Stalingrad

Stalingrad, Russia, named after Joseph Stalin, was from 1925 until 1961 the name of the city now called Volgograd. It is a city in the southwest Volgograd province[?] (formerly Stalingrad oblast) in what was the Soviet Union and is now Russia. The change of the name in 1961 to Volgograd was part of Nikita Khrushchev's attempt to liberalize the Soviet Union somewhat after Stalin's rule.

Stalingrad was, before the Russian Civil War, known as Tsaritsyn. This name (in Tartar) was given to the town because it is situated where the river Tsaritsa[?] meets the river Volga. The city was renamed to Stalingrad because Stalin's leadership there during during the civil war was supposed to have been decisive. This was typical case of how Stalin was retroactively given a much larger role in the Revolution than he actually had.

Stalingrad endured a vicious World War II battle taking place in 1942 - 43 -- in terms of loss of human life, one of the costliest battles in history. See Battle of Stalingrad.

Today, there is a surprisingly large movement in Volgograd that wants to change the name back into Stalingrad, the general feeling being that the war and the battle were of greater importance than whether such a change could be marred by Stalin's name.