Soviet Espionage Legend Dies

Legendary Soviet spy Gevork Vartanian, who helped foil a Nazi plot to kill Allied leaders in Tehran during World War II, has died in Moscow aged 87.

Dealing With Money in Post-Soviet Life

After the collapse of the USSR, Russians and other ex-Soviets had to learn to face a new culture – a money culture. For many, that was a huge shock.

Preserving the Cold War in Sunny California

We are looking for a museum of Cold War history that has a collection of everything from East German blueprints to Soviet artwork.

Why Some Russians Miss the Soviet Kommunalka

The Kommunalka was a Soviet experiment in communal living. Entire families were forced to live in a single room, nevertheless some have surprisingly fond memories of the experience.

Stalinism Survivor Runs Gulag Museum In Moscow

Many Russians would rather forget the work camps of the Soviet past but a 91-year-old Gulag survivor keeps in trying to remind them. He runs the Gulag Museum in Moscow.

A New Angle On The Roswell Incident And Why Russians Like Conspiracy Theories

Could the Roswell UFO really have been a Soviet spy plane?

Statue graveyard in Moscow

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Right across the street from one of Russia’s most famous landmarks, Gorky Park, lies a grassy area full of statues of former Soviet leaders. The monuments were at one time scattered throughout Moscow, but after the fall of Communism, many were torn down. Now, they’re propped up again for all to see without explanations of their crimes. Jessica Golloher has the details from Moscow. Download MP3

Slideshow: Graveyard of Soviet statues

Eastern Europe’s ‘Bloodlands’

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The opening of Soviet and East European archives has provided historians a tidal wave of new information about the crimes of Soviet leader Josef Stalin. Brigid McCarthy reports on one historian’s work. Download MP3
Excerpt of Timothy Snyder’s ‘Bloodlands’

Turkish, Stalin, and just say non!

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In this week’s World in Words podcast, the newest star of Germany’s national soccer team is an ethnic Turk. His popularity is one of the reasons why Turkish has become just a little more accepted in Germany today. Also, the Georgian government pulls down a statue of Joseph Stalin in his hometown, but people there use the language of extreme denial to describe the town’s most famous son. And a British politician calls French a “useless” language to learn. Download MP3

The Meaning of Katyn

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On this episode of How We Got Here, historian John Connelly of the University of California at Berkeley tells us about the Stalin-era massacre of 20,000 Polish officers in a place called Katyn during World War Two. The Polish delegation killed in a plane crash in Russia last weekend was on its way to a 70th anniversary commemoration of that crime. The tragedy made Katyn seem doubly cursed and underscored its meaning in Polish history and also Polish-Russian relations. Download MP3

Moscow’s crumbling Soviet architecture

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Russia has seen a dramatic surge in new construction in recent years, especially in cities like Moscow. But Jessica Golloher reports that some Muscovites worry that historically significant buildings are being sacrificed in the name of progress. Download MP3(Photo: Jessica Golloher)

• Photo gallery: Moscow’s dilapidated Narkomfin building
• The BBC’s James Rodgers visited Narkomfin in 2008

World Books Review: A Crown of Thorns for Mandelstam

“The Stalin Epigram” is offered as a novelist’s homage to Osip Mandelstam, the poet who embodied both a new era in Russian poetry and the martyrdom of Russia’s intelligentsia under Stalinism. But the book turns out to be a crown of thorns, a posthumous offense to a poet who has few defenders at the ready to fence for his honor.

World War II anniversary

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Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin attended ceremonies in Poland today marking the 70th anniversary of the start of World War II and rejected claims that Russia had a role in sparking the conflict. Anchor Marco Werman speaks with Svetlana Savranskaya director of Russian programs at the National Security Archive at George Washington University. >>>BBC coverage

Finding the right words

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Sergei Mikhalkov, the Russian who wrote the words of the Soviet and Russian national anthems, has died at the age of 96. He first wrote the lyrics for the anthem when Stalin was Soviet leader, but later rewrote them to omit references to him. Mikhalkov also wrote the words for the current Russian anthem adopted in 2001. Alex Gallafent took a look at the troubled anthem. >>> BBC coverage

A poet’s songs honor two Russias

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After the death of a prominent Russian poet, The World’s Alex Gallafent reports on the changing shape of Russia’s national anthem.