聖彼得堡的英雄們 獨裁者和納粹盟友
Wait a minute — we’re honoring him?
等等，我們在向他致敬？
Cities all over the world rename streets and put up statues to commemorate local heroes and beloved public figures. But to the bafflement and irritation of many people in St. Petersburg, Russia, their city has recently honored three people they would hardly call heroic or beloved.
全世界的城市都會通過重新命名街道和樹立雕像，來紀念當地的英雄和受人愛戴的公衆人物。但令俄羅斯聖彼得堡的很多人不解和憤怒的是，他們所在的城市最近向三個很難稱得上英雄或受愛戴的人表達了敬意。
Remarkably, the least controversial of the three is Kim Jong-il.
需要注意的是，這三個人中爭議最小的是金正日(Kim Jong-il)。
Mr. Kim, the former North Korean dictator, was brutal even by the standards of Russia, which has seen its share of tyrants. What did he do to merit a plaque? He stopped by a local factory 15 years ago.
俄羅斯自身也經歷過暴君，但即使按照這樣的標準，這位前朝鮮獨裁者也頗爲殘暴。他做過什麼，以至值得擁有一塊紀念牌？他15年前順道參觀過當地的一家工廠。
Even more eyebrows were arched when a bridge was renamed in honor of Akhmad Kadyrov, a Chechen leader who was assassinated in May 2004. That was widely seen as a political sop to Ramzan A. Kadyrov, Akhmad’s son and the current president of Chechnya, the restive region in the Caucasus.
當一座橋被重新命名，以紀念在2004年5月遇刺的車臣領導人艾哈邁德•卡德羅夫(Akhmad Kadyrov)時，皺眉的人更多了。此舉普遍被認爲是對其子、車臣共和國現任總統拉姆贊•A•卡德羅夫(Ramzan A. Kadyrov)的政治安撫。車臣共和國是高加索地區的一片動亂地帶。
Noting that Akhmad Kadyrov had supported Russia in the Second Chechen War, a spokesman for the governor of St. Petersburg said, “Russia remembers and honors its heroes.” This even though Mr. Kadyrov, in the First Chechen War, led an anti-Russian militia and was seen in propaganda videos calling on Chechens to kill as many Russians as possible.
聖彼得堡市長的發言人指出艾哈邁德•卡德羅夫曾在第二次車臣戰爭期間支持俄羅斯，並表示，“俄羅斯銘記並緬懷它的英雄。”儘管如此，在第一次車臣戰爭期間，艾哈邁德領導了一個反俄民兵組織，並出現在多個宣傳視頻中，號召車臣民衆儘可能多殺俄羅斯人。
More than 90,000 people signed an online petition protesting the renaming, to no avail. Maksim Reznik, an opposition politician, tried to challenge the decision during a legislative meeting, but his microphone was abruptly switched off.
逾9萬人在網上的一封請願書上簽名，抗議這次重新命名活動，但無濟於事。反對派政治人物馬克西姆•列茲尼克(Maksim Reznik)試圖在一次立法會議上挑戰該決定，但他的話筒突然被掐斷。
Then there is the new plaque commemorating Carl Gustaf Mannerheim, the Finnish military officer and statesman. He fought for Russia in the Russo-Japanese War and World War I, when Finland was part of the Russian Empire. But after the Bolshevik Revolution, he led independent Finland’s army during World War II, when Finland was allied with Nazi Germany against the Soviet Union.
然後便是紀念芬蘭軍官、政治家卡爾•古斯塔夫•曼納海姆(Carl Gustaf Mannerheim)的牌匾。芬蘭曾是俄羅斯帝國的一部分，曼納海姆在俄日戰爭和一戰期間爲俄羅斯奮戰。但布爾什維克革命之後，芬蘭獨立。二戰期間，芬蘭與納粹德國結盟，共同對付蘇聯，曼納海姆正是芬蘭軍隊的領導人。
The leaders of the St. Petersburg Military Engineering-Technical University, situated in the barracks where General Mannerheim served in the 1890s, were evidently overlooking that later part of his life; the national minister of culture even turned up for the unveiling.
聖彼得堡軍事工程技術大學(St. Petersburg Military Engineering-Technical University)的領導層顯然忽略了他的後半生，這座學校位於19世紀90年代曼納海姆服役時所在的軍營內。甚至連俄羅斯聯邦政府的文化部長都出席了揭牌儀式。
But locals see the general as complicit in the devastating German siege of St. Petersburg during World War II, when it was known as Leningrad. Vandals have twice doused the plaque in red paint.
但當地人認爲，在二戰期間德軍圍困聖彼得堡並造成毀滅性影響一事上，這位將軍與德國串通一氣。當時，聖彼得堡還叫列寧格勒。牌匾兩次被人潑了紅漆。
In this case, opponents may be getting somewhere. Prompted by an outraged Communist lawmaker, the Russian prosecutor general’s office said in August that it was opening an inquiry into the plaque’s installation.
在這件事上，反對派可能會取得一些進展。在一名憤怒的共產黨議員的敦促下，俄羅斯總檢察長辦公室在8月表示，將開始調查牌匾安放一事。
