The Genius Design of Communist Memorials

[@ThePresentPast_]

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

[@pyeitme508]

MEH

[@starc.]

lack of creativity is whats weird

[@unfinished-wh9vz]

It's been 1 day why is this comment 3 days old??

[@kingeling]

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.

[@Random.chelik-42]

There was very much Ukrainian architectures that was totally destroyed by russians

[@PetitKeks]

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."

[@dabartos4713]

You paint memorials with only a single photon.

[@TheUrizen]

"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?

[@RatherCrunchyMuffin]

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

[@nokia-gm8gv]

damn

[@kserx5806]

This is huge bs

[@elmomo1126]

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.

[@IlayShriki]

Thank you for your explanation

[@ThePresentPast_]

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.

[@stanislavbudarin3207]

​@@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.

[@mrcocoloco7200]

Wow, thank you. That makes a lot of sense.

[@xsrrr]

Thank you from Italy.​@@stanislavbudarin3207

[@李白-x5m8v]

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.

[@mr_ldc_killek2]

Lol don't lose

[@AlexandruVoda]

Can you give examples of such monuments in the territory of the USSR and names of artists?

[@Darty47]

🎻

[@NonneinP]

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.

[@pilgrims6581]

​@@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

[@basvriese1934]

Honestly seeing these monuments i got to say some just evoke emotions so well that they're simply better than the alternatives

[@WatermelonDog202]

Yea i don't like Communism but Brutalist architecture is really cool

[@ThePresentPast_]

It's so special to walk past the colossal statues, was the highlight of my trip!

[@fiel81]

Agreed, it's a damn shame that the soviets tended to be so self-destructive

[@barahng]

​@@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.

[@robert9016]

@@fiel81Self-destructive? You must mean when the space faring nation with the second largest economy in the world was illegally dissolved.

[@CringeAlert22]

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 ;)

[@ThePresentPast_]

Dang, yes you are right!

[@averyangrygardengnome]

@generalrodcocker1018 Dude relax. It was an honest mistake.

[@chinthestewpit]

@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)

[@heidirabenau511]

​@generalrodcocker1018 Isn't he Dutch?

[@longiusaescius2537]

Muslims Croats

[@snhusidic]

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]

Does Mrakovica mean darkness (Mrak?) I just speak both Russian and Ukrainian so it resembled word Mrak - Dark.

[@snhusidic]

@@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.

[@Unused269]

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

[@user-jt6xh2ln9z]

potato potato

[@Rod.Machado]

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.

[@BojanPeric-kq9et]

That is because WW2 i Yugoslavia didn't have proper ending. Too much was pushed under carpet in the name of brotherhood and unity.

[@Jakaj99]

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

[@sqwidlord8344]

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

[@TreeMovies]

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

[@zloycommentator83]

​@@Jakaj99and don't forget about most traumatic things like rebuilding/building factories, schools, roads, economies and somewhat of stability in post war republics😢😿😭

[@radosawkmita2764]

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!

[@czarnykot4190]

I don't think his point was to list all countries but to give some comparisons

[@maxkraus7063]

polish people lost so many because Migration into allie countries, not directly through war (kills)

[@feliche2292]

@@maxkraus7063six million polish people were killed.

[@JunitafluxcyfatriciaJunita]

If you don't count the Jews.Poland Only lost 8%

[@feliche2292]

@@JunitafluxcyfatriciaJunita it was about 3 million Jews and 3 million polish ppl

[@АлександрЗабродин-о7ь]

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.

[@mortypsg9599]

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.

[@semkapodsolnuh8060]

​@@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.

[@dewinmoonl]

I'm so glad I could translate this into english and read it. this is a very thoughtful comment. thanks.

[@stijn4771]

Could not have explained it any better

[@aZz1k]

Agree. This kind of monuments just remind us about old times with all good and bad things happened.

[@eeeeeeeeee9]

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

[@sandman.s]

I don't believe this was the end, people with these beliefs still and will always exist.

[@eeeeeeeeee9]

@@sandman.s History never ends, fight never ends, dreams never end. The ongoing people's war on Peru and India prove that

[@Kazmistrz1993]

You're naive if you think that's what communism was about anywhere but on paper

[@Diamat161]

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.

[@ДалиборЧевизовић]

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.

[@albertvonhabsburg]

These monuments would be the subject in the 100th season of Ancient Alien.

[@LeadLeftLeon]

So I’m not the only one who finds them other worldly

[@alexanderrahl482]

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.

[@kl41256-p]

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.

[@bellatordei3440]

😅👍

[@veky5717]

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.

[@vasiliynikiforov1976]

Your parents ran to Germany because they were croatian nazis who killed Serbians.

[@lynth]

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.

[@aleksandarjokic2918]

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.

[@d_rooster]

@@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.

[@lynth]

@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.

[@victorzvyagintsev1325]

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.

[@IvanAntunovic-i2g]

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

[@victorzvyagintsev1325]

@@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.

[@CountSpartula]

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.

[@noname-bv1dq]

О, здоров

[@MultiGILL22]

Я тоже из Брянска

[@p0_0kie_001]

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.

[@EUPH_DAN]

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.

[@РомаПетров-ж1н]

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.

[@reyeg1148]

communist memorials are absolutely gorgeous, I saw the Soviet War Memorial in Berlin, the feeling there is surreal.

[@alexandarvoncarsteinzarovi3723]

yeah take on shit on it,

[@ligametis]

A lot of the remaining ones got demolished after 2022. Especially in Poland, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia.

[@rogink]

Strength through joy?

[@Jar3xe]

​@@alexandarvoncarsteinzarovi3723 Why?

[@AlphaHorst]

but the berlin one is literally a standard war memorial very much identical to the US one build just before it.

[@0AmiLena]

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

[@Artemon-yl5ze]

Не нужно, автор рассказывает не о союзе, а о югославии

[@das7950]

Довольно удивительно, потому что первым делом как советский солдат освободитель зашёл в Берлин, он изнасиловал немецкую женщину

[@zloycommentator83]

​@@Artemon-yl5zeа стоило бы и о тех и о других рассказать

[@iamfourmana]

Есть ещё и четвёртая часть триптиха: "Перекуём мечи на орала" у штаб-квартиры ООН в Нью-Йорке, где рабочий превращает меч в плуг.

[@РомаПетров-ж1н]

@@Artemon-yl5ze , я вообще думал что о Красных Кхмерах или КНР... Коммунисты востока и коммунисты восточной Европы всё-таки разные вещи.

[@谈天说剑独善何益]

承受最多苦难的人创造最伟大的艺术，而浮华只属于强盗。

[@Shopov123]

exactly!

[@ahhtism3386]

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"

[@evansabahnur3383]

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.

[@youngmasterzhi]

This explains Atomic Heart’s aesthetics

[@strongestgamer2501]

Cumbrain

[@Onjiix]

Doing parkour on a war memorial is absolutely insane to me wtf

[@darkrainah]

Why?

[@Onjiix]

@darkrainah because it's a war memorial? What is there to explain?

[@remove_marko]

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

[@basic5926]

Why do you think?

[@pasoska_kontrola]

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.

[@DavorZdralo]

@@basic5926 Croats are sadly reverting back to their Nazi tendencies and communist monuments remind them that they were on the losing side of WW2.

[@mradicevic]

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

[@lynth]

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.

[@NedoBoi]

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. 👌🏼

[@gamermapper]

@@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.

[@dandiey]

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!

[@aleksandarjokic2918]

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

[@cottonandballs]

@@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.

[@semkapodsolnuh8060]

​@@aleksandarjokic2918learn some history, man, especially about soviet education systems

[@Vedsetta]

I very much appreciate an English speaking KZbinr 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

[@noveled_1]

this 🙌

[@randygraham926]

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.

[@someonesbitch2555]

Ehh 🤷‍♂️

[@nixter8491]

Thank you for showing the history and culture of the balkans, as a balkan citizen myself I respect you! 🫡

[@xelaxander]

Wow, this put former Yugoslavia on my bucket list. Gotta plan the next cycling trip!

[@ThePresentPast_]

definitely do visit! Slovenia has the best roads and is most bike friendly but the whole region is beautiful.

[@Drunken_Master]

Don't come here, we don't want you.

[@un1c0rn52]

a yugoslavian bike trip would go so hard

[@raics101]

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.

[@xelaxander]

@@un1c0rn52 Not sure if you mean it will difficult or amazing.

[@cyberobabok]

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

[@render_the_void]

"patriotic"?

[@zloygoblinkit]

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

[@elbarto8282]

This is not very anti-commie propagandistic of you. Reagan would be very disappointed.

[@kaiserslavaniaashur1623]

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.

[@mingyuhuang8944]

The USSR brutalized Germany harder than the Nazis

[@kaiserslavaniaashur1623]

​@@mingyuhuang8944 German POWS in france were treated worse than inmates in Aushwitz.

[@ukasz-vs4nr]

@@mingyuhuang8944 mad take

[@vojislavl6665]

​@@mingyuhuang8944 uff now that's a far reach

[@flurn3176]

@@mingyuhuang8944 AHAHAHAHHA WHAT ARE U SAY??🤡🤡🤡🤡🤡🤡

[@cyanhacker]

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

[@Alimentasable]

USA sponsors terrorists all over the globe to erase real history and keep up their hegemony

[@Davoodoox1]

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.

[@lynth]

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.

[@neroatlas9121]

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.

[@Kav.]

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.

[@vebdaklu]

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.

[@stirlinghall6593]

Right on

[@comlain2513]

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.

[@IlayShriki]

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

[@Stryker98]

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.

[@Recoiler45]

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.

[@AlphaHorst]

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.

[@barahng]

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.

[@ThePresentPast_]

@@barahng Or people could just watch the video before they place an outraged comment.

[@paulfirmeza1265]

​@@ThePresentPast_true tho

[@senerzen]

Your comment is super selective. You selected the first minute and ignored the rest of the video. Well done.

[@AlphaHorst]

@@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

[@christianwilliams1690]

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

[@wisebushido1682]

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.

[@eliaspeter7689]

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

[@Sara3346]

They are being forced to interogate their beliefs, at least about art and they don't enjoy doing so.

[@dasraffnix9471]

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.

[@lis4926]

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.

[@makimaxx2311]

People in YU werent soviets, but yeah ur on point.

[@3pix]

@@makimaxx2311 We're all 'soviets' once you understand what that word really means - inhabitants of the world.

[@makimaxx2311]

@@3pix he means the English version of soviets... as in any communist nation. I think you know what I meant, right?

[@itsmederek1]

@@3pix Now your just being annoying o puropose, gtfo

[@Boredblacksheep]

As a local to a ex commie state, these monuments are acrually an expression of disdain and arrogance of both the artist and the ones that bought it. Usually they have no plaque around them or no explaination so around 5 years after it's built, it reverts to meaning nothing so they would need some sort of military parade of sorts to maintain that memory in the collective mind. Classic statues in the non commie countries usually have a plaque and that makes it easier to remember "ah yes, Maria Theresa, she was that person from the history book". Also in the US I've seen monuments with plaques. Well in the ex commie countries there are no explainations. So it's easier to care only about the shape when you have to Google "that monument with a circle and pyramid and fk knows what shape is that". And so they get abandoned, used by influencers, etc

[@Crude-tv]

This has quickly become one of my favourite channels! Keep up the good work

[@boodashaka2841]

That's so weird seeing one in ODST. Never would've imagined that

[@beanmanbutchina]

The fall of Yugoslavia, the greatest tragedy in Balkan history.

[@gregoryrubies6045]

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.

[@robezy0]

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.

[@katarinkasweet]

"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.

[@karamakate9]

Around 700 000 Serbs were killed in Jasenovac not 83 000. And that was the only camp that murdered children.

[@sentaveliki425]

No it was 7 billion serbs 😂

[@karamakate9]

@@sentaveliki425 very funny. Learn some history little proud Nazi

[@BojanPeric-kq9et]

@@sentaveliki425 you have officially accepted numbers. Unless you have proper research, you are denier and/or revisionist.

[@IstrskaPustinja]

@@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:(

[@Jakaj99]

There was intergalactic serb civilization numbering trilions and trilions serbs, but all of them were killed in jasenovac

[@kname1882]

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.

[@biaginger]

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.

[@kname1882]

@@biaginger There was insurgency in 2001 after indepandace, you can look on it as you like, please dont answer if youre missinfomed

[@ConnorDonovan-rh8so]

I think “awesome” is the word you’re looking for

[@trikstari7687]

"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.

[@lutenic6111]

Not exactly. These may look good in videos and pictures but looks ugly when looked in person.

[@starc.]

@@lutenic6111 cant be worse than a rectangled slab

[@wiilov]

@@starc. Someone never leaves their bedroom.

[@metalman6708]

​@@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.

[@Tina-fj4xo]

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.

[@luckynyaa2826]

Love from Russia. Nothing is forgotten.

[@Artemon-yl5ze]

3:00 only in percents, but in numbers ussr lost ten times more people

[@aleksandarjokic2918]

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.

[@SudnaSajka1943]

Halo to Yugoslavia and Yugoslavia to Halo with putting the monument in Halo the allegory has been confirmed

[@_Moritus_]

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.

[@Pulang_Diwa]

"And how values change." The opening of this video essay made me immediately sub. Lol. That was so well written.

[@louket5762]

It's hadly and essay but might be enough to inspire to visit them

[@noheroespublishing1907]

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.

[@limyarplane1991]

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.

[@NickAndriadze]

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.

[@JamieZero7]

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.

[@Thim22Z7]

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.

[@joshuamaxam5086]

no one makes that claim stop with the straw man argument also no one cares ffs keep your socialist bs to yourself.

[@radejovisic3358]

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...

[@jeffGordon852]

Team Eastern memorial click here

[@Manefromgodsimage]

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!

[@aliaksandr5145]

Спасибо за работу! Захотелось посетить эти памятники, но почти в каждую страну бывшей Югославии мне нужно делать визу.

[@ПавелКузнецов-ф3т]

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)

[@Veselinius_III]

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! 🥃🥃🥃

[@gargoyle7863]

I think these Yugoslav memorials are awesome!

[@Artemon-yl5ze]

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.

[@prosaic.7944]

You know a memorial is genius when it is so abstract and vague that someone needs to explain it to you

[@d_rooster]

Thanks for bringing attention to our monuments and helping people understand the story behind them!

[@BestDemo55]

As an Indonesian i am very sad that Titos efforts are all in vain Our nations could have been distant cousins, or perhaps one in the same

[@Anymouse2]

The 20th century is littered with those who undermine their nations for Racism and for Capital.

[@marten6578]

how lmao

[@Anymouse2]

@@marten6578 Multiethnic Socialist Regime

[@domba2003]

@@marten6578 Tito had very good relationship with Indonesia's first president Sukarno and the two were one of the signatories for the Non Aligned Movement

[@marten6578]

@@domba2003 i forgot we were a part of that. still it didn't matter to an average ivan.

[@arcanondrum6543]

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...

[@sonicsatammegalover3563]

A croat i know alway says "the CIA only head to drop a pin and the yugoslawia ate itself"

[@KittyNinja135]

We're just not gonna pretend that the title was originally talking about how weird they are

[@Otaconlegend]

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.

[@sqwidlord8344]

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

[@nurventilatoren]

The one in the thumbnail looks like a giant caltrop made to annoy giants, ngl.

[@dettective]

Noe that i come to think of it, this reminds me of those little spike balls Manny made in Diary of a Wimpy Kid

[@yuritasca7702]

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

[@Sigierfield45]

Everything bulid by the comunnists is either ugly, cheesy or depressing

[@Lenni3]

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

[@revolutioner5470]

These monuments were erected not to people or countries, but to memory in history.

[@tylerbryanhead]

I'd probably have to disagree with the idea that abstract memorials are better. In 10,000 years, if our statues still stand, archeologists will look at these statutes and try to find their meaning. Traditional statutes will be instantly recognized as what they are, anyone can look at the Iwo Jima Memorial and instantly recognize that it is a display of military triumph. The abstract? Will probably be lumped in with various other abstract modern art statues. At the end of the day a Memorial is about legacy, to tell the story of the brave men that did deeds worth of being memorialized to anyone who sees it. If the meaning of the memorial has to be inferred or explained to the layman then it fails somewhat at its purpose.

[@dimitria.425]

i agree with you, it is like, actually Sphinx is just a memorial about winning some war, and lion is victory and human part is intelligence. And then 5000 years go by and people are like yea Egyptians were furrys

[@adrianhristovski1961]

most artistic american

[@peterb7283]

@@adrianhristovski1961least pretentious communist

[@gorkyd7912]

Abstract art is hatred of truth. It's the work of guilty people who don't want to represent reality because that would be too unkind to themselves. They want to forget. They want something big there but they want it to be meaningless. It's the artistic version of lawyerly weasel-speak.

[@peterb7283]

@@gorkyd7912this is just as pretentious as artists who abuse abstract style. That guy just has poor taste lol dont go all freud on everyone

[@reignbird]

1:14 motherland, not Russia

[@CVanbo37]

Did you even UNDERSTAND what you said? Russia is the MOTHERLAND OF THE RUSSIANS

[@Alfonse-dm6ht]

Real

[@Dr_Larken]

Россия - это родина, статуя - это мать-Россия! Твоя американская система образования подвела тебя, мой друг!

[@Alfonse-dm6ht]

​@@Dr_Larken Land = Russia

[@reignbird]

@@Dr_Larken Родина это Союз в этом контексте. Тут памятник защитникам Сталинграда, а его защищал именно СССР.

[@faunt07]

3:42 but Soviet Union did not bully Yugoslavia. Actually at that time Yougoslavia was the bully and bullied Austia and Albania.

[@PeterHKwok]

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

[@jedwalker4543]

My favorite war memorial is the Vietnam memorial in Washington. An extremely controversial war. It’s a simple black brick wall with the printed name of every American who died. Focuses on the people, not the war

[@RandomVariable007]

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.

[@puenboy1]

This comment section be like Abstract art: 😴 Abstract art (Soviet): 😲

[@NickAndriadze]

I didn't notice anybody saying this honestly, I personally like any kind of early period abstract artworks, from impressionism to Bauhaus and Soviet Union's own Constructivism.

[@badart3204]

They are just xenophiles. Anything that’s not foreign is magically superior in their eyes

[@evilforpresidendxDD]

Literally

[@reedy_9619]

The point of a memorial is to not let an event vanish from a country’s memory. A post with what happened written on it would do a better job than a fcking concrete urchin.

[@Minecraftrok999]

It is decidedly not Soviet...

[@mjtheko]

These monuments fail at being monuments. They are, as you said, interesting modern art. The meaning you can take from them is almost entirely subjective without context. Who knows what they mean without pulling up google. Basically. If you look at that soviet woman again, the meaning is instantly obvious.

[@tini1411]

That's the point. They were made to evoke pure emotion, not to link themselves directly to a historical event or happening. The Mother Russia statue is currently being used as a representation of greater Russian unity and its sentiment has been corrupted into one of nationalism. No such thing can be done with Yugoslavian memorials - they are singular in their meaning. That is also why some were intentionally destroyed as nationalists took over

[@annoyedok321]

@@tini1411 These are monoliths of power embracing the change war brings, not the cost of it.

[@mjtheko]

@tini1411 My argument is that they have no meaning without the text accompanying it. Mother Russia is a national symbol and always has been. Kinda like New York and the Statue of Liberty. These Yugoslav monuments have no obvious visual meaning.

[@tini1411]

@@mjtheko Yes, I agree, and that is intentional. We have to remember that in Nazi occupied Yugoslavia during the war, the sides of the conflict were not nearly as clearly defined as they were elswhere. Many locals were conscripted into the German army or local collaborant forces. A memorial that clearly paints the victims of axis powers as heroic and the perpetrators as evil (such as the motherland beckons one in Volgograd) would only serve to further propagate the internal tension of Yugoslavia. The message of “we beat the outside invader, look at the toll that took on our people”, would be alienating to those that were forced to enact the invaders’ will, which was very much against the goal of unity and a focus toward the future. Thus, abstract monuments were constructed in order to still remember the victims, but not directly create an “in group” and an “out group”, if that makes sense.

[@mjtheko]

​@@tini1411 I'm aware of that history, and I'm aware that ww2 basically started an internal civil war in Yugoslavia basically the moment the Germans walked over the border. That failure to create 2 groups, the in and out group, is almost certainly a part in why Yugoslavia is no longer a state. All these monuments are evidence of that intentional nonpartisanship. That lack of wanting to say something. It's "people died here" It doesn't say "why." It fails to create that national ethos that is required. You can make statues about coming together after a conflict. Two men grasping hands, pulling each other out of rubble. Or you can make memorials of horror. Kids witnessing war. That kind of stuff. It's like, those approving the art simply wanted art and plaques. They didn't want anything more. No message. Just fancy rocks. It's no wonder their state collapsed.

[@Dunno1999]

You looks like "you know you had to do it to em" dude in the thumbnail

[@PhoneMan-x7m]

@5:35 this is all monuments, and all governments.

[@smallcode9981]

You can mention monument in Kragujevac, where some 2.200 men were executed in 1941 be German, because of Partisan's attack. 100 civilian for 1 killed solder, 50 for injured. Some 300 executed were school boys, mostly 5th grade, so monument is in form of letter V, Latin number 5.

[@techvoyagers]

You should change the title from Communist to Yugoslav, because I think the title is kinda clickbait-y.

[@fertfert4661]

"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?

[@tefky7964]

You mean when genocide was already happening? Yeah, surely it could stay unified...

[@HOI4notsoproplayer]

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

[@tvsonicserbia5140]

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.

[@HOI4notsoproplayer]

@@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

[@abrissimon914]

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.

[@12123188]

Communist memorials look weird? Nothing looks weird compared to western sculptures around western towns and cities. Have you seen Weena in Rotterdam? I would rather say "why do they look the way they look" or something like that. That would of course not generate as many clicks as this title, but the title of this video is just using a common prejudice which will eventually cement this incorrect prejudice. People who actually watch this video would highly likely understand the art better, but way more people form an opinion just based on the title. Sculptures all around the Netherlands are also weird. There are less (newer) memorials, which is the case in the entire west of Europe. That also isn't weird. The East suffered much more in WW2. The biggest difference, I think, would be the size. And ironically, russian dissatisfaction about the past being desacrated by the west is kind of true. Memorials of locals that honor people who fought for freedom are being desacrated more and more every time a country cooperation with the west increases. When not torn down they, as you showed, are being used for commercials or insulting "play". I can not imagine the sculpture about the heart of Rotterdam being bombed to dust being humiliated like that by outsiders without punishment.

[@tulliusexmisc2191]

4:30 was a chilling moment. At frist I thought it was grim that one town had all three of those. Then I realised that was just a key, and they occurred often enough that they need their own symbols on a map.

[@jepcartusch1084]

As if the creators of these memorials wanted to convey that it was not the man who should be remembered and honored, but rather his ideas. In any case, these are very interesting works of art.

[@Saiga-saiga]

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.

[@aleksandarjokic2918]

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.

[@jovanandric6991]

4:45 *At least 600.000 THOUSANDS*

[@thastayapongsak4422]

They don't look weird they look better

[@Throughthelurkingglass]

How??? it looks like wannabe modern art. Bland and uninspiring, no discernibility.

[@thealmightyaku-4153]

No they don't. They don't look any better than an actual beautiful structure - that's collapsed into rubble. Those aesthetics are what you get when you hate beauty.

[@izperehoda]

I agree, the look cool af

[@Mipetz38]

they are cool from a brainwashing point of view

[@intangible9838]

they are meant to communicate ideas not through language but through structure. Like the conceptual designs for nuclear warnings, they tell a story, and they are the fears and hopes of an entire people

[@spinacetta89]

When I saw the Kosmaj spomenik in Halo I wanted to puke..truly people have lost their minds...imagine using Ground Zero as a nice background in the next Marvel movie! Our grandparents literally died there but they use it as a 'cool' thing...every day I'm disgusted more by the 'West'..

[@BerSeTar]

"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.

[@frostedraspberrytoasterpop7565]

notice how only the US memorials show victory, tho arguably they did the least in this war.

[@rext3404]

Notice how the US memorial in the thumb nail is for the victory over the Japanese in Iwo Jima? You do know that America was also fighting in the Pacific, right? I can't wait until the US leaves NATO.

[@frostedraspberrytoasterpop7565]

@@rext3404 Huh, I never said "the USA didn't fight." I said that they brag about winning the war, even though MILITARY wise they did the least compared to other countries. Hands down, they provided A LOT of support and sent a lot of supplies, but they show themselves as if the war was won because of them, while that's not true.

[@sergejukic4954]

6:37 This monument in Croatia is in Bosnia near Prijedor, the Kozara Monument

[@benjaminbaer5485]

“The nation broke apart”. Yeah, no NATO involvement there …

[@sonicsatammegalover3563]

Nato got involved a year after it fell apart

[@tatianaes3354]

Those are not “Western art forms” that the Yugoslavs were inspired by, but early Soviet art forms.