Radio Prague - World's Biggest Stalin Monument Would Have Turned 50 on May Day
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Radio Prague - World's biggest Stalin monument would have turned 50 on May Day http://www.radio.cz/en/section/curraffrs/worlds-biggest-stalin-monument-would-have-turned-50-on-may-day[26-08-2015 18:27:33] Mobile version rozhlas.cz BROADCAST in English radio.cz > Feature «Current Affairs» Broadcast Archive Download: RealAudio Tools SEND BY EMAIL SUBSCRIBE TO RSS PRINT Social bookmarking TWEET 03-05-2005 15:39 | Dita Asiedu The 50-metre high massive statue of the finest marble was proudly unveiled by Czechoslovakia's Communist regime on May 1, 1955. For seven years the residents of Prague had the Soviet leader follow their every move from the hill above. The 17,000 tonne statue - Stalin's jacket button alone, decorated with a hammer and sickle, of course, was half a metre wide - featured the Soviet leader in front of a line of workers - jokingly called the "Fronta na maso" or "meat queue" by Prague residents, as this was a time when they were a daily part of life in the city. There are some dark legends associated with the statue. Its creator, Otakar Svec committed suicide a day before the unveiling. The man who posed for him as Stalin - an electrician from the Barrandov film studios, failed to shake off his nickname "Stalin", took to drink, and died three years later. And, the vast statue's glory days were short-lived. Stalin's reign was denounced by the new Soviet leader, Nikita Khrushchev, and the statue was destroyed just seven years later, on Moscow's orders in 1962. Too heavy to be displaced, it was blown to pieces with 800 kg of explosives and 1,650 detonators. Some witnesses claim the party chief was decapitated immediately after the first explosion, his head rolling into the river waters below. Before the remnants of the monument were stored, they were loaded on a truck and paraded in front of cheering crowds that gathered to celebrate the event in the streets of Prague's Old Town. Was it just a coincidence or a bad omen that less than a year later, the driver of the truck died in an accident? CURRENT AFFAIRS World's biggest Stalin monument would have turned 50 on May Day It's a beautiful sunny day here in Prague and I'm standing on Prague's Letna Hill overlooking the Vltava River and the Old Town. Tourists come here today, not only for the breathtaking view but to see the large ticking metronome, which was erected here in 1991. But for the local residents this spot holds a darker memory - little do the tourists around me know that exactly fifty years ago, at this very site, some six hundred men and women were working around the clock to create the world's biggest monument ever to honour the Soviet Communist party chief Josef Stalin. 14-08-2015 14:16 | Jan Velinger 18-08-2015 15:56 | Ruth Fraňková 29-04-2014 15:40 | Ian Willoughby 11-08-2012 02:01 | Jan Richter Ian Willoughby Dita Asiedu MOST POPULAR Nickelback cancel Prague and other European dates Canadian rock group Nickelback have cancelled their Prague October date and other stops on their European tour as the band’s singer... More Traffic road sign aimed at saving endangered moose Drivers on Czech roads may soon come across a new, perhaps somewhat surprising, traffic sign: a moose crossing. The non-profit organisation Česká... More 17-08-2015 12:02 | Football: Čech rebounds from nightmare opener 15-08-2015 02:01 | The Sound of the Sundial: Hana Andronikova’s classic at last in English translation 17-08-2015 15:25 | Could anti-immigrant sentiments radicalize Czech society? ALSO IN THIS EDITION Radio Prague running special reports to mark 60th anniversary of end of WWII Over the next week Radio Prague will be marking the 60th anniversary of the end of Word War II with a number of special reports, ranging... More Czech TV launches trial broadcast for country's first ever 24-hour news channel Czech TV's CT 24, the first 24-hour news channel in the country's history, successfully launched its trial broadcast this Monday.... More RELATED ARTICLES Space under one-time Stalin monument opening to public after two decades From Thursday people in Prague will get a rare, if brief, opportunity to enter the dark chambers beneath the spot where an enormous... More The US failed to counter communist threat in post-war Prague, says historian Igor Lukeš in his new book Immediately after the end of the Second World War, Czechoslovakia became a testing ground in the contest between democracy and communist... More 03-12-2011 02:01 | Stalin and Gottwald: together in life and death 08-07-2009 11:36 | Rudolf Slánský: architect of Communist takeover and purge victim 30-10-2008 12:57 | Stalin and Gottwald: together in life and death 14-05-2008 16:01 | Stalin survives village poll Česky Deutsch English Español Français Pусский
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Transcript of Radio Prague - World's Biggest Stalin Monument Would Have Turned 50 on May Day
Radio Prague - World's biggest Stalin monument would have turned 50 on May Day
http://www.radio.cz/en/section/curraffrs/worlds-biggest-stalin-monument-would-have-turned-50-on-may-day[26-08-2015 18:27:33]
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03-05-2005 15:39 | Dita Asiedu
The 50-metre high massive statue of the finest marble was proudly unveiled by Czechoslovakia's Communist regime on May 1, 1955. For seven years the residents of Prague had the Soviet leader follow their every move from the hill above. The 17,000 tonne statue - Stalin's jacket button alone, decorated with a hammer and sickle, of course, was half a metre wide - featured the Soviet leader in front of a line of workers - jokingly called the "Fronta na maso" or "meat queue" by Prague residents, as this was a time when they were a daily
part of life in the city.
There are some dark legends associated with the statue. Its creator, Otakar Svec committed suicide a day before the unveiling. The man who posed for him as Stalin - an electrician from the Barrandov film studios, failed to shake off his nickname "Stalin", took to drink, and died three years later. And, the vast statue's glory days were short-lived. Stalin's reign was denounced by the new Soviet leader, Nikita Khrushchev, and the statue was destroyed just seven years later, on Moscow's orders in 1962.
Too heavy to be displaced, it was blown to pieces with 800 kg of explosives and 1,650 detonators. Some witnesses claim the party chief was decapitated immediately after the first explosion, his head rolling into the river waters below.
Before the remnants of the monument were stored, they were loaded on a truck and paraded in front of cheering crowds that gathered to celebrate the event in the streets of Prague's Old Town. Was it just a coincidence or a bad omen that less than a year later, the driver of the truck died in an accident?
CURRENT AFFAIRS
World's biggest Stalin monument would have turned 50 on May Day
It's a beautiful sunny day here in Prague and I'm standing on Prague's Letna Hill overlooking the Vltava River and the Old Town. Tourists come here today, not only for the breathtaking view but to see the large ticking metronome, which was erected here in 1991. But for the local residents this spot holds a darker memory - little do the tourists around me know that exactly fifty years ago, at this very site, some six hundred men and women were working around the clock to create the world's biggest monument ever to honour the Soviet Communist party chief Josef Stalin.
14-08-2015 14:16 | Jan Velinger
18-08-2015 15:56 | Ruth Fraňková
29-04-2014 15:40 | Ian Willoughby
11-08-2012 02:01 | Jan Richter
Ian Willoughby
Dita Asiedu
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30-10-2008 12:57 | Stalin and Gottwald: together in life and death
14-05-2008 16:01 | Stalin survives village poll
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Radio Prague - World's biggest Stalin monument would have turned 50 on May Day
http://www.radio.cz/en/section/curraffrs/worlds-biggest-stalin-monument-would-have-turned-50-on-may-day[26-08-2015 18:27:33]
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Radio Prague - World's biggest Stalin monument would have turned 50 on May Day
http://www.radio.cz/en/section/curraffrs/worlds-biggest-stalin-monument-would-have-turned-50-on-may-day[26-08-2015 18:27:33]
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