Volgograd

Yemenat

Ahmed Saif Hashed

Our second destination, according to the itinerary, was the city of “Volgograd,” located over a thousand kilometers from the capital, Moscow. The name “Stalingrad” became widely known during World War II, as it witnessed some of the most significant battles, lasting approximately six months according to various sources. The human casualties reached around two million, leading some to classify it as one of the bloodiest battles in the history of warfare.

It is essential, from a contrasting perspective, to highlight some of the horrors of those wars and the catastrophic results they leave behind. During World War II, the United States dropped two atomic bombs on the Japanese cities of “Hiroshima” and “Nagasaki,” resulting in an immediate death toll of over 120,000, with more than double that number succumbing later to the effects of nuclear radiation, not to mention the injured. Most of the victims were civilians, and over 90% of the buildings and infrastructure in both cities were destroyed.

Wars are terrifying and grotesque in ways that surpass imagination, and sometimes even perception. A Japanese woman who survived one of the nuclear explosions recounted her experience:

“I was twelve years old… I saw a flash like lightning, or what seemed like tens of thousands of lightning strikes lighting up at once, followed by a tremendous explosion. Suddenly, darkness enveloped the place. When I regained consciousness, I found my hair wilted, my clothes torn, my skin peeling off my body, my flesh exposed, and my bones visible. Everyone was suffering from severe burns, crying and screaming, wandering like a procession of ghosts. Our city was cloaked in utter darkness after it had just been alive.” (Source: Wikipedia)

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In this context, we can take a moment to raise an objective critique with an ethical