Subject
St.Petersburg aka Leningrad
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Date
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Thought this may be of interest to Nabokov readers. GD
St. Petersburg To Be Called Leningrad
Again, Well Sometimes
AP
07-MAY-99
ST. PETERSBURG, Russia (AP) -- Russia's grand second city
on the Baltic has foiled
mapmakers three times this century, flipping its name as
political tides swept one way
then another.
Once more, it's time for a change in St. Petersburg, but
sign painters need not panic: The
city will be Leningrad again -- for just five days a
year.
City governor Vladimir Yakovlev signed a decree Friday
restoring the name Leningrad for
use on five holidays associated with World War II, at
which time the city had been
renamed after the Soviet Union's founder, Vladimir Lenin.
The other 360 days, the three-century-old city will stick
with its original name, after its
founder, Czar Peter the Great.
Yakovlev's move came just before one of those holidays,
May 9, when Russia marks the
anniversary of the Soviet victory over the Nazis. Victory
Day is one of Russia's most
revered holidays.
The decree says the name "Hero City Leningrad" can be
used in tandem with St.
Petersburg for official purposes on those five holidays.
It may, however, mark a step toward a full return of the
Leningrad name, which is fraught
with Communist symbolism. Yakovlev supports a movement to
call the city "St.
Petersburg-Leningrad."
Reviving the name issue was seen as a nod to veterans who
fought to defend a city they
knew as Leningrad.
"It's a sign of respect," said Alexander Afanasyev, a
spokesman for Yakovlev. "Those who
want can now call the city Leningrad."
The name issue is specially meaningful for older
residents who lived in the city during
World War II. Under the name Leningrad, the city survived
a three-year siege by Nazi
forces. Historians say nearly 1 million of its 3 million
people died, mainly of hunger and
cold.
During World War I, the city changed its name from St.
Petersburg to Petrograd, because
Petersburg, a German word, reminded residents of their
enemies of the day.
After Lenin's death in 1924, the city became Leningrad in
honor of its role as seat of the
Bolshevik revolution.
A popular vote restored the name to St. Petersburg in
1991, as Russians were seeking
to shed signs of the country's totalitarian past.
St. Petersburg To Be Called Leningrad
Again, Well Sometimes
AP
07-MAY-99
ST. PETERSBURG, Russia (AP) -- Russia's grand second city
on the Baltic has foiled
mapmakers three times this century, flipping its name as
political tides swept one way
then another.
Once more, it's time for a change in St. Petersburg, but
sign painters need not panic: The
city will be Leningrad again -- for just five days a
year.
City governor Vladimir Yakovlev signed a decree Friday
restoring the name Leningrad for
use on five holidays associated with World War II, at
which time the city had been
renamed after the Soviet Union's founder, Vladimir Lenin.
The other 360 days, the three-century-old city will stick
with its original name, after its
founder, Czar Peter the Great.
Yakovlev's move came just before one of those holidays,
May 9, when Russia marks the
anniversary of the Soviet victory over the Nazis. Victory
Day is one of Russia's most
revered holidays.
The decree says the name "Hero City Leningrad" can be
used in tandem with St.
Petersburg for official purposes on those five holidays.
It may, however, mark a step toward a full return of the
Leningrad name, which is fraught
with Communist symbolism. Yakovlev supports a movement to
call the city "St.
Petersburg-Leningrad."
Reviving the name issue was seen as a nod to veterans who
fought to defend a city they
knew as Leningrad.
"It's a sign of respect," said Alexander Afanasyev, a
spokesman for Yakovlev. "Those who
want can now call the city Leningrad."
The name issue is specially meaningful for older
residents who lived in the city during
World War II. Under the name Leningrad, the city survived
a three-year siege by Nazi
forces. Historians say nearly 1 million of its 3 million
people died, mainly of hunger and
cold.
During World War I, the city changed its name from St.
Petersburg to Petrograd, because
Petersburg, a German word, reminded residents of their
enemies of the day.
After Lenin's death in 1924, the city became Leningrad in
honor of its role as seat of the
Bolshevik revolution.
A popular vote restored the name to St. Petersburg in
1991, as Russians were seeking
to shed signs of the country's totalitarian past.