Terrorist attacks in New York and Moscow: how they cherish the memory of those killed in the United States and Russia - ForumDaily
The article has been automatically translated into English by Google Translate from Russian and has not been edited.
Переклад цього матеріалу українською мовою з російської було автоматично здійснено сервісом Google Translate, без подальшого редагування тексту.
Bu məqalə Google Translate servisi vasitəsi ilə avtomatik olaraq rus dilindən azərbaycan dilinə tərcümə olunmuşdur. Bundan sonra mətn redaktə edilməmişdir.

The terrorist attacks in New York and Moscow: how to protect the memory of those killed in the United States and Russia

On TV channel RTVi comes the film «Memory signs». A team of journalists RTVi decided to conduct a comparative analysis of the collective memory of Russia and the United States. Two countries with a difference in 2, experienced terrible terrorist attacks. In Moscow in September 1999-go houses were blown up on Guryanova Street and Kashirskoye Highway. The twin towers of the World Trade Center were attacked in New York in September 2001. Thousands of people died. For about a year, Regina Fox, Vladimir Lensky, Ekaterina Kotrikadze searched for signs of memory in both capitals, and found something much more important. Producer and author of the film Regina Fox in an interview for ForumDaily spoke more about the project.

Regina, you have been releasing news every day for more than 10 for years, as the chief editor of the information service. In such work, as a rule, the eye is “washed up” and the heart hardens. What made you stop and turn around on 15-17 years ago?

The heart does not harden, it seems to me, only the pads of the fingers harden, causing calluses on the keyboard. In our editorial office we call this “healthy news cynicism.” Terrorist attacks, plane crashes, natural disasters, clashes between demonstrators and police, and so on - a daily flow of information that you cannot constantly pass through, otherwise you will go crazy. But some stories, as they say, “knock you out of the saddle”...

Last year, after a series of attacks in France, when 130 people died at the hands of terrorists in Paris alone, our entire team could barely contain our emotions during the broadcast. Any of us could have been in that Parisian cafe or concert hall. Then there was Brussels, Orlando, Nice. In sequence. Not a month without a terrorist attack. And I already saw this in Israel, during the “intifadas” of the nineties: explosions on the streets of Jerusalem, suicide bombers on passenger buses - it seemed there would be no end to this. In 2001, my family and I came to America for a calm and safe life, but within a few months we witnessed the largest terrorist attack in history. The towers of the World Trade Center fell before my eyes. I still remember this day in great detail...

So, after a difficult live broadcast about the terrorist attacks in Paris, on November 13, 2015, I suddenly realized that we were all witnesses to terrorist attacks that happened at different times in different parts of the world. At least due to their profession, these tragedies indirectly affected everyone. But I couldn’t even imagine that such grief directly affected my colleague and friend.

A frame from the movie "Signs of Memory."

Frame from the movie "Signs of Memory"

Do you mean the personal story of the RTVi editor-in-chief Katya Kotrikadze?

Yes. That Friday the thirteenth, after the Paris tragedy, ended with a long, difficult conversation in the editorial office. We couldn’t tear ourselves away from the news feed, we immersed ourselves in details, found out the names of the victims, and wanted to make material with portraits of the victims on social networks. And suddenly Katya Kotrikadze said: “My mother died in a terrorist attack in Moscow, on Guryanov Street. But no one will remember her. Her name is not on any memorial stone, not even a grave.”

It was a shock. Firstly, because a person whom I thought I knew well, completely unexpectedly, turned out to be a victim of a terrorist attack. Having worked in the news for so many years, I have never seen the name of Katya’s mother anywhere. The terrorist attacks in Russia seemed somehow anonymous. We simply mentioned the numbers: 106 people died as a result of the explosion of a house on Guryanov Street. Another 124 on Kashirka. Then Volgodonsk, and before that Buinaksk. In total more than 300 people. Then Nord-Ost, Beslan, explosions at Domodedovo airport and the Moscow metro. I read somewhere that in total about three thousand Russians died in terrorist attacks. But not a single face in memory, not a single name. And then suddenly Katya. So close, so painful. The story of a daughter who lost her mother became the impetus for a documentary film.

RTVI journalists Ekaterina Kotrikadze and Vladimir Lensky. Photo courtesy of RTVi.com

RTVI journalists Ekaterina Kotrikadze and Vladimir Lensky. Photo provided Rtvi.com

The film also contains a parallel story - a father who lost his son in the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001 in New York. Why did the idea arise to compare the attitude towards the memory of those killed in Russia and the USA?

A terrorist attack is a terrorist attack everywhere. For those who survived it is horror, for those who lost someone it is pain. But there is still a difference in attitude towards mass casualties in Russia and the United States. In Russia, “remember everyone by name” is more of a poetic metaphor than a guide to action.

I managed to graduate from Soviet school and remember how they told us about 20 million who died in the Great Patriotic War. But they kept silent about the one and a half million people who died in the Gulag camps. And I learned about the 6 million victims of the Holocaust only in Israel. There are not tens, not hundreds, not thousands - millions, and still every name is pronounced out loud. In the Yad Vashem Holocaust Memorial Museum, a special hall has been created for this purpose - the Hall of Names. And the museum itself is translated as “Memory and Name.” On the Day of Remembrance of those killed in wars and victims of terrorist attacks, sirens sound throughout the country. Everyone stops, no matter where they are. Cars stop right on the road. Israel freezes for 2 minutes. And again - in the evening of the same day, the names of the dead are read out at military cemeteries.

Similarly, in the US, every year, on September 11, on the site of the terrorist attacks, the relatives of the dead themselves utter their names and surnames. The funeral ceremony at the Ground Zero memorial is broadcast live. This is a tradition that has deep meaning. It does not summarize, does not erode grief, does not round up losses. She saves the memory of each. Respectful, non-selective, and, if you like, the personal attitude towards the dead is necessary above all alive.

Memorial to the victims of the 9 / 11 victims in New York.

Memorial to the victims of 9/11 in New York. Still from the film “Signs of Memory”

Probably, in order to remember the dead in this way, one must live very well. And in Russia, people have their own everyday problems, why darken and so difficult existence ...

This is hard for me to understand. In the process of working on the film, to our horror and surprise, we found out that in Russian legislation there is not even the concept of “victim of a terrorist attack”, there is no law on social support for victims of a terrorist attack. Katya, who lost her mother at the age of 15, was not included in the list of victims. Two sister neighbors, also left without parents, found themselves outside the official reports.

Most of all I was struck by the fact that a few days after the terrorist attack on Guryanov, there was an explosion there again. By decision of the authorities, what was left of the house №19, as well as the damaged house №17 was razed to the ground. Although by that time they had not yet managed to dismantle the rubble, find the remains of all the victims. Katina mom recognized missing. And in 2 of the year, where a monstrous attack was made on sleeping people, new high-rise buildings were built and settled ...

guryanova-2

New high-rise buildings on Guryanova. Photo provided Rtvi.com

In New York, after the collapse of the World Trade Center buildings, even the dust was sorted for several years, trying to find the DNA of the victims. And approximately 58% of the dead were still identified. The last name - a rescuer from the New York Fire Department - was identified only in 2013.

The film turned out to be subjective. It involves journalists who express their personal points of view. Do you, as a professional, regard this as a minus or a plus?

The participants in our film are all witnesses. So, consider that the film contains their testimony, that is, facts. As colleagues say, this is the “first year of journalism” - you do not have the right to evaluate an event, but you are obliged to check the facts and provide the viewer with different points of view. We looked at the topic from two sides. Journalist Ekaterina Kotrikadze, for example, is still a victim of a terrorist attack. She lost the person closest to her. At the same time, Katya lives in the USA and sees the same difference in attitude towards the dead that we talked about. Journalist Vladimir Lensky, while clearing the rubble of the Twin Towers, worked on the other side of the camera and saw much more than an ordinary TV viewer, which also makes his memories unique.

Perhaps the only hero who had no relation to the media in this film was Vladimir Savinkin, a father who all these years lived by nurturing the memory of his son Alexander - and in the literal sense too. Not far from his home in Brooklyn, he planted a seedling from the seeds of the only tree that survived at the site of the World Trade Center. We can discuss for a long time what memory should be like, but it simply has to be.

See also:

“I'm waiting for my son now”: stories of mothers who lost 11 children in September

Russian media in America in the faces: Katerina Kotrikadze

Lead of RTVi Lisa Kaymin - about the craziness of the news editorial and about her beloved New York

Russians who changed America

Lead of RTVi Lisa Kaymin - about the craziness of the news editorial and about her beloved New York

In the U.S. terrorist attacks in the USA Rtvi 9 / 11 attack terrorist attacks in Russia
Subscribe to ForumDaily on Google News

Do you want more important and interesting news about life in the USA and immigration to America? — support us donate! Also subscribe to our page Facebook. Select the “Priority in display” option and read us first. Also, don't forget to subscribe to our РєР ° РЅР ° Р »РІ Telegram  and Instagram- there is a lot of interesting things there. And join thousands of readers ForumDaily New York — there you will find a lot of interesting and positive information about life in the metropolis. 



 
1072 requests in 1,193 seconds.