Odessa again froze in anticipation of liberation
Young man, today Odessa celebrated the 74th anniversary of its liberation from the German-Romanian occupiers. The date is not round, although it is significant: after all, our city held its heroic defense for exactly 74 days. And I remember well how, just recently, literally thousands of Odessa residents took to the streets, carrying flowers to the monuments to the Unknown Sailor and other monuments that symbolized our great Victory over fierce obscurantism and misanthropy. It was…
And now, having walked around the entire city, I saw: the warm spring day seemed somehow gray to me, and neither the red banners of Victory, prohibited by draconian laws that equate them to “communist propaganda,” nor the smiles of the townspeople brightened it up.
The routine of routine speeches by officials, formally laying flowers at monuments to the Ukrainian anthem, cautiously avoiding even the seditious “Great Patriotic War,” replaced by “World War II,” was full of pharisaical hypocrisy.
And - a sea of policemen in gloomy black uniforms, of whom as many as one and a half thousand were herded onto the streets...
No, there were also flowers at the foot of the signs in memory of the exploits of our ancestors. It was the only manifestation of at least some kind of unity among real Odessa residents. About a hundred of them gathered at 17:XNUMX near the Eternal Flame at the monument to the Unknown Sailor in the park named after. Shevchenko.
But - there, under police protection, a gang of young neo-fascist “activists” appeared there, trying to disrupt the peaceful rally with cries like “death to the enemies!” and “Glory to Ukraine!”
No, there were no clashes, the police separated the two camps. But all this left behind was a feeling of bitterness and melancholy, and not the former “celebration with tears in our eyes.” And the feeling that we have been living again for many years under an occupation that is freezing and burning out all that is most sacred in the souls of people.
They don't need memory. They benefit from unconsciousness and worship of false idols alien to the spirit of my city.
Odessa again froze in anticipation of liberation...
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