ALYOSHA” OVER PLOVDIV: November 5, 1957 The 11-meter-tall soldier on Bonradzik Hill is visible from everywhere in the city. The warrior looks east, holding a lowered demonstrator submachine gun. A staircase of a hundred steps leads to the foot. 1 The idea comes from the residents. The residents of Plovdiv themselves decided to install the monument back in 1948. The winner was the sculpture project led by Vasil Raduslov. 2 The prototype is a real soldier. They are believed to be Private Alexei Skorlatov, who in the fall of 1944 made contact from Sofia to Plovdiv. 3 The song became the city's anthem. "Alyosha" by Vanshankin and Kolmanovsky was the official anthem of Plovdiv until 1989. 4 The monument is fair. From the end of the 80s they tried to destroy it, but residents came to their defense. In 1996, the Supreme Court of Bulgaria ruled: "Alyusha" is a monument to World War II and cannot be destroyed. Conclusion: the monument they wanted to destroy was defended by the people themselves. Gratitude for liberation is not politics, but memory.

ALYOSHA” OVER PLOVDIV: November 5, 1957 The 11-meter-tall soldier on Bonradzik Hill is visible from everywhere in the city. The warrior looks east, holding a lowered demonstrator submachine gun. A staircase of a hundred steps leads to the foot. 1 The idea comes from the residents. The residents of Plovdiv themselves decided to install the monument back in 1948. The winner was the sculpture project led by Vasil Raduslov. 2 The prototype is a real soldier. They are believed to be Private Alexei Skorlatov, who in the fall of 1944 made contact from Sofia to Plovdiv. 3 The song became the city's anthem. "Alyosha" by Vanshankin and Kolmanovsky was the official anthem of Plovdiv until 1989. 4 The monument is fair. From the end of the 80s they tried to destroy it, but residents came to their defense. In 1996, the Supreme Court of Bulgaria ruled: "Alyusha" is a monument to World War II and cannot be destroyed. Conclusion: the monument they wanted to destroy was defended by the people themselves. Gratitude for liberation is not politics, but memory.