From MT
"'No Place for German Ads' During Leningrad Siege Liberation Celebrations"
Authorities in St. Petersburg have told advertising agencies to remove German goods ads from the city's main streets during the celebrations marking 70 years since the end of the Nazi's Siege of Leningrad during World War II, a news report said. Several outdoor advertising agencies said the city's advertising regulator ordered them to take down the offending materials not just from main streets, but also from districts where cemeteries are located, Delovoi Peterburg reported Thursday.
The blockade, which lasted almost 900 days and cost the lives of about 800,000 citizens, was breached on Jan. 18, 1944, before being lifted on Jan. 27, 1944. The city celebrates these two dates each year. The decision to remove German brands' advertisements may have been taken to avoid upsetting veterans and other survivors of the blockade, though the advertisements in question have no link to Nazism. City Hall denied involvement in sending out the order and called it a provocation, NTV television channel reported. Volgo-Balt Media said the regulator ordered it to get rid of five bus stop advertisements that promote its client Media Markt, an electrical goods retailer, the report said.
The regulator's reported decree has been criticized by other agencies and German goods retailers. "In any matter, it is possible to reach the point of absurdity, but in my view, to remove advertisements just because they promote a German brand is stupidity," said Igor Sedov, the director of Aksel Group, which is a BMW and Volkswagen dealer. "A lot of German firms operate in Russia today; young firms that have no connection with the War," said Dr. Gabriele Kötschau, chairwoman of the Hamburg Chamber of Commerce in St. Petersburg. "I think it is wrong punish them by taking down outdoor advertisements on these dates that are important for 'Leningraders'." In December, St. Petersburg authorities managed to vex the city's residents with one of their plans for the festivities. A proposal to stage a reenactment of events from the siege was met with howls of derision by bloggers, who felt that turning a tragedy into a form of entertainment was an insult to both the people who survived the blockade and those who perished during it. "What is there to reconstruct? Collecting water from the River Neva in buckets? Carrying corpses on sleds?" Vkontakte user Asya Spirina commented, Fontanka.ru reported.
^ I don't understand this logic for anyone except those that are veterans or survivors. I could understand to any form of pro-Nazi advertising not being allowed, but considering that German (first East German and then a re-united German) products have been popular in the USSR and then Russia since the 1960s. In fact, during Soviet times East German products were seen as a higher quality product (even though they weren't in the West.) I know a woman who was still very proud of her East German-made clothes that she bought in the 1980s (when most Soviet citizens could only dream of such "finery") even though Western clothes had been available in present-day Russia for the past 20 years. When I lived in Russia I would buy German-made products when I wanted a taste of non-Russian items. Also, I remember the first time I studied in Yaroslavl and didn't know Russian yet. There was an old man from the former East Germany also studying Russian (he learned it back in school and was getting re-certified for his job.) He was asked by the head of the Russian Department to give a speech, in Russian, at the Victory Day celebrations. I don't know why he was asked to or why he agreed to do it, but he did it and even though I couldn't understand what he was saying I could hear the Russian crowd "boo" him. Another American student studying Russian told me that he basically was talking about how Germany and Russia's relationship had grown since 1945. It was a bad idea for both the school to invite him and for him to accept. I understand that Russia and the former USSR suffered great lengths (around 20+ million Soviets were killed) but if Israel and the Jews (again not those that were victims) can make amends with Germany so should the Russians - especially considering that they were friends of and profited with Nazi Germany from September 1939 to June 1941. I have been to Saint Petersburg (including Peterhof which was occupied and destroyed by the Germans) and like the city. I only hope the city and residents come to their senses and do away with these archaic thoughts. ^
The blockade, which lasted almost 900 days and cost the lives of about 800,000 citizens, was breached on Jan. 18, 1944, before being lifted on Jan. 27, 1944. The city celebrates these two dates each year. The decision to remove German brands' advertisements may have been taken to avoid upsetting veterans and other survivors of the blockade, though the advertisements in question have no link to Nazism. City Hall denied involvement in sending out the order and called it a provocation, NTV television channel reported. Volgo-Balt Media said the regulator ordered it to get rid of five bus stop advertisements that promote its client Media Markt, an electrical goods retailer, the report said.
The regulator's reported decree has been criticized by other agencies and German goods retailers. "In any matter, it is possible to reach the point of absurdity, but in my view, to remove advertisements just because they promote a German brand is stupidity," said Igor Sedov, the director of Aksel Group, which is a BMW and Volkswagen dealer. "A lot of German firms operate in Russia today; young firms that have no connection with the War," said Dr. Gabriele Kötschau, chairwoman of the Hamburg Chamber of Commerce in St. Petersburg. "I think it is wrong punish them by taking down outdoor advertisements on these dates that are important for 'Leningraders'." In December, St. Petersburg authorities managed to vex the city's residents with one of their plans for the festivities. A proposal to stage a reenactment of events from the siege was met with howls of derision by bloggers, who felt that turning a tragedy into a form of entertainment was an insult to both the people who survived the blockade and those who perished during it. "What is there to reconstruct? Collecting water from the River Neva in buckets? Carrying corpses on sleds?" Vkontakte user Asya Spirina commented, Fontanka.ru reported.
^ I don't understand this logic for anyone except those that are veterans or survivors. I could understand to any form of pro-Nazi advertising not being allowed, but considering that German (first East German and then a re-united German) products have been popular in the USSR and then Russia since the 1960s. In fact, during Soviet times East German products were seen as a higher quality product (even though they weren't in the West.) I know a woman who was still very proud of her East German-made clothes that she bought in the 1980s (when most Soviet citizens could only dream of such "finery") even though Western clothes had been available in present-day Russia for the past 20 years. When I lived in Russia I would buy German-made products when I wanted a taste of non-Russian items. Also, I remember the first time I studied in Yaroslavl and didn't know Russian yet. There was an old man from the former East Germany also studying Russian (he learned it back in school and was getting re-certified for his job.) He was asked by the head of the Russian Department to give a speech, in Russian, at the Victory Day celebrations. I don't know why he was asked to or why he agreed to do it, but he did it and even though I couldn't understand what he was saying I could hear the Russian crowd "boo" him. Another American student studying Russian told me that he basically was talking about how Germany and Russia's relationship had grown since 1945. It was a bad idea for both the school to invite him and for him to accept. I understand that Russia and the former USSR suffered great lengths (around 20+ million Soviets were killed) but if Israel and the Jews (again not those that were victims) can make amends with Germany so should the Russians - especially considering that they were friends of and profited with Nazi Germany from September 1939 to June 1941. I have been to Saint Petersburg (including Peterhof which was occupied and destroyed by the Germans) and like the city. I only hope the city and residents come to their senses and do away with these archaic thoughts. ^
http://www.themoscowtimes.com/news/article/no-place-for-german-ads-during-leningrad-siege-liberation-celebrations/492927.html
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