1986 August - Letter from Mayor of Hero-City Volgograd Russia USSR via Mississippi Peace CruiseropoA-repon
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'From Hero -City Vc' °grad..
Respectable Mr. Mayor.
It makes me immensely happy to b& able to use the opportunity to
convey to you, via the participants of the Mississippi Peace Cruise,
my and the city of Volgograd's Council as well as our inhabitants'
warmest greetings and wishes of peace and happiness
Last year all the progressive people of the world marked the 40th
aniversary of the ending of World War II, which was the most
disruptive and blood -shedding event in the whole of human history.
However, the terrors of that war are still alive in human memory, and
the consequences of it have not yet dissapeared. The nations have
paid dearly for their victory over the powers of evil and
mindlessness which was the victory of intelect and human goodness
Fifty million people carried the hurricane of the war. The Soviet.
Union has sacrificed twenty million people on the alt.ar of total
victory.
The Hero -City Volgograd, which I represent as a mayor, became the
epicenter of the Battle of Stalingrad, a major one in the history of
mankind. The city had been totally razed from the face of the Earth
during the crossfire of this destructive war. Ninety percent of the
total life -supporting foundations of the city have been completely
destroyed; in that, there were one hundred factories and enterprises,
fourty one thousand. civilians and about one million soldiers and
officers who died during that battle.
That is why the word "war- is so despised by each and every
inhabitant of my native city. Prevention of a nuclear war, stopping
and liquidation of all the types of nuclear arms, are considered by
the Volgogradians, as is by all the Soviet People, to be the main
task of our times.
Our history teaches us that we must struggle against the war before
it has begun.
In the international conditions, the Soviet Union together with all
the peace -loving forces, does everything that is in our power in
order to nurture back to health the political climate of our planet,
and to save mankind from a nuclear holocast.
The whish to live in peace and friendship, and in agreement with
the peoples of other nations, is the Volgogradians' most vital desire
as it is of all the Soviet people.
Mankind, sitting on the piles of arms, has ceased to live. To erase
war from the future -of humanity is the main task of the current
generation. We are deeply convinced that the inhabitants of the
cities in the U.S.S.R. and in the U.S.A., having joined their forces,
will be able to overcome the threat of war, to protect and stregnthen
peace on Earth; and by the same token the protect the most essential
of human rights: the right to life. We also, without reservation,
must give to this purpose all of our powers. The powers of peace and
sanity must win.
Respectfully yours,
V. I. Atopov
Representative of Group Committee