Editing Volgograd (section)

===Stalingrad===
On April 10, 1925, the city was renamed Stalingrad, in honor of [[Joseph Stalin]], General Secretary of the Communist Party.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Lutz-Auras |first=Ludmilla |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=t4z_r4PX0hQC&q=stalingrad+10+april+1925 |title="Auf Stalin, Sieg Und Vaterland!": Politisierung Der Kollektiven Erinnerung an Den Zweiten Weltkrieg in Russland |date=2012 |publisher=Springer-Verlag |isbn=978-3658008215 |page=189 |language=de}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Mccauley |first=Martin |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-W3aAAAAQBAJ&q=stalingrad+10+april+1925 |title=Stalin and Stalinism |date=2013 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1317863687 |edition=3 |quote=10 April 1925: Tsaritsyn is renamed Stalingrad. |author-link=Martin McCauley (historian)}}</ref> This was officially to recognize the city and Stalin's role in its defense against the [[White movement|Whites]] between 1918 and 1920.<ref>''Brewer's Dictionary of 20th Century Phrase and Fable''</ref>

Once the Soviets established control, ethnic and religious minorities were targeted. The only Jewish school in the area was closed down in 1926.<ref name=Krapivensky/> In 1928, a campaign was launched by the Regional Executive Council to close down the synagogue in Stalingrad. Due to local resistance, they were not successful until 1929, when the council convened a Special Commission. The Commission convinced local municipal authorities that the building was in need of major repairs, was unsafe and much too small for the over 800 worshippers who regularly attended for high holidays.<ref name=Krapivensky/>

In 1931, the German settlement-colony [[Old Sarepta]] (founded in 1765) became a district of Stalingrad. Renamed ''Krasnoarmeysky Rayon'' (or "Red Army District"), it was the largest area of the city. The first higher education institute was opened in 1930. A year later, the Stalingrad Industrial Pedagogical Institute, now [[Volgograd State Pedagogical University]], was opened. Under Stalin, the city became a center of heavy industry and [[transshipment]] by rail and river.

====Battle of Stalingrad====
{{main article|Battle of Stalingrad}}
[[File:Destoyed Buildings in Stalingrad, 1942 (18).jpg|thumb|upright=0.8|right|Street in Stalingrad, 1942]]
[[File:RIAN archive 602161 Center of Stalingrad after liberation.jpg|thumb|upright=0.8|left|After liberation, 1943]]
[[File:RIAN archive 2383 The ruins of Stalingrad.jpg|thumb|upright=0.8|right|Factory after bombing, 1943]]

During [[World War II]], German and Axis forces attacked the city, which, in 1942, became the site of one of the war's pivotal battles. The Battle of Stalingrad was the [[List of battles by casualties|deadliest single battle]] in the history of warfare (casualties estimates vary between 1,250,000<ref>{{Cite book |last=Grant |first=R. G. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=iU-pAQAACAAJ |title=Battle: A Visual Journey Through 5,000 Years of Combat |publisher=Dorling Kindersley |year=2005 |isbn=0-7566-1360-4}}</ref> and 2,500,000<ref>{{Cite book |last=Geoffrey |first=Roberts |title=Victory at Stalingrad |publisher=Routledge |year=2002 |isbn=978-0582771857 |edition=1st |pages=9 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Krinko |first1=Evgeniy |last2=Medvedev |first2=Maksim |date=2017-11-21 |title=Demographic Consequences of the Stalingrad Battle |url=https://doaj.org/article/b8c72326e8864f51b07185b99c9e10be |journal=Science Journal of Volgograd State University |language=ru |volume=23 |pages=91–104 |via=[[Directory of Open Access Journals]]}}</ref>).

The battle began on August 23, 1942, and on the same day, the city suffered heavy aerial bombardment that reduced most of it to rubble. [[Martial law]] had already been declared in the city on July 14. By September, the fighting reached the city center. It was of unprecedented intensity; the city's central railway station changed hands thirteen times, and the [[Mamayev Kurgan]] (one of the highest points of the city) was captured and recaptured eight times.

By early November, the German forces controlled 90 percent of the city and had cornered the Soviets in two narrow pockets, but they were unable to eliminate the last pockets of Soviet resistance before Soviet forces launched a [[Operation Uranus|huge counterattack]] on November 19. This resulted in the Soviet encirclement of the [[6th Army (Wehrmacht)|German Sixth Army]] and other Axis units. On January&nbsp;31, 1943, [[Field Marshal]] [[Friedrich Paulus]], the Sixth Army's commander, surrendered; by February&nbsp;2, with the elimination of straggling German troops, the Battle of Stalingrad was over.

The bombing campaign and five months of fighting destroyed 99% of the city.<ref name=":0">{{Cite book |last=Craig |first=William |url=https://archive.org/details/enemyatgatesbatt0000crai_r5p2/mode/1up |title=Enemy at the Gates: The Battle for Stalingrad |publisher=[[Reader's Digest Press]] |year=1973 |isbn=0141390174 |pages=385 |language=en}}</ref> Of the population of more than half a million before the battle, only 1,515 remained following the battle's conclusion.<ref name=":0" />

In 1945, the Soviet Union awarded Stalingrad the title [[Hero City (Soviet Union)|Hero City]] for its resistance. Great Britain's [[George VI of the United Kingdom|King George VI]] awarded the citizens of Stalingrad the jewelled "[[Sword of Stalingrad]]" in recognition of their bravery.<ref>{{Cite web |title=British cinema of the 1950s a celebration |url=https://expeditiorepositorio.utadeo.edu.co/bitstream/handle/20.500.12010/16033/British%20cinema%20of%20the%201950s%20a%20celebration.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y |access-date=April 9, 2024 |website=expeditiorepositorio.utadeo.edu.co}}</ref>

A number of cities around the world (especially those that had suffered similar wartime devastation) established sister, friendship, and [[Town twinning|twinning]] links (see list below) in the spirit of solidarity or reconciliation. One of the first "sister city" projects was that established during [[World War II]] between Stalingrad and [[Coventry]] in the [[United Kingdom]]; both had suffered extensive devastation from aerial bombardment. In March 2022, this twinning link was suspended because of the [[Russian invasion of Ukraine]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.coventry.gov.uk/news/article/4211/council-sends-letter-to-russian-twin|title = Council sends letter to Russian twin|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220331084753/https://www.coventry.gov.uk/news/article/4211/council-sends-letter-to-russian-twin|archive-date=2022-03-31}}</ref>