удивительно, потому что первым делом как советский солдат освободитель зашёл в Берлин, он изнасиловал немецкую женщину
@@Artemon-yl5zeа стоило бы и о тех и о других рассказать
Есть ещё и четвёртая часть триптиха: "Перекуём мечи на орала" у штаб-квартиры ООН в Нью-Йорке, где рабочий превращает меч в плуг.
@@Artemon-yl5ze , я вообще думал что о Красных Кхмерах или КНР... Коммунисты востока и коммунисты восточной Европы всё-таки разные вещи.
1:14
better be "Mother-homeland". its important because in the Great Patriotic War (that's what we call the part of WW2 that took place on the territory of the USSR) not only Russians participated and died
"patriotic"?
@@render_the_void Russia have own name for part of WW2(1939-1945) - GPW (1941-1945)
承受最多苦难的人创造最伟大的艺术，而浮华只属于强盗。
exactly!
Everything these memorials represent are ideas of people that did not want anybody to suffer anymore, the desire for a world where everyone could live, and not only survive. Dreams that were smashed, shattered by a system where dreaming is a sin, because it does not make the values and the numbers go up. Great video
I don't believe this was the end, people with these beliefs still and will always exist.
@@sandman.s History never ends, fight never ends, dreams never end. The ongoing people's war on Peru and India prove that
You're naive if you think that's what communism was about anywhere but on paper
"I'm 12 and this is deep" ahh comment.
Concidering that I visited the "Denkmal für die ermordeten Juden Europas" (Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe) in Berlin. I already had a strong suspicion watching the first part of this short-documentory.
And I have to say, that the "abstract" way of designing those Monuments pay the most respect to (almost) every party involved, without painting an image of a single "good guy"
it is a way a conqueror marks the conquered with an equivalent of a "white elephant: - absolutely tasteless, huge, unusable piece that stamps a prime land in the centre of the city for a concrete whatever.
The US has invested heavily in "good guy" marketing to convince everyone that they are victorious and exceptional. Unfortunately, they have even succeeded. Many people think that the Americans actually defeated fascism after their bold attack at the end of the war (summer 44). Although I do not in any way belittle their assistance with the second front.
I wouldn't be so sure about them rejecting the Soviet style. In my city, Bryansk, the Mound of Immortality is very much similar to the star monuments in the video.
if I did my research well, that one is from 1972, whereas the star monument in Kosmaj was finished in 1971. While I really doubt either of the two influenced the other, more likely they were made similar by chance, technically you could say the Soviets used the Yugoslav Style
@@IvanAntunovic-i2g Mound of Immortality was a work that took many years to complete. 1967-68 the mound itself was built, 1975-76 the star was built. The star design won the competition between 14 concepts.
IMHO it was simply the trend at the time in the Communist block.
Its a very anti-humanist style which reflects the suffering and inhumane behavior the soviets are built upon.
There is no humanity in this brutalist garbage. It does not inspire the better things in us: It only serves as a thorn reminding us of terrible things.
О, здоров
Я тоже из Брянска
communist memorials are absolutely gorgeous, I saw the Soviet War Memorial in Berlin, the feeling there is surreal.
yeah take on shit on it,
A lot of the remaining ones got demolished after 2022. Especially in Poland, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia.
Strength through joy?
@@alexandarvoncarsteinzarovi3723
Why?
but the berlin one is literally a standard war memorial very much identical to the US one build just before it.
Hey I actually live in the closest city to Kozara national park which houses that cylindrical memorial. That memorial is called Mrakovica memorial. My grandparents from my father’s side were prisoners in Jasenovac, they survived and are still alive at the age of 92 - my grandfather and 94 - my grandmother. Nonetheless, seeing this video did put a smile on my face.
Would be nice to make them tell their story in front of a camera if they’d like. Since there’s huge implications of Ustashis erasing proof and mentioning fake articles especially on Wikipedia (leading even more to whole generations closing in the to ultranationalist narrative) would be nice to have a touch of truth brought by wise people. I did a recording of my grandma who was deported, really looking forward to put it on YT once my mom agrees with the idea.
I wonder where does the author draws border between his West and East. East communist memorials should be found in Chinese PR or Campucia or PDR of Korea I guess.
As a child of croatian refugees (that fled to germany) I never had many points of contact with croatia or yugoslavia. A few years ago, however, I somehow became interested in learning more about yugoslavia, probably spent hundreds or thousands of hours reading or watching videos about yugoslavia.
Every time I see these yugoslavian monuments, they trigger something in me. Some kind of deep sadness and sorrow. These massive concrete buildings that somehow captured the spirit of yugoslavia. no hand-chiseled natural stone, but reinforced concrete. somehow cheap and quickly made, like the socialist prefabricated buildings in east germany or the soviet union.
But these monuments, even if they look so alien, somehow express the suffering of the partisans in the second world war much more clearly than, for example, the western ones. They somehow make you think about the fallen, about their fate, their hopelessness, their dreams, their goals and wishes, which were shattered by the brutal reality and coldness of the war.
Somehow it makes me realize every time that behind each of these memorials are tens of thousands of men and women who gave their lives for a future without war and to live together as a common brotherhood. It also makes me realize that there were many many more to whom no memorial was dedicated. People who, no matter how hopeless the situation looked, stood up and fought. People whose names will never be remembered again. To see what happened only a few decades later and how people slipped back into the stone age, brutally murdering each other despite living the same culture, speaking the same language and living in “brotherhood and unity” for decades, is somehow also a disrespect to those who gave their lives so that we could live together in peace.
Thank you for the video and that there is someone who pays attention to these almost forgotten memorials.
Your parents ran to Germany because they were croatian nazis who killed Serbians.
Did you listen to Michael Parenti's lectures on Yugoslavia? The crimes of the Nazis and Americans are immeasurable. The evil of fascism (be it European or American fascism) can't be overstated. The USSR and Yugoslavia would live and its people would be prosperous and the most advanced on earth if it weren't for the Nazis and Yanks.
OVI SU SPOMENICI .......... ,MRTVI SE PREVRĆU U GROBU ,ALI KOMUNIZAM JE TRAŽIO TAKO.NIJE SE SMELO DOPUSTITI ,DA SE SRBI PREDSTAVE KAO VEĆINSKE ŽRTVE I KAO VEĆINSKI BORCI PROTIV NACISTA (ŠTO SU I BILI ) KOMUNJARE SU PROPALE .I AKO SU.
@@lynth Yeah sure man. Yanks had nothing to do with us destroying ourselves. The majority of ex-yugoslavs are still primitive. Tito tried to change that and failed miserably. We only have ourselves to blame.
@d_rooster The Yanks destroyed Yugoslavia. Tito would have succeeded if it weren't for the Nazis and Americans. Same goes for the USSR, Korea, Cuba, Indonesia and all the South American revolutions.
These monuments would be the subject in the 100th season of Ancient Alien.
So I’m not the only one who finds them other worldly
Exactly. In 1-200 years, likely noone will know the reasons for those whacky Soviet monuments. They'll just see it and say, "wow, cool." And that'll be the case until those monuments turn to dust.
I find them fascinating more than alien. But something about it looks foreign; alien. But to me, I am more fascinated. Maybe it’s just me liking how abstract and mesmerizing these monuments are.
😅👍
I'm from Bosnia, and even as a child, I was always in awe of these structures when we went to see them occasionally. Still prefer them over anything more recent that I have seen. New stuff does not have the same impact.
Also, thanks for introducing me to spomenik database site. It's great. 👌🏼
@@NedoBoi if Yugoslavia still existed, it would've have their own unique monuments, just as their own unique style of architecture, music, movies, city planning, and general society. It would've been a completely independent way. Instead now in the so-called "independent republics" like Bosnia and Herzegovina which is basically a EU protectorate, there isn't any original and unique art, either people choose to embrace the "global culture", aka trends and norms which are almost entirely created in the USA, giving up originality entirely, or people choose to be merely nostalgic for the old regime, like its cartoons or architecture, while doing literally nothing to create new stuff in this genre. But if course why have a strong and powerful country when people chose to betray their motherland all for the fascist dream of creating a big country merely for their own ethnic group only, that's of course the best humanity has to offer. "Greater Serbia", "Greater Croatia", "Greater Albania", obviously that's such an amazing strategy that immensely helped the Yugoslavs. Lol.
@@gamermapper In defense of Serbia, it is said that the Serbs tried their best to prevent the disintegration that apparently led to many Yugoslav wars in the absence of such a strong leader as Tito.
Don’t forget to mention the sculptures, artists, and architects who made this incredible futuristic work possible!
Some of them are: Bogdan Bogdanović, Dušan Džamonja & Vladimir Veličković, Vojin Bakić, and more.
And of course, the person who ordered these monuments must have a great sense and wide knowledge of art!
People who ordered these monuments are communists, and usually they didn't even have three grades of elementary school. But since they seized the houses of the richest with all things inside, paintings, sculptures and the like, it is very possible that they became great experts in art, although most of them still took parquet out of the rooms to burn the stove. Civilization is good but a warm room is even better
@@aleksandarjokic2918 You must be pretty high to assume that high-ranking Soviet governors are undereducated. Acknowledging the mistakes of that regime doesn't mean that you have to undermine their intelligence based on stereotypes.
@@aleksandarjokic2918learn some history, man, especially about soviet education systems
I saw the monument in Mrakovica and even went inside. I was only 15 at the time but it was one of the most memorable and impactful things I've ever seen. My family is from Bosnia and we escaped during the civil war, so it hits close to home, every recent ancestor I have lost someone, or themselves to war. Thank you for sharing their stories with the world.
This is not very anti-commie propagandistic of you. Reagan would be very disappointed.
I personaly like the victory statue in germany, The oneof a soldier holding a lowered sword in one hand while carrying a child in the other.
It’s based off a real story of a soviet soldier who dashed through eneny fire into a imminent bombing zone because he heard the cries of a child. He’d make his way to said child who was crying and confused, her mother had died to the rumble of the bridge they hid under. He picked uo the child and made his way back while his comrades provided him cover, saving the german girl he had no obligation to help.
The statue was raised in his honor, and to remind people that the red army wasn’t there to eliminate or destroy the people of germany, they were there to liberate and rescue an enslaved people from the boot of a war mongering tyrant who had no care or love for his own people.
Altough it’s very much glorifying and on the edge of worship but I will never forget nor take for granted the sacrifice and pain the people of the USSR had to endure. They fought with everything they had and pushed the Nazis back and onwards to berlin, bringing and end to that horrible monster.
we all have a free future today, able to live in a life where most of us don’t have to fight in war,
thanks to the tremendous sacrifice and heroism of the soviet people.
The unbroken patriotism and loyalty to democracy of FDR.
Churchhills resolve and refusal to surrender.
And ever man, woman and child who refused to stay mute when nazis occupied their homes. I believe it’s important that none of us ever forget those who gave everything they had so we could live free today, be they soviet, american or british.
The USSR brutalized Germany harder than the Nazis
@@mingyuhuang8944 German POWS in france were treated worse than inmates in Aushwitz.
@@mingyuhuang8944 mad take
@@mingyuhuang8944 uff now that's a far reach
@@mingyuhuang8944 AHAHAHAHHA WHAT ARE U SAY??🤡🤡🤡🤡🤡🤡
I literally bought a book yesterday before this video showed in my recommendations that shows photos of abandoned buildings cities and industries
Its called abandoned cities of the USSR by Arseniy Kotov.
Its so unbelievable how humanity can build something giant and butiful so makes you feel blessed but at the same time you feel sadness and doom because all of those insane buildings and inventions now abandoned
This explains Atomic Heart’s aesthetics
Cumbrain
You can also mention who did the demolition of those monuments:
Croats destroyed around 3000 of them (some were demolished by civilians and some by the croatian military) which is roughly 50% of all the monuments in that country, Bosnian Muslims did the same and the Albanians in Kosovo and Metohija are responsible not only for the vast destruction of such cultural heritage sites but for the desecration of tombs and ossuaries.
Meanwhile in Srpska, the Serbian part of Bosnia, Montenegro and Serbia itself these monuments remain intact and a lot of them are under the protection of the state.
Makes you wonder then why and where these pieces were destroyed - for some these monuments symbolize the defeat of their puppeteers in WWII, for others its a reminder of the suffering that those puppeteers and their puppets have caused
Why do you think?
Many are still present in other parts of Bosnia and Herzegovina and are being cared for. There are some examples, like one from Konjic, where a partisan bust was thrown into the river in the nineties, but later, people of the city decided to retrieve it and place it where it once stodd.
@@basic5926 Croats are sadly reverting back to their Nazi tendencies and communist monuments remind them that they were on the losing side of WW2.
The need to erase the past because all of those people legally or illegally gained independence from Yugoslavia and needed to justify their statehood. You can't create a narrative that you were always supposed to own x piece of land if cultural heritage sites of other ethnicities stand there. You can see it in Kosovo where Albanians either started destroying or claiming local heritage sites as there's to deny the Serb claim to the region.@@basic5926
Also, fascist disinformation leads to people hating socialism and spitting on the graves of the millions of people who defended their countries against the fascists and tried building socialism to make the world a better place. There's a reason why the overwhelming majority of all people who ever lived under socialism love socialism and keep supporting socialism to this day: Because socialism is good.
Unfortunately, Western propaganda keeps strengthening the fascists and brainwash people into blaming socialism for all the problems caused by the fascist West. In places like Ukraine, it's not Muslims who destroy the monuments but the fascist collaborators who have taken practically complete control over the country at this point with the help of the Americans. Oh how the Ukrainians who fought bravely against the Nazis would feel if they could see these horrible people ruining their country and fighting against their brothers in an American proxy war. Disgusting.
7:35 Why? Quite easy, just look at what is happening now. People demolish everything that is just related to USSR, and it was same before
USA sponsors terrorists all over the globe to erase real history and keep up their hegemony
Everyone just hates russians nowadays for the madness they are doing in Ukraine. Only states that want to exploit russia pretends to be their friends.
Yes, fascist disinformation leads to people hating socialism and spitting on the graves of the millions of people who defended their countries against the fascists and tried building socialism to make the world a better place. There's a reason why the overwhelming majority of all people who ever lived under socialism love socialism and keep supporting socialism to this day: Because socialism is good.
Unfortunately, Western propaganda keeps strengthening the fascists and brainwash people into blaming socialism for all the problems caused by the fascist West.
As the ussr deleted everything from regimes prior to their own. Call it a type of justice in its own way. They tore down the cities and castles of the kings of old, and in return, they get the same treatment.
But these monuments are not from the USSR.
However, like USSR monuments while to some they might seem like innocent memorials to others they feel like imperialist victory sculptures.
This is why you see statues of Lenin removed but also the same with these in the Balkans.
To a Serbian the monument means something different to how a Croatian will see it. A Croatian might see it as a symbol of a (in their opinion) Serbian dominated dictatorship for example.
Memorials, like any artwork are subjective and their interpretation will vary by audience. Especially when they are done in an abstract style.
Thank you for showing the history and culture of the balkans, as a balkan citizen myself I respect you! 🫡
I very much appreciate an English speaking RUclipsr talking about socialist states, accomplishments, and tragedies with the gentle and mindful tone they deserve. Even if you're not a socialist yourself, as one I love having a break from the tone of "Grrr, look at these evil socialist states abstracting their art to make their citizens feel like they're all the same with no individual freedom" when someone talks about a socialist state
this 🙌
Very intelligent comment. You are exactly right. Usually they cannot discuss Soviet or socialist art in the West without lapsing into triumphalism and arrogance ... propaganda even.
Ehh 🤷♂️
Hey, I just wanted to leave a comment saying that this video is well researched, paced and scripted, and I thoroughly enjoyed it. I'm seeing a lot of people comment based on their preconceptions rather than what's presented here and I want to say that that's not your fault, that's just people being people. Thoroughly interesting and enlightening video. Thank you
"Do you really know who the local man on the horse is?" Daaamnn I wasn't prepared for such a call out 😅 I live in Prague and there are are so many of them, I genuinly don't know, I had a friend visiting recently and we saw one and I literally said that it's some dude on the horse.
Because for us it wasn't a fun victory in a far country, but a biggest tragedy. Millions our ancestors
gave their lives for this victory.
wow this is already super selective.
No. Eastern WWII memorials look like the ones you showed for the west in 95% of the cases. The rets are your shown OUTLINERs. Which also exist in the west.
In Berlin there are 8 WW II memorials most for the soviets but some for others like poles.
All look like what you showed the "west"
In my hometown we have three smal memorials all a pedestal with a asoviet T 34 on top and the soviet flag beneath it. The village next to that tow has one. Soviet soldiers hoisting the soviet flag on a rock and so on.
Watch a little longer, I also was about to kneejerk post but he makes the distinction between Soviet Realism and the "weird" brutalist and abstract monuments mostly found in the Balkans, which are the focus of the video. But yes you are correct there are PLENTY of Eastern Bloc memorials in the "traditional" style of statues of men hoisting flags and looking heroic and whatnot.
He also points out that those "weird" ones were inspired by the West when Tito was looking to distance Yugoslavia from the USSR. Perhaps the video's title could have been a bit more specific.
@@barahng Or people could just watch the video before they place an outraged comment.
@@ThePresentPast_true tho
Your comment is super selective. You selected the first minute and ignored the rest of the video. Well done.
@@senerzen I selected the thesis made in the title as well as the beginnign. I could go on on how he did not even try to stay with his initial thesis but regardless of what you say. I remain correct in my assesment and statement. Its not my job to make a proper thesis and proof it. I just pointed out how the thesis is already proven incorrect under minimal scrutiny, as was shown in the video
Since those monuments represented a victory over fascism, why do you think they are now disrespected and demolished? Who could possibly hate on monuments depicting victory over fascism, or commemorating victims of fascism? Who would be the people who would hate any symbolism that depicts fascists in a negative light? If only there was an easy answer I mentioned like 4 times in the previous 3 sentences.
Just like WWII wasn't exactly a distinct event but merely a continuation of WWI, the same can be said with demolishing of monuments dedicated to victory over fascists and to most socialist countries that formed in response to WWII fascist violence - the fascists weren't defeated in WWII, they were merely put on hold (like Trump said, "stand back and stand by"), and the western allies helped most of them escape justice. Never lose sight of the fact that the reason why WWII was started by the fascists was not extermination of any race or ethnicity, but the goal was to kill all socialists/communists - that's why the heaviest losses happened in the USSR and China (the part of China that fought back, the communist part). Fascism is the ultimate weapon of the capitalist ruling classes, and socialists and communists are the ultimate enemy of those same ruling classes - put two and two together, and you see clearly what is going on. The west first cleaned it's own ranks of all leftists immediately after WWII (Charlie Chaplin, who arguably led the charge in the US public against Hitler on the movie screen, was famously banished from the US after the war), then they turned on other socialist countries (the Cold War), then when they (mostly) succeeded, then they ramped up their exploitation to eleven, which caused the predictable reaction of the people (leftist ideas become popular again) and of nature itself (the collapse of the environment and record-breaking pollution), and what do you know - fascists "all of a sudden" start knocking, and the far right "happens to take power". It's literally the same song and dance that has happened post WWI, and we are unswervingly hurtling into WWIII, same actors, same ideological clash, only the methods keep getting bloodier.
Right on
as an actual fascist you need to stop associating us with conservative capitalists. trump is literally pro-israel. no one can even tell what the fuck the statue is supposed to be what do you expect.
And don’t forget that most Communists were Jews and many even Zionist. Hitler thought that in order to kill Communism they need to kill the Jews
Touch grass. Some eastern european countries are destroying those monuments because their many people's families were killed due to communism directly or indirectly. To such mourning people, communism represents murder and oppression.
Like you said, except where the communists were merely put on hold (Like Harris said, "Unburdened by what has been"), and the murder of millions, the murder of modern day Kulaks, will resume if the indoctrinated romantics you align with have control. The evil is Anitfa and collectivism; it only ever serves the highest of the elite, treats it's useful idiots as expendable fodder, and treats the common man even worse than Capitalism.
Wow, this put former Yugoslavia on my bucket list. Gotta plan the next cycling trip!
definitely do visit! Slovenia has the best roads and is most bike friendly but the whole region is beautiful.
Don't come here, we don't want you.
a yugoslavian bike trip would go so hard
Make sure to write your will before starting off, just in case, the roads can be pretty bad and drivers don't really recognize cyclists as a legit life form.
@@un1c0rn52 Not sure if you mean it will difficult or amazing.
That important monument you said its in Croatia, well its not. Its close to my home city Prijedor on Kozara mountain, on one of the peaks called Mrakovica. It was designed by Dušan Džamonja and it has a cool story. It shows unity of people during one of German - Croatian ( ustaša) offensives in 1942. Pillar represent unbreakable will of fighters and huge concrete blocks around pillar represent enemy divisions advancing on the mountain from all sides. Behind the memorial there is a small yard with bronze tablets with names writen of every partisan fighter that died in battle protecting people of Potkozarje region during Croatian ustaša terror.
This has quickly become one of my favourite channels! Keep up the good work
That's so weird seeing one in ODST. Never would've imagined that
1:16 this statue is second out of three part complex-
First- Worker passing a sword to a soldier in Magnitogorsk, monument to collosal work done by workers suplying army (тыл фронту)
Second- Motherland raising this sword at Stalingrad, beggining of an end to german supremacy on the battlefield (Родина мать зовет)
Third- Soldier lovering this sword in Berlin, Nazi defeat and soviet mercy (Воин освободитель)
Quite an important and very interesting symbolism! Thank you for sharing this ideas and connection behind those three!
As a Bulgarian, I would like to also mention one Communist monument of ours that is literally "out of this world" -> the Buzludzha Monument (it is shaped like a huge UFO)...sadly it is also in horrible condition and I wish our government would put aside some money to restore it, but being such pathetic EU vassal puppets -> they prefer to funnel such money into their own pockets and destroy all Communist monuments instead of repairing them...
Cheers from Sofia brother! 🥃🥃🥃
3:00 only in percents, but in numbers ussr lost ten times more people
Why is there no Poland un this graph... We lost 16% of the pre-war population. Obviously all of the casualties are terrible, and the number of deaths in the USSR is monstrous. I just wonder why Poland is missing from it
I just wanna say you have become my favourite channel on youtube and I'm excited whenever you post. Particularly love this series on western balkans, I have grown up around people from the area and I'm so glad someone shares the interest in their history.
The number of killed in Jasenovac is far more than "around 82000".
The independent government committee from Yugoslavia 20 years after the war estimated that it was around 700000, mainly Serbs, Jews, and Roms. Most of them are killed without bullets and gas like in German death camps. Croats kill them by knife, saw, sledgehammer, wire... Simon Vizental said that the Jasenovac death camp was "hell on earth". Even Nazis were disgusted by the Ustasha's brutality.
This number you mention in your film is propaganda made by the Ustasha descendants from current independent Croatia in which now you can hear the same slogans as from the NDH German puppet state of Croatia in the period when those atrocities were committed.
Do your research better when you mention sensitive things like this...
Also I just want to add up that a majority of monuments were destroyed in Croatia and in Kosovo, and partly in Bosnia and what we see today is that only few remain there, but there are also monuments in Slovenia and Macedonia where there was war and monuments still stayed, because they didn't hold a grudge of former state where they were living . There were many of them ranging from tomb stones to porters, to futuristic designs to simply plates with few words.
Macedonia didn't have a war. It was the only country that separated peacefully. Unfortunately many of the monuments there are also in a state of extreme disrepair.
@@biaginger There was insurgency in 2001 after indepandace, you can look on it as you like, please dont answer if youre missinfomed
Love from Russia. Nothing is forgotten.
Around 700 000 Serbs were killed in Jasenovac not 83 000. And that was the only camp that murdered children.
No it was 7 billion serbs 😂
@@sentaveliki425 very funny. Learn some history little proud Nazi
@@sentaveliki425 you have officially accepted numbers. Unless you have proper research, you are denier and/or revisionist.
@@karamakate9 80k is also a lot. 1 is to many. The killings at Jesenovac were also done in terrible ways with knifes. It's terrible to know what we're capable of. It's sad to see that such a beautiful region as the Balkans can be painted in blood yet and yet again:(
There was intergalactic serb civilization numbering trilions and trilions serbs, but all of them were killed in jasenovac
You forgot to include the "Buzludzha" monument from Bulgaria. It looks like an alien spaceship landed on a mountain.
"The Motherland Calls" is only part of the monument, it stretches from the Ural to Berlin. The first is in Magnitogorsk (Ural Mountains), called "Rear to the Front", a worker hands over a forged sword to a soldier. The second is in Volgograd (Stalingrad), actually "The Motherland Calls", she raises a sword forged in the Urals, in the place where the turning point, the Battle of Stalingrad. And the third is installed in Berlin "Soldier-Liberator", a soldier with a lowered sword and a German girl in his arms, symbolizing liberation from Nazism and the end of the war.
The fall of Yugoslavia, the greatest tragedy in Balkan history.
Unfortunately, it is not a matter of ingenious design, but rather of hiding a crime. Yugoslavia was a country of several nationality and in ww2 everyone accepted Hitler very gladly except Serbs. Serbs tried some resistance but were mostly punished bloody, by Germans but also by other peoples of Yugoslavia , German servants. After the war, communism won, we should have lived in peace. How then should they build monuments? If they built a monument where they would show the fight against the Germans, they would have to show only Serbian flags and men and women in Serbian national costume how they fight , if they were to show crimes against our peoples, again they would have to show mostly Serbs suffering, but even more dangerously, members of other nations of our country committing crimes agains Serbs.
3:00 In Poland died 6 milions civlians, that around 17% of pre war population, i dont know why it isnt mentioned there
Thanks for bringing attention to our monuments and helping people understand the story behind them!
really, really, really well made!! I love the 3d art and the emphasis on a neutral yet understanding standpoint for different parties involved and the emphasis on the yugoslavian perspective. Amazing!
I think these Yugoslav memorials are awesome!
1:12 in Russia we don't call it "Mother Russia", we call it "Родина-мать" in English "Mother - Motherland".
Without mentioning the country, because it was a terrible war for everyone.
Yugoslavia did not fail on its own. It had outside help with that. This time "the fight against Communism" *7:58* was not about resources (such as crop land in Cuba, Oil Reserves in Venezuela nor Rubber Plantations in Nam). The world could look to Yugoslavia as a successful, open society Communist country that was looking to enter the world Market (the Yugo car had issues but it was the very first model for export... learning curve.
Well, that form of communism; aka "sharing the wealth" violates every "principle" of capitalism so Yugoslavia "had to go".
I mean, if Capitalism is ever going to cooperate with Communism, it must also be a country with a dictatorship (am I right China?). Dictatorships can occur in any political system, a Monarchy for instance or a "democracy" with cult of personality front-man urging devotees to overthrow an election...
A croat i know alway says "the CIA only head to drop a pin and the yugoslawia ate itself"
Thank you for that! My late father made a whole video art work about the subject of war and the Soviet Union/uguslavia. In the video he used a poem made by Anna achmatova and has a lot of imagery of the statues and memorials, and I ever knew what their background was. I feel like I am closer to the art now. As a thanks, if you want to watch it I’ll be happy to show. Thanks
Спасибо за работу! Захотелось посетить эти памятники, но почти в каждую страну бывшей Югославии мне нужно делать визу.
One is a sculpture. The other a soulless shape.
Halo to Yugoslavia and Yugoslavia to Halo with putting the monument in Halo the allegory has been confirmed
We're just not gonna pretend that the title was originally talking about how weird they are
I see the abstraction of a human being in comunist designs. It perceived an individual as a part of something not well - defined, while in the western one you can see the attempt to define a human as it is.
I’m gonna be completely honest when I visited the ww2 memorial in d.c. I personally thought the atmosphere was more somber than uplifting more a monument in remembrance of those who fell on the path to victory rather than the victory itself
The idea that you can destroy historical monuments because your values have changed is dangerous
Pretty cool documentary but the subtle anticommunist propaganda kind of ruins the credibility. If u can filter that, its nice. If not, you'll be pissed
Also, can these monuments be categorized into the soviet brutalism style? I'm trying to study more
Soviet monuments scare you. You feel uncomfortable next to these overbearing, grey abstract forms of concrete. You feel alienated, like you don't belong here, like something is wrong. It doesn't glorify war and courage and strength, but highlights the pain, the oppressive feelings and the fear soldiers felt.
Western memorials are pro war, eastern ones make you fear it.
Советские памятники, песни, стихи и произведения преследовали главною цель, сохранить память об этой страшной войне, воспитать человека, который сможет предотвратить войны, защитить угнетенных. К сожалению, некоторые жертвы этой войны, вместо светлой идеи недопущения преступления сделали иной вывод… Чтобы тебя не съели , сам стань людоедом, сам ешь других…
И весь мир молчит.
People in YU werent soviets, but yeah ur on point.
@@makimaxx2311
We're all 'soviets' once you understand what that word really means - inhabitants of the world.
@@3pix he means the English version of soviets... as in any communist nation. I think you know what I meant, right?
@@3pix Now your just being annoying o puropose, gtfo
This footage and production are superb 🤌🏾👌🏾💪🏿
Once an editor, I wrote an article about these spomeniks, and during that time, I came across a picture which captured a soilder holding guns during Yugoslav wars, and in the background, stood the Jasenovac spomenik, also known as the Stone Flower. It's a ground of tears and blood.
I think “awesome” is the word you’re looking for
"dehumanizing" "brutalist" and "hideous" all come to mind.
There's nothing "awesome" about communist ideology. It's just slavery pretending really hard to be the good guys.
Not exactly. These may look good in videos and pictures but looks ugly when looked in person.
@@lutenic6111 cant be worse than a rectangled slab
@@starc. Someone never leaves their bedroom.
@@lutenic6111You're thinking of awesome in the way we normally use it. But awesome can mean some just awe inspiring for any reason. You could say Gettysburg is awesome. As in it's awe inspiring. It's impressive and makes you feel there's something bigger than yourself.
The one in the thumbnail looks like a giant caltrop made to annoy giants, ngl.
Noe that i come to think of it, this reminds me of those little spike balls Manny made in Diary of a Wimpy Kid
So many angry people in the comments.
I usually don't like abstarct but I find these monuments interesting, and I think the location they are in adds to them. They stand out in nature, not jammed into a city or something. But even if you don't like how they look, goodness, why so hateful? :p
They are being forced to interogate their beliefs, at least about art and they don't enjoy doing so.
"And how values change."
The opening of this video essay made me immediately sub. Lol. That was so well written.
It's hadly and essay but might be enough to inspire to visit them
I haven’t seen a video this good in so long, fantastic job.
I have traveled to many places in Russia over the past 15 years and I would not say that there is a shortage of such abstract monuments. Of course, you will not find such monumental and huge ones, but 3-5 meters in size are always welcome. Monuments to science, war, and artists. Especially many such monuments can be seen in the south of Russia, the Krasnodar region, Rostov, the Caucasus and the Caucasus itself. But if we talk about monuments dedicated to war, then such forms seem unnecessary to me. In a hundred years, who will understand what this monument is dedicated to? What image does it carry? People of the future will not be able to perceive this. Therefore, my favorite composition is "Sword forged in the Urals, raised in Stalingrad and lowered in Berlin", which includes "The Motherland Calls", it has a lot of meaning for future generations.
Such faceless monuments were deliberately created and ordered to preserve brotherhood and unity of the Yugoslav peoples. Of the 1.7 million dead in WW2 in Yugoslavia, 1.5 million were Serbs and it would be "inconvenient" to show someone in Serbian national costume on the monument ,how he is slaughtered with a knife or his head is smashed with a hammer by someone in the national costume of other peoples of Yugoslavia, those who supported Hitler. Or if a monument symbolizing fight against Germans, they would have to show someone in Serbian national costume again, because other nations in that fight were represented at the level of a statistical error (that is, after the fall of Stalingrad, at the end of 1943 and beginning of 1944, when it was already clear where the wind was coming from) ", they began to respond massively to the fight against enemy. At the beginning of 1941, Yugoslavia had 15 thousand fighters against Germans, mostly Serbs, AT THE END OF THE WAR, IN 1945 WE HAD 900 THOUSAND FIGHTERS, mostly members of other nations, not Serbs.
3:42 but Soviet Union did not bully Yugoslavia. Actually at that time Yougoslavia was the bully and bullied Austia and Albania.
Bully Yugoslavia was also a traitorous country who sold out to the West, also Tito's socialist self-management economic policy alienated workers in the different republics, keeping ethnic tensions very present which tragically was manipulated by the West & as a result came to a head throughout the 1990s in ways that everyone should be aware of & never forget
3:00 Interesting that you didn't show Poland, that has the highest losses by percentage (19 - 22 in different data sets) except for a few tiny islands (almost 45% ). Why?
probably because 60-70 percent of those victims were not Poles from Poland, but Jews from Poland, who were killed by the Germans with the GENEROUS help of many Poles. Nasty, but google it, google is free
Because he's either russian or serbian. Even the map at the beginning of the video showed Bosnia split into two???
@@DASSTADTor maybe he's from Netherlands and only used examples that would help to paint a better picture for comparison?
@@kindlingkinghis entire video ignores the Serbian/Russian domination of their respective communist states.
It's the classic Serb/Russ POV where they think everybody was happy and full of joy and peace living under their rule.
Lenin statues get torn down in Ukraine because Lenin was an oppressor, not a liberator to them. In Croatia and Bosnia monuments from Yugoslavia do not necessarily symbolise Socialist liberation but totalitarian oppression of their own national identities.
If you ever go to Split for example, notice how the football club is referenced so much about the city (and the year 1950). It was one of the few expressions of national identity they could have under Tito.
Similarly, look at the Cazin rebellion from the same year.
This is the same reason Polish people in these comments are noticing he ignored their nations sacrifice, it's part of a wider Russian narrative that claims all of WW2 was them saving others who are ungrateful. These comments are full of people pushing that narrative.
@@Kav. and this is a comment from someone who only knows just enough about the topic to form an opinion, but not enough to form a substantiated one.
I don't know that much about Yugoslavia, so I'll focus on USSR.
For starters, Ukraine had the largest communist party in the Union and a constant strong presence in the government to lobby their interests. Secondly, Lenin was the reason Donetsk-Kryvoi Rog Republic became part of UkrSSR instead of RSFSR like it's people wanted. He was the only who satisfied most demands of ukr nationalists. And his monuments are getting demolished because ukrainians are stupid. A lot if them are just banderites, but most just have what's called a "small nation insecurity", which makes them constantly try to prove to everyone how ancient and powerful they actually are. How could Lenin build the great thousand year old ukrainian empire? Obviously he's a lier and oppressor!
RSFSR had it's resources and especially brains constantly siphoned out to other republics to make them catch up on development. When in RSFSR people were standing in lines for bread, in Baltics people were eating in restaurants and enjoying imported goods. Does this sound like russian rule to you?
i clicked on this Video expecting the typical "these monuments are signs of repression and evil" but seeing the video describing the idea behind the monuments without saying whether they are bad or good was really nice.
Fabulous production. Outstanding soundscape.
Blown away.
You looks like "you know you had to do it to em" dude in the thumbnail
6:37 This monument in Croatia is in Bosnia near Prijedor, the Kozara Monument
1:14 motherland, not Russia
Did you even UNDERSTAND what you said? Russia is the MOTHERLAND OF THE RUSSIANS
Real
Россия - это родина, статуя - это мать-Россия! Твоя американская система образования подвела тебя, мой друг!
@@Dr_Larken Land = Russia
@@Dr_Larken Родина это Союз в этом контексте. Тут памятник защитникам Сталинграда, а его защищал именно СССР.
Just... wow. I just discovered your channel. Needless to say, I subscribed and will be "binge-consuming" ALL of your content!
Love this video! Keep up the pace Jochem!
Why did I just find out these alan walker sets were communist memorials lol
lmao same
“The nation broke apart”. Yeah, no NATO involvement there …
Nato got involved a year after it fell apart
What is the song at 7:23
“Rail Train” by Tom Fox
Ty
@@Ebarion. np
I really liked your video, and how you approached these serious topics. The Balkans are a special place indeed, and I've always wanted to visit for many reasons--mostly the natural beauty of mountains, rivers and sea, but also the architecture.
Im so happy whenever i find a real person making quality historical content! not lazy ai voicovers, which there seem to be a LOT of, as of recent. Keep making these videos brother, I really appreciate the effort u put into your content. Although some have pointed out possible innacuracies thats totally fine, we can have a convo unlike with the ai "content" creators
4:45 *At least 600.000 THOUSANDS*
"Monuments did not succeed in their goal [of keeping Yugoslavia unified]"
Idk. Maybe they would succeed if Yugoslavia weren't bombed into oblivion by NATO when USSR collapsed?
You mean when genocide was already happening? Yeah, surely it could stay unified...
Maybe NATO wouldnt bomb them if the seres werent litterally invading all of their neighbours, ignoring UN warnings, comiting and openly admitting for war crimes, at least the americans had the decency of not admitting those, and actively destabilizing the region, then yugoslavia wouldnt be bombed.
But NAH, its totally just NATO fault, its not like the americans gave 5 warninfs to serbua that were ignored
Hi, I'm from Serbia. I have to tell you that, by the time NATO bombed Serbia, 1999, Yugoslavia had long since broken up, the only remaining countries were Serbia and Montenegro and they were only formally called Yugoslavia and shortly after changed it's name to Serbia and Montenegro, and it had absolutely nothing to do with the Soviet Union.
@@fertfert4661 makes no sense
NATO warned serbia to not continue the war on bosnia and croatia, warnings that were ignored
They also litterally announced to the world multiple crimes they allowed to happen.
So quit painting serbia as some sort of victim.
Its deffinitly terrible for the population to suffer the toils of war, but blaming a organization thwt didint even want to intervene is another level of denial
Yugoslavia wasn't bombed until 1999. Almost a decade after the collapse of the USSR and more than half a decade after Yugoslavia had already started collapsing.
These monuments are just another example of how bankrupt the argument is that "Socialist Countries had no artistic expression". I'm always blown away by such claims.
American anti communisms propaganda is so generally so wide spread that it distorts reality for a lot of folk's. they are the "victor's" so they get to write the history of this stuff. heck its so strong even to this day that many people genuinely would prefer facism over anything that remotely look's "communist" even if it itself is not.
Same, absolutely the same. This notion can be disproven simply by analyzing the three artistic eras of the Soviet Union - Constructivism, which was literally Bauhaus-inspired avant-garde at its finest, Stalinism, which is a Soviet spin on neoclassicism plus Art-Deco and then post-Stalin eras, marked by Brutalism and some absolutely wild, even psychedelic imagery. An average bloody *BUS STOP* in socialist countries looks more visually appealing and tasteful than 90% of its contemporary architecture in the outside world.
Your wrong, the art is censored and abstract. This is the art of a culturally bankrupt society. They have abstract paintings and works of abstract thinking. But they abandoned logic and reason. The society is not allowed to freely express itself instead people are put down by a gun for disobeying. Everyone is slaves to the state.
If someone says such a thing, to me at least, it shows that they don't understand what human life looks like in reality. People who would make such a statement are likely stuck in the Cold War mentality of "Socialism evil, Capitalism good" and don't realise that actual human beings lived their lives in these countries. People will be creative, create art and express themselves regardless of where they live; even in the most stifling and authoritarian regimes out there. To me saying (a) people have no art is like saying they have no culture, which, whether through ignorance or malice, chips away at their humanity.
no one makes that claim stop with the straw man argument also no one cares ffs keep your socialist bs to yourself.
when you mentioned how the war memorials went from stone slabs with names to grand abstract monuments a thought came to mind. the slabs with names represent a personal loss, an idividual that is no longer in the world whose loss only affects a few people or perhaps a small village. but large abstract monuments with no names embody a collective loss, that the one death in the indiviual slab is part of a grander whole loss rather than a singular instance of loss. when trying to create a socialist identity in Yugoslavia it makes a lot of sense why the art work quickly changed, as building a collective identity would obviosuly be much harder when people are focused on there individual instance of suffering and loss. Unfortunately yet another example of one of the key contradictory axioms of commmunism, people will always moarn more for there individual loved ones rather than a manufactured identity. bte awesome video and a super interesting part of history ive never come across before 😃
One of my interest points while travelling Serbia was to visit those places as many as possible. They are stunning to see live❤
I think the Yugoslav example is a great case study for what we see elsewhere.
As an American, I can't help but think of how we omitted "First they came for the communists" in our Holocaust memorial. Even in a place dedicated to remembering those horrors, we couldn't handle their uncomfortable totality. So we trimmed off a small but important part we didn't want to confront.
Is it any wonder why greater or total holocaust denial can gain traction so easily when we've already normalized and accepted a lesser form?
bruh
Right, let's just forget that the USSR and communists at the time were no less genocidal than the NSDAP.
I am proud of the history of my country (Slovenia) and especially of Jugoslavia ! SF/SN
eej slovenski brat, pozz iz hrvatske
@@dejja7376 Pozdrav brat hrvat
They look great!
I am born Dutch, but also am half Bulgarian. The difference between the monuments in the West and in the East are staggering. There is many of these soviet monuments left in Bulgaria, they all appeal to the architectural style of Brutalism, as it became to be known as after the fall of the Berlin Wall which opened the still Communistic states to the Western idea's. As is known, Communism collapsed shortly afterwards. All these remaining monuments are still highly controversial everywhere but most are to stay. -- Top video, goed gedaan!