Reaching Volgograd for Christ

In the downtown area, there is an intersection with a very large, open area called “Central Square.” From Central Square, you can see the Hotel Volgograd, the drama theatre, the central Post Office/Telegraph, and the clock tower of the Central Train station is visible in the distance. Ulitsa Mira (Peace Street) runs through the middle of the square. (This was the first street to be rebuilt after the city was destroyed by the war.) On the square is a large framework of metal scaffolding, like the bare workings of an outdoor concert stage. It looks like some large, unfinished project. The purpose of this scaffolding makes much more sense, however, when a holiday or special event is taking place. The scaffolding can be decorated or donned with letters to make a larger-than-life billboard or the grand backdrop for an outdoor concert. At this time of year, the scaffolding is decorated with holiday lights and provides a backdrop for the 4-story evergreen tree which is all decked out for the New Year. Below, on the actual asphalt of Central Square, a Carousel and other rides are set up for kids to enjoy. This mini-carnival, in honor of the holiday season, will fold up and disappear at the end of the season. The scaffolding will once again be a bare framework, which will look a little odd until the next big event.

It’s common knowledge that oil is a major backbone of the Russian economy. For many years, Volgograd has been one of the key links in this particular Russian/Soviet industry. Personally, I am very ignorant as to all of the processes and heavy industry that go into finding, refining, shipping, and marketing “black gold”, but I do find the community around the oil refinery itself to be fascinating. Of course the actual “campus” of the plant is off-limits, but the area surrounding the plant is public domain. In soviet times, people who worked here had their entire lives invested in the plant. They worked there, lived close by, and seldom needed to go very far from the plant. The oil refinery has its very own house of culture across the street. (This is the cultural center that we’ve been teaching music in.) The apartments and dormitories in the vicinity were probably originally built for the workers. As I understand it, the refinery had its own news journal that was published for the reading pleasure of the workers. One has the idea that the oil refinery is a mini-city unto itself. Think of the way that a public high school in the States is self-contained (its own cafeteria, bookkeeping, classes. Its very own sports teams, etc.) Think of the way that military families find themselves in an even MORE centralized environment (their own shopping facilities, housing, and even special schools just for their children.) Now, imagine that kind of centralized living in the private sector, and you have some sort of idea what it might have been like to live and work in a socialist society. Well, those days are long gone, but the architecture surrounding the oil refinery still has a “centralized” feel. The statue of Lenin still stands in the square outside the House of Culture. The older shops are still within walking distance of this square and the nearby apartment buildings. The house of culture still has its own miniature museum about the oil refinery, praising the workers and the government that built it. The museum exhibits are faded and the house of culture is in desperate need of repair, although there are barely enough programs going on in this cultural center to keep it afloat. Outside, the fountain that Lenin overlooks doesn’t have water in it and several of the surrounding apartment buildings are adorned with graffiti. Surveying the area, one senses that this is but a shadow of what it use to be. The business of the oil refinery has, no doubt, declined and with it the grandeur of the once-prestigious community. Only the arrangement of the architecture indicates what the place one was. The system has crumbled, the ideal has fallen through, but the people are still here. Will they discover the mystery of the Gospel, which is more precious to their souls than they richest deposits of petroleum? Will you pray? Will you go?

Let us take a look at the Volgograd Tractory Factory. The first tractor came off the assembly line in 1930, when it was still called the Stalingrad Tractor Factory. By the time they celebrated their 10-year anniversary in 1940, they had produced over 200,000 tractors (over half of the tractors in the USSR at that time.) During the war, the factory was converted, workers were given rudimentary military training, and the factory began producing T-34 tanks for the Red Army. During the battle of Stalingrad, the factory continued production as long as possible, even while the city was under attack. At the factory, volunteers would get into the tanks (even before they were painted) and drive the tanks from the production line directly into battle. The factory was defended as long as possible until it was overtaken. After the war, the factory went back to producing tractors and, during Soviet times, delivered 2.5 million tractors for agricultural use. This factory truly represented the “hammer” of the “hammer-and-sickle.” In post-soviet times production has decreased and the factory has had to down-size, but the Volgograd Tractor Factory is still a major operation, and dear to the heart of this fair city. I was recently outside the factory, praying for the workers and had the opportunity to witness a shift-change. Groves of people came pouring out of the doors. Our prayer is that the 10,000+ employees of the Volgograd Tractor Factory would come to Christ in mass. Please join us in praying for the Volgograd Tractor Factory and its many workers.

In 1765, when Katherine the Great was on the Russian throne, a group of German colonials were granted permission to settle along the Volga River. They settled in what is today part of the city of Volgograd (then, south of Tsaritsyn, which is now also part of Volgograd), and began harvesting mustard seeds. They built a town hall, a Lutheran church, and separate dormitories for single men and women. This small square still exists in southern Volgograd today and “Sarepta”, as it is called, is preserved as a sort of museum. These German settlers are credited with bringing a certain kind of mustard-oil to the region. (In fact, in certain grocery stores in that part of the city, you can find the “Sarepta” brand of mustard-seed oil.) To this day, there are a number of German-speaking folk in Volgograd. Interestingly enough, the Lutheran church that they founded still holds services every Sunday and 10:00 a.m. in the German language. (The church is perpetually supplied with pastors from Germany, who each come for a certain stint to serve there.) The traditional “German/Lutheran” steeple (like one that you might see in “the Sound of Music”) looks like an odd oasis amid the grey-concrete buildings that are now grown-up just around it. This steeple is especially interesting in contrast to the onion-shaped domes of the Orthodox cathedrals and monasteries that are more common in the city. Unless you know where to look for Old Sarepta, you’re almost certain to miss this little misplaced “transplant:” The church, the square, the town hall, all with the same simple beige walls. But if you do happen across it, you feel as though you’ve seen a piece of one culture injected into another. Out of place, perhaps, but a part of the whole. I am reminded that we are not the first “outsiders” to settle here. May God grant that the steeple of our lives would stand out in this gray land. May Christ be lifted up by the lives of the saints here in Volgograd, and may He draw all men unto himself.

Downtown, where two of the main streets intersect there is a monument that captures your attention. The statue is of two bearded, 16th century sentinels, standing with spear in-hand, guarding the southern entrance to the Volga on behalf of the Tsar. Below them, in large script is the date “1589.” This monument commemorates the founding of Tsaritsyn, fortress on Russia’s southern frontier dating back to the 16th Century. When Tsaritsyn was founded, it could hardly be called a city- an “outpost” at best. It was inhabited mostly by military personal who stood guard far from home to protect Russia’s river trade-routes. The settlement was invaded, destroyed, occupied, re-captured, and rebuilt again and again at a time when the Russian empire was fighting to keep the Tatars at bay. Eventually, the settlement developed into a city and kept the name “Tsaritsyn” until it was renamed “Stalingrad” in 1925. The Tsaritsyn monument roughly marks the location of the original settlement.