
Magnitogorsk, Russia's steel city - l33tbro
http://www.theguardian.com/cities/2016/apr/12/story-of-cities-20-the-secret-history-of-magnitogorsk-russias-steel-city
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EugeneOZ
As a russian I just want to note 2 things: 1. russian women are rarely so
awful looking, even in small cities; 2. notice ugly house on photo #7
(Sotsgorod) - people in Russia often spend 20 years of their lives just to buy
small box in ugly house like this, to own it and call it "home". Most of
russians don't even consider renting.

~~~
guard-of-terra
To add more context:

Many people inherit flats since most of apartments are owned, therefore your
grannies and uncles are all proud owners. If there's nothing to inherit,
you're screwed.

People do rent, but since apartments are all individually owned, you need to
rent from single apartment owner at market price and cater to your landlord
individual quirks.

Many of those buildings are near their official expiry date and it's kind non-
obvious what happens when they begin to crumble.

~~~
EugeneOZ
Even inherited flats are often very old or located in abandoned cities. And
also it means young families have to live with parents, and it's just the
worst part.

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leaveyou
I don't understand the meaning of "Magnitogorsk has yet to confront its
controversial past". What exactly does the author mean ? How can a city to
confront it's past ? When can we say a city confronted it's past ? Are there
known cities which confronted their past ?

~~~
atroyn
"Are there known cities which confronted their past ?"

Yes, absolutely - Berlin is the canonical example. The site of the wall isn't
paved over or hidden, it's a line of bricks that runs right through the city,
with several museums and memorials along its length.

The site of the Fuhrerbunker is marked with a sign, despite now being a
carpark.

The memorial to the murdered jews of Europe stands as a chilling, disorienting
reminder.

There are brass plaques, the famous 'stumbling stones' in places where
individual jews were persecuted, marking their names, dates of birth, death
and eventual fate (if it was known).

In contrast, Russia's soviet history is often glossed over or lionized.

~~~
sydneysider
Whereas Germany's Nazi past seems overly dramatised. I'm sure many young
Germans these days are sick of being constantly reminded and made to feel
guilty for their forefathers sins.

~~~
atroyn
Having lived in Germany for a few years now, most young Germans acknowledge
the nazis as part of the history, and see them as a cautionary tale of how
easily extremism can derail an otherwise advanced country.

Any extreme position is therefore regarded with a high degree of skepticism. I
think that's pretty healthy.

~~~
fit2rule
Anecdotal of course, but .. Having lived in both the USA and German, as an
outsider (Australian), I can honestly say that I think most German youth are
quite okay with their own understanding of their history, and that in fact it
gives them an awareness of the dangers of politics, and moreover of the
dangers of The People themselves, in the modern context, in granting their
leadership heinous powers for which they, The People, then fail to take
responsibility.

Many German friends I made, expressed the desire that they not - for example -
see what happened in Germany, happen in the United States of America. A
concern I, of course, share.

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fxmc
Magnitka [https://vimeo.com/12317623](https://vimeo.com/12317623) is a
beautiful sequence of scenes shot in Magnitogorsk by Sasha Aleksandrov

~~~
domfletcher
Stunning video. I don't know if it's the setting or the fast forward but the
whole thing looked like a video game to me. One that I'd definitely play by
the way.

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chiph
If you'd like to learn more, this is a good book on Magnitogorsk during the
Gorbachev years.

[http://www.amazon.com/Steeltown-USSR-Soviet-Society-
Gorbache...](http://www.amazon.com/Steeltown-USSR-Soviet-Society-
Gorbachev/dp/0520073541)

It's really heartrending to read - all that talent and natural resources
wasted just to say they met their planned quota.

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guard-of-terra
[http://www.openstreetmap.org/#map=13/53.4033/59.0103](http://www.openstreetmap.org/#map=13/53.4033/59.0103)

OSM for curious city peekers

