Translated material
Twice missing
Relatives of Andrei Sakharov unsuccessfully seeking a monument to the great humanist who disappeared in Nagorno -Karabakh
Stepanakert. Monument to Andrei Sakharov. Photo: Armeniatuday.am
In Hangkendi, a monument to Andrei Sakharov disappeared. He was opened there when the Nagorny Karabakh was under the control of Armenia. Now he is looking for the descendants of the academician, a sculptor. The Armenian community is also looking for a lot to make this monument erected there.
Relatives of the Nobel laureate Andrei Sakharov are concerned about the fate of the monument to the academician of the sculptor Georgy Pototsky. In May 2022, by decision of the sculptor, the monument was transported from Moscow and was erected in the courtyard of the Sakharov school in the then Stepanakert. After more than a year, after the unrecognized Karabakh Republic was under the control of Azerbaijan, the fate of the monument to Sakharov remains unknown.
The New Gazeta collected all the available information on this subject (it is extremely contradictory) and turned to the military ministries of two states (disclaimer: it seems to them all the same).
The background is as follows.
The sculptor Georgy Pototsky began to do the monument to Sakharovu in the early 2000s. On their own initiative, that is, without any request of relatives or order from the authorities. The idea eventually spilled into a 600-kilogram bronze sculpture-Sakharov sits on a round bench, his gaze is directed into the sky.
In the summer of 2009, Pototsky handed over the sculpture for free use of the Museon Park in Moscow. Even a solemn ceremony took place. It was a period of the so -called Medvedev thaw. However, the sculpture of the authorship of Pototsky initially did not become the official monument to Sakharov, and it was in the specialized territory of the museum, and not on one of the streets of Moscow. But the fact remains: more, except for this sculpture, in the capital not a single monument to the academician - at least official, even unofficial - has not been for many years. Over the years, many Muscovites managed to love the philosophical and good sculpture of the work of Pototsky.
A year after the celebration of the century, Andrei Dmitrievich, which took place in May 2021 and did not lead to the creation of an official monument in the capital, Muscovites found that an unofficial monument also disappeared from the city.
On the morning of May 21, 2022, guides of the Memorial society* during the thematic walk “Man among Monuments” in the “Museum” discovered the disappearance of sculpture made by Pototsky.
The Gorky Park InfoCenter said that the sculpture was returned to him at the request of Pototsky to participate in Sakharov’s anniversary, and its further return to the park was not discussed.
The sculptor confirmed to reporters: the monument took. “Museon”, although a good exhibition space, he noted, but there Sakharov recently stood near Stalin’s sculpture, which looked, to put it mildly, strange.
Pototsky eventually gave permission to export the monument to the academician to Nagorny Karabakh - for installation near the school named after academician Sakharov in the then Stepanakert (now Hankendi).
The sponsor of the initiative was the Tashir charity fund of Russian entrepreneur Samvel Karapetyan.
Sakharov’s position in the first conflict in Nagorno -Karabakh, his compassion, when he was one of the first to fly to the victims in earthquake and his other actions firmly set Sakharov both in Armenia and in Artsakh in the Armenian pantheon of heroes. Moven by considerations of compassion, Sakharov noted that in a difficult conflict for Armenians this piece of land means more.
Azerbaijan, who considers this territory historically his own, has not forgiven such Sakharov. Then, in 2022, the Azerbaijani media installation of the monument in Stepanakert was met by the expected hat. Moreover, the opening was attended by the leadership of the unrecognized Nagorno-Karabakh Republic and the mayor of Stepanakert.
In September 2023, as you know, events in the republic began to develop according to a radical scenario. Nagorny Karabakh was taken under the control of Azerbaijan. And the bronze "Saharov" weighing 600 kilograms disappeared again. Only this time no one can understand where.
According to the native academician, when the Armenian population left the Nagorny Karabakh, the monument in the courtyard of the school was still standing. The Azerbaijani side, in informal communication, put forward the version that the monument seemed to be carried away by Russian peacekeepers who had left the republic, but there was no documentary evidence of this yet. The Russian Ministry of Defense did not respond to the official request of Novaya Gazeta on this subject.
It is clear that the current authorities of the region consider the monument to Andrei Sakharov as illegal installation, and his stay in Azerbaijan does not give any much pleasure. But officially, the Ministry of Defense of Azerbaijan “Novaya Gazeta” also could not answer where this installation today, the Ministry of Defense of Azerbaijan.
Marina Sakharov Liberman:
“Get data from real witnesses, from the first lips, whether the sculpture is in place or not, it does not work. Hankendi still remains a controlled military zone, where it is impossible to move freely, including journalists. We cannot ask someone to go and check if there is a monument in the courtyard of the school or not. And we ourselves cannot go - they will not miss us.
-And Google cards?
-Google cards also do not help: from above the yard of the school is hidden by trees.
We had only a certificate received, however, through the second hands - from the director of this local school, who claims that when they left Stepanakert (now Hankendi), the sculpture remained in the courtyard of the school and no one took it. On the other hand, the Azerbaijani authorities unofficially made us understand that there is no sculpture in that place. And they suggest that this, probably, Russian peacekeepers took or the Armenians took with them when they left. For a minute, 600 kilograms of bronze ... In a word, the information is contradictory. And no confirmation.
The sculptor Grigory Pototsky is also terribly worried, he is ready to transfer the rights to the monument so that we can dispose of them in the future. The main thing now is to find it.
- The local authorities of Hankendi are not in contact at all?
- Go. The only answer that inspired us is precisely the answer from the municipal authorities of Hankciy, who said they were considering the sculpture as illegal installation, but they have no immediate demolition plans for it. That is, the answer can be interpreted as follows: the sculpture stands still, we don’t like it, you will find a way to pick up, take it. ”
In a word, the ends are not yet possible to find. It is possible that anything could happen, to the most banal-the monument was handed over to the scrap metal, melted or someone put it in his country house. Or maybe the monument is really still worth it. Only who will definitely say and show?
Let me remind you that three ministries - the Ministry of Defense of Armenia, Russia and Azerbaijan for all the requests of Novaya Gazeta - remain silent. Baku, obviously, is not enthusiastic about the whole story with the monument to Sakharov. Again, you can understand. Humanly-maybe everyone should remain people and at least demonstrate to the family and sculptor the yard of the school?
As for the method of exporting the monument, somehow his family will find. There would be a kind will from the same Azerbaijani authorities.
Important: the family of the late academician does not drive the desire to push the country with his foreheads. Their goal is that the monument to Andrei Sakharov’s work of the sculptor Pototsky stand where they want to see him.
One of the possible options is that the monument gains peace in Berlin, where it will be happy to accept it.
Marina Sakharov Liberman:
“Berlin is such a junction of the East and West, there Sakharov’s sculpture is precisely as a Nobel laureate and a human rights fighter would be very organically inscribed in street space. The time will come, of course, I hope when in Moscow there will be a worthy monument to Sakharov. And not with such signatures as it is in some in the regions that Sakharov is an academician of the Soviet Academy of Sciences, which contributed to the defense of the country during the Second World War. Such formulations simply do not correspond to reality. Firstly, during the Second World War, grandfather was evacuated with other students of Moscow State University in Ashgabat, and he began to work on the Soviet atomic project since 1949. And secondly-not a word of mention that he is a Nobel laureate, who defends human rights and fighting for the world without a nuclear threat ...
Not sure that Russia today needs a sculpture of Sakharov with such an understanding of his role. But I really hope that the time will come when Russian people as a whole, and not just a narrow layer, will begin to understand what the significance of Sakharov’s personality was. ”