i have paid almost every price of being you to in the country like to keep taking on the powers that be the risk. everything john needs activists, journalists, and politicians living in exile the way to which of the list for their mission. what drives them to be nice to know what is happening to our series guardians of truth watch. now on youtube, d. w documentary, the one by one. there being toppled the soviet monuments of eastern europe. just over 100 years since the founding of the soviet union.

for some, they symbolize the victory over fascism. for others, aggressive russian imperialism. the one we don't want to destroy, erase it or change it, but preserved to provide them the hair hear the name of person full committed, genocide like this to stop it. it's like having a monument to the russian soldiers who raped and murdered in bookshelves, which the

gets quiet in downtown, keeps the pieces deceptive. in air, read alarm can go off at any minute. and a deadly strike occurs. there's no electricity and running water for days on end to year on the banks of the deeper river, the people's friendship arch one symbolized friendship with russia. since april 2022. the space beneath it has stood empty. this is what the friendship memorial used to look like. but in april 2022, it was be headed. the you might think the people in key of have other worries right now then what to do with the cities monuments. but in fact, this question is loaded with significance. many are keen to see all traces of rush

have gone. almost out of we know now what kind of friendship i say for the destruction of ukrainian city and the killing of tens of thousands of innocent citizens from the shop to the shop, give pieces, whatever they may i ask who i'm to the but not everyone wants to see soviet monuments torn down, people like him, you're not acting on an unexcused bunch. he was there. when the statues were toppled and filmed and being demolished, tell me a retros to stay at home the anybody yet. it would have been to also to watch a bus quite cool,

especially given how brucely the money which was demolished will do once you have unfortunately one meter studies aerospace, engineering and as an instagram on her account, child of socialism, she posts soviet postcards, sixty's, architecture, and increasingly often the demolition of monuments including many of the commemorate the soviet army in world war 2, the annual and audits or store. i didn't like the fact that everything is soviet is automatically associated with russian on the me on this vows were pulled. and so to see if to her luggage book, find that it's hard to see these monuments being tuned down when there was a dedicated to ukrainians. relatives outfitters, citizens saying that those of saw with 0 monuments to,

with ukrainian names on the box and look at the, the music flat piece. and if i needed to mirror it, takes us on a tour of cubes, threatened to soviet heritage. she's not pro russian. she hates putting as much as the next person here. but she wants these testaments to the past to be preserved. standpoint that attracts a lot of hate online. the, this monument is slated to be the next to go. this is a monument to nikolai shows a red army commander who says in ukraine during the russian civil war. so just to go over the revised know this issue. so i see have been planning to tear it down for a long time. someone scroll down, it's tammy down. i am an execution and i want to remind you on a large quantity of w, she's supposed to find it,

but it's an amazing equestrian that try this to be it's downs at the junction between 2 streets and dominates the square group of the new non so it's beautiful, which is great, but now we're just going to be left with another empty pedestal. he's a new show as inputs. so for some you a government office and ukraine is in charge of this process of the soviet position. the ukranian institute of national rememberance is house and the former headquarters of the soviet secret police. its job is to banish the evil spirits of the soviet empire, the director, antoine durable, which once soviet monuments to be carefully documented before the removed from the streets, the shores monument, he says, is a good example of one that needs to go to my mind with can you have someone with

sending me stuff right on the center of key if it could be the monument to nikolai, show us basically the commander of the city when the communists to power in the early 20th century is a whole the communist show. thousands of people without trials and missed, they looted and rob, just put it out and we erect a monument to shows that are willing to move on. there's no doubt it has artistic value, but it's not right that such monuments exist upon me is like mike, would those be changed best some of you all a sudden it's like having a monument to the russian soldiers who raped and killed them put chelsea's cam. so nothing, it's no different of, of our do they want you to tell somebody started the novel which was back in his office for the 1st time in months since the beginning of the war. he's been on the front serving as your own pilot. this is lieutenant allowed him to take leave, so he could give this interview. his co workers are happy to see him back unharmed . taking down monuments,

finding russia on the front for double which these are 2 sides of the same site. the, the main task of his institute is to help shape ukraine's and national identity and patriotic videos, for example. it promotes the remembrance of the 100 or more the great famine engineered by stolen millions of ukrainian starve to death. something that we've never talked about for decades, or when i mean you're one of the capacitive, i'll say the soviet union and rewrote is the raised re defined whole chapters of history. for supposedly should not only destroyed people, property also destroyed the memory of the event was for the moment a, it was a deliberate tweet, hotel, a tarion undermining of the collective memory. when they go up with them a department to get nobody to something that must be restored. but that's the main task of our institution, no less than as

a whole. another that's just the which soviet monuments can stay at which can the motherland monument is one of the key. it's most recognizable landmarks. it won't be torn down. but what about the soviet emblem on the shield? it's a symbol that's forbidden in ukraine. germany too is home to huge soviet monuments such as the soviet war memorial and the tier gotten part in the former west berlin, many ukrainian activists say that germany to needs to the soviet tice modern russia in general. so we use this with to you right now as a to continue with the processing right now. this is uh

the showing of aggression uh and a flower which should not be as a content as an immortal. it's not a memorial. it's just like the week to replace that shows one day refund to you. we can come again. that's why the ukrainian activists collective feature made this set higher video. the message stop soviet installed, you get rid of the monuments, news item of the 2 tanks in front of the soviet more memorial have been removed. their disappearance is being investigated by city authorities. historians like you can easily see things a bit differently. things in sort of of things are the way they are of history happened. oslyn and we don't want to destroy erase it or change it to

preserve it. a nuns on the, as for what monuments represent decimal and a monument and always represent something that makes a statement. what's, are we trying to contextualize that ex tardies, even if it's a statement, we now condemn to it and we try to remove its power with interchange. all these other costs a name and your movie is the director of the museum berlin calls forced. this is where the german surrender was signed on the night of may, 9th, 1945. commemorating the red army as part of movies, job one that is become increasingly difficult. until recently, it was called the german russian museum. cause was when putting invaded ukraine movie raised ukrainian flag and remove to word russian from the museums name. but it still has a soviet tanks and whether he thinks the memorial into god should remain

dead q gotten pun. so the tear garden tanks are a design component of the memorials. it's a dilemma ration of the data within, within towards we made a commitment to see if i pushed on i can get on with it and the idea behind it is that war, grapes are inviolable for all the turn it is. it's something i agree with infinity solutions. soviet forces were stationed at the memorial interior garden until 1990 and finally completely withdrew from eastern germany in 1994. this was one of the terms of the 2 plus for treating the international agreement, signed by the soviet union that allowed the reunification of germany as part of the agreement, germany pledge to assume maintenance and repair responsibility for all soviet warm memorials in the country. memorials that often loom large, such as the one in to your got something some see is

a symbol of russian imperialism. so it's actually very interesting because in this budget language you receive that the soldier is like owning this land to. yeah. the it's for uh right now he slammed ca. it's not about the people, it's about the land itself. you see that even that time. so between an already was under estimating the life itself. it's not about the uh, celebration the life about that they have safe and not the lives. it's about the father. there were 2 sides to the soviet army. its soldiers, not only russians, but also millions of ukrainians and others as well. help defeat hitler and the nazis and liberated oceans in the process, though, the red army suffered by far the highest casualties of all the allied forces.

but the soviets, also committed atrocities as they advanced, and went on to oppress half of europe for decades. in the mornings to the red army base to have these 2 sides no rush as war of aggression and the killings of innocent ukrainians have brought this evil side to the for the t. 34 tank monuments can be found across the eastern europe in poland. they're being dismantled, one after the other. the one that the 1000000000 costs for squeezing them is still there. despite its negative associations. much deductible and just as you stand in front of it and it's a powerful piece of equipment august, it's a sheer scale is formidable double only regardless of the canon of the money. and

basically it was in del, these tanks was simply rolled over people mentioned and probably by it's, it's might as terrifying as nevada, but it's an expression of the power isn't in my thoughts, took off. so on the one hand to avoid the make, it expresses the power of the red army which helps to defeat fascism subscriber them. but in today's poland, it's the same primarily as a russian tank or the russian is acquainted with soviet. it's moscow which puts in the most no $1.00 and $1.00 sitting on best of them on the conversations design. how would it be that we have a symbol of our lives? this insides, but no symbol of the ukrainians who died or were deported during the 2nd world. war fire, there's nowhere for us to go on may 8th and say much, this is for us, for our people or so sort of annoyed so there should be alternatives in places where you can go to show humility from where you can commemorating with contemplating. i'd feel this pain because this isn't the remembrance of celebration,

but one a suffering death file. so now it says i'm unable to smell. what do we want to remember? and what do we want to forget? these are questions that many ukrainians ask themselves when contemplating their history. the back and cute it's not just need more to memorials being torn down. but anything that search as a reminder of russian instagram are and these are getting our shows us an example in the train station often used as a bomb shelter. where many don't want to see russians depicted here as heroes. just beyond this is the best of the russian kind of push can go to i mean,

do you little this was a girl came in to laugh and let me know. so i didn't get them the level of distrust plus today because it was because they might trigger and angry people. it was cool by so when you click on people kind of pushing and change smell. so these products have been voted out to the g t. lee versus a funny i don't know, maybe to protect them or was it should choose was but also so that people don't have to see them listed as well. the thing you private and i don't think this is how i should be treated as a. but if you have some use for more than a presto, or be people of course, have up the congress and match these boxes and destroy them. they have to be taken to a new z out to or to parks and given context. when able to achieve an explanation of what it is, how to and why it's yeah, i'm and thought of what the short why do we have so many push kittens and noticed that advances or 2 months months of on both shakespeare. almost why push get more

of this now because pushkin is the most important polar the russian empire and you'll always find pushing on the main square and taught us to shift to income or less. yeah. okay. income tucked away for squares. further. empire is not only a political construct too, but it fixed empire is something real and visible is why i think it in its environment ability monuments as pillars up the russian empire. the that's how they're seen by many in the baltic states. in riga lafayette, an 80 meters, soviet era obelisk was taken down. a red army monument and the lithuanian capital vilnius was also dismantled. as was a tank monument in nava estonia. all 3 of these former soviet states are now in the e u. they take

a tough approach to monuments from this era. only grades and their monuments may remain the moscow on may 9th, 2020, to 2 and a half months after the invasion of ukraine. put later, reese on a world war 2 monument as he does every year and is message russia undermine? leadership is the legitimate successor to the victorian soviet union. the ukraine's russian occupied territories. there were celebrations, marking victory day on may, 9th. in march. you pull at sun, which has since been liberated the pollutants army following in the footsteps of its forefathers who fought the northeast as liberators of the allegedly oppressed russian minority narrative probably shelven and russian

television seaboard. yeah. when that couldn't yet, today we finally get to where the st. george's ribbon again. you, we, where at, with pride is got them on the and remember our armies who really needs you, which will never be forgotten. and you called at the news about, you know, billing is up with the world war 2 memorials in germany. and so meaning places for pete and supporters like the soviet memorial and berlin's trip to where parents the members of the ukrainian active collective beach. i don't like coming here unfortunately, somehow i came to this place and i didn't know, but on this day was in crow rush and pro put in what for k through the burden they had, the russian flags, people were extremely loud. and it was the same way when the old world was shocked

. what's happened in boucher meet, folded so wrong. and so perhaps the felt like celebration of killing of ukrainians . the if there will be no morning minutes. it will be harder to, to work with this me so select to claim this identity over and over again. like you mentioned, there are no this great victory monuments, then they don't have a place to go. but isn't it important to preserve such places where soviet imperial power is displayed to understand how its propaganda worked and still works today? the hero here, the name of the person who committed genocide like this funding system it's,

it's genocide because not just raise the culture but killed nor most amount of people. i cannot imagine us to have for example, in ukraine. some monuments was 6 or name, or we mentioned it anywhere else in the world. like everyone can use this through these steps or shape. they work with the memory and here we see like one of the main dictators. so the 20th century, just haven't golden letters written his quotations. in version the inscription is even regularly maintained. why? in germany we have the law of monument protection, which means we preserve all kinds of things, including these monument lines. that's one point because august the 2nd at least as a historian, i say, yes, this has historical significance and you preserve it as it is back in

keith at the ukranian institute of national, remember, it's a stolen quote in gold letters director antoine throughout both of which wouldn't stand for that here, but he understands that germany has its own view of history. the thoughts of my abortive stands still there should definitely be a pluck next to ask him. he's in russian with german, ending listening with a mental putting the monument in context. i mean, why is that even though in, in office? what does the inscription mean if that doesn't, who is joseph stalin, which says it's dangerous because you'll only one step away from normalizing stylish or you're welcome and thought of states. and if kids vote by the old people who don't know anything about history, they might think, look, he's been quoted here in the center of the land though he must be an okay guy. hope i'm in the every. what's the thought center, but the sum of money funding aflac given context

for some monuments that could be a solution. but for something like the friendship arch and key if it wouldn't be enough. in this case, another solution was found a crack in the arch that once symbolized friendship with russia, the work of art, but also a political statement artist a lot he meant causing it. so at this crack in 2018, against the backdrop of calls for the release of ukrainian kremlin critics held in russian prisons. now with the war, his work has become a pointed symbol, the. there was a blending maya black explorer and a solution of those, but the arch, this huge, monumental event symbolized what was an artificial friendship. and of course, it was all propaganda with the key to my way possible. the friendship was

meaningless to people leaving the freedom and independence of ukrainian states. i fell on you sure attempt. it was like a youth that you would put on the next of horses or oxen governments in uh, going they leave your husband to see y'all. do my shaw auto both the motor christmas. ha. i think that's it. squares 5 unloading the cruising itself. it's on the crack on the auction friendship between peoples families is one of the strongest artistic statements about just boston as of this friendship. and that'll be destroyed. friendship between russians and the engine trans we move on to to i'm just not sure it goes far enough for the front, but as often. so it's wonderful just to, i would say is as such because on this desktop across a substitute, just got this gang. i mean, at the, from an aesthetic standpoint, i think the crack is just awful. you thought it just got a car and such a beautiful metal arch. and then this dig around, its weight is to me it's such an ugly addition to

what i've now cause. but it's base of and tearing down the ok. if it saves it, then it will have to stay for later. and we will takes us to the key of suburb of hunting were last year. russian missiles hit residential buildings. the shelling left devastation in its wake with armando collateral damage, the russian army, supposedly the great protector of the soviet legacy, destroyed a soviet monument. just like it would anything else here? the terrible, but you didn't rise in the heart on you. this is you defended us from the gym and occupies the rest of the new, occupies came and they destroyed residentially or among the fallen. many ukrainian

names. the soviet soldiers who defeated fascism were by no means all the russians which type them was the voice and through which is beautiful. the problem is that christian has hijacked the image of the soviet soldier. i'd say to you d, e a on this board is this. we have to use this glorification full propaganda against the graeme. and of course this also could i use, so i'm not coming for which has found we're letting him know that you want me, you know, we're giving him the ability to these images. um, when actually they were made for us, it was for the words it isn't one of them in so i uses 3rd is on us is for who i think we should be using the money, minority strength and the spirit of resistance and long ukrainians who still with most small levels, again, since we're slicing the occupying forces just as the money man, because of it. but instead we're tearing down these monuments small assume

the dissociate monuments, 13 extra complete linked to the question of identity for something they are monuments of oppression. expressions of rushes claim to power. for others, they are testaments to the past. works of art with holding on to the ultimately there's a broad consensus that they shouldn't be destroyed, that they should be preserved. perhaps none of the original sites, but at least in museums. as silent witnesses to the soviet empire of its greatness and its achievements and its atrocities the

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this is the w news live from the land making. russia pays it's war. european leaders missing an iceland to announce a new way of supporting keeps the hopes for justice. also coming up, people in china starting to feel the pressure as prices rise and see is growth. but

the concern.