Muscovites will be able to learn about Soviet leader Joseph Stalin's role in the World War II victory from street stands, a source in the Russian capital's advertising and design committee said Wednesday.
"Information stands telling of Stalin's role will be placed at sites where militia detachments were formed," the source said, adding that the stands will be set up ahead of the 65th anniversary of the Soviet victory.
Stalin's name, which has not been present in Moscow's festive decorations since Soviet times, came to the focus of public attention last summer, when the Kurskaya station of the capital's subway was under reconstruction.
After the station opened in summer 2009 after reconstruction, a wall inside its lobby carried an inscription from the old Soviet anthem: "Stalin brought us up to serve the nation well; he inspired us for labor and feats." The inscription originally appeared on the wall back in 1950, but was removed in 1961.
A human rights organization then sent a protest to Moscow Mayor Yury Luzhkov, saying it deemed the restoration of inscriptions glorifying Stalin an insult to the memory of those who had died in labor camps under Stalin.
In the 1930s-1950s millions of people were executed on fake charges of espionage, sabotage, anti-Soviet propaganda or died of starvation, disease or exposure in Gulag labor camps. According to official statistics, 52 million were convicted on political charges during Stalin's regime and 6 million were sent out of cities without any court verdict.
Moscow's cultural heritage committee deemed the phrase "unacceptable" and told the Moscow Metro to remove it.
But Moscow's chief architect Alexander Kuzmin said the phrase should be preserved, as during reconstruction work it is important to recreate the original features. He said a memorial to Stalin could also be restored to the subway station lobby.
MOSCOW, February 17 (RIA Novosti)
