In each city on the territory of the Soviet Union, and often in villages, monuments were erected to commemorate the soldiers who sacrificed their lives for the freedom and independence of our country. In the European part, a significant part of which became the scene of terrible battles, these monuments also became tombstones of thousands and thousands of soldiers, the names of many of which remained unknown.
The monuments sometimes depict warriors mournfully bowing their banners and heads, sometimes soldiers rush to attack, and their faces express fearless determination. In Moscow and other capitals there is a monument to the unknown soldier, in the cities of Odessa and Novorossiysk located by the sea - a sailor.
All these statues, steles and obelisks express gratitude for the military prowess of our grandfathers and great-grandfathers. They look very courageous and, as it were, tell us who live today: "Remember the heroes, grandfathers and great-grandfathers." And we remember.
But there is another character who has become part of our legendary story. This is Mother Motherland. Her image is as abstract as the faces of soldiers, sailors, partisans on monuments. She absorbed the features of tens of millions of women who spent their children at the front and did not wait for their victorious tread at the door of her home.
Many large cities have such monuments. The most famous of them was the statue "Motherland Calls" in Volgograd, symbolizing the whole country. The giant sculpture is very dynamic, it swung at the invisible enemy with a sword clamped in the right hand, inviting with its left hand to follow the untold ratifications of the people's defenders. Her movement is powerful, and there is no doubt that the blow will be crushing.
The enormous size of the sculpture "Motherland", its height is 85 meters. She is very successful in compositional terms, its author, E. V. Vuchetich, who developed the artistic concept, and civil engineer N. V. Nikitin, who realized the idea in stone, showed remarkable talent. The whole composition dedicated to the victory in the Battle of Stalingrad makes an indelible impression on everyone who has visited the Mamaev Kurgan. At the heart of the plan is an analogy with the ancient Greek goddess Nika, a symbol of popular power, which repels the enemy and brings him death. Terrible events on the Volga of 1942 are an example of military operations of unprecedented proportions, therefore heroics became the main motive of the monument.
Like the Mother of God in various forms, the Motherland expresses many feelings that embraced the soul of everyone who reflects on the war. Indeed, apart from bloody attacks and hot battles, there was sadness. Millions of today's people of the older generation, many of whom were children in those formidable years, did not wait for their fathers. Each Motherland for them is like their own mother or grandmother. The faces of these women did not always express rapture with victory, and it happened differently.
In Kharkov, on the Belgorod highway, in a forest park, in memory of the heavy bloody battles of 1943, the Glory Memorial was erected. Do not remain indifferent after his visit. The brevity of the decision was manifested in the modest design of the central sculpture. Mother Motherland simply stands in the middle of the alley, her face does not express anger, there is no triumph in it. There is not even grief. This woman cried out all the tears; she did not have them. Clasped hands, straightening her back, she looks into the distance, and among the trees there is a quiet beating of the mother's heart.
The monuments are so different, and there is no contradiction. Each of them has become part of our culture and a symbol of the main feat of the Great Patriotic War - the feat of the Mother.