theamericans | Episode discussion post: "The Great Patriotic War"

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theamericans

Aired:
25 April 2018 in the U.S. and Canada

This is a discussion post for episode 605 of The Americans, intended for viewers who are watching the show on the U.S./Canadian schedule. (Feel free to dive in to the discussion even if you're coming in late--and you should also feel free to start a new thread if it seems too daunting to read through what's already been posted first. If you're reading this at a point where you've already seen subsequent episodes, though, please take care to keep comments spoiler-free of anything that comes after season six, episode five.)

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From:

lovingboth

Yes, it is a fair estimate, but the Soviet version of the figure has varied a lot over the years.

There's been someone else at Stalingrad in this series talk about being there. Now obviously, lots of people were, but vastly more weren't (and a big chunk of those who were died!) Cynical me thinks it's because it's the only bit that most viewers will have heard of.

Here, she's claiming to have been in the city at the time of the battle. If I had a better copy, I'd see if the photo is of something like the tractor factory or Pavlov's house...

She'd have to have been in the bits that stayed under Soviet control because surely someone who'd been on the wrong side of the lines wouldn't be trusted to get to the position she has.

I'd prefer it if she said Leningrad, for example. Or that her family died in one of the 1941 encirclements.

From:

sistermagpie

Iirc, she'd already said she was there. That's where she met Zhukov. He was standing over the body of a Nazi he'd just killed there.

From:

saraqael

I'm sure you're correct in thinking that they had Claudia refer to Stalingrad because that's the single Russian battle that everyone in the West (except for Paige!) has heard of. Bringing up the Battle of Leningrad would have opened up a whole different aspect of the war: civilians were reduced to eating sawdust bread and wallpaper paste and they died in masses of starvation. There were reports of cannibalism and murders for food, though how widespread that was, I don't know. In those circumstances, I could easily believe that Claudia would trade sex for food. I believe that some of the leadership was purged and executed after the war because of their sheer ineptitude.

Now you have me intensely curious to go back and look at the photo that Claudia showed Paige to see if it was one of the landmark battle sites.

From:

lovingboth

Looking, it was at the end of S1 that Elizabeth's father was supposed to have died there. That wasn't the first time the battle was mentioned either.

Obviously - to me - you trade sex for food if you're starving.

The Leningrad leadership got shot after the war because they a) it was Leningrad and Stalin never liked the place and b) he was jealous of the way they were rightly seen as heroes, to the point that someone declared their efforts during the siege were "a myth designed by anti-Soviet traitors trying to diminish the greatness of comrade Stalin."

From:

saraqael

Killing them because they did a good job makes it even worse.

From:

treonb

Found it!

https://incredibleimages4u.blogspot.com/2010/05/battle-stalingrad-daily-diary.html

last pic on the page, captioned "Building from the ruins after the battle was over". You can google search and find it elsewhere online, mostly in Russian

ETA, here's a better one:
https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/women-digging-near-damaged-train-tracks-during-the-battle-news-photo/3241690

"Women digging near damaged train tracks during the Battle of Stalingrad, USSR (now Russia), during World War II. Many of the women wear babushkas and skirts. On the hill behind them are destroyed buildings. January 01, 1942"

Edited Date: 2018-04-29 11:27 pm (UTC)

From:

saraqael

Oh wow! Good detective work.!You win the internet today. Thanks!

From:

lovingboth

The Battle of Stalingrad didn't start for almost nine months after 1st Jan 1942!

Apart from that, I wonder where it was taken. Most of the city was still in German hands on 1st Jan 1943.