圣彼得堡的英雄们 独裁者和纳粹盟友
Wait a minute — we’re honoring him?
等等，我们在向他致敬？
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.
全世界的城市都会通过重新命名街道和树立雕像，来纪念当地的英雄和受人爱戴的公众人物。但令俄罗斯圣彼得堡的很多人不解和愤怒的是，他们所在的城市最近向三个很难称得上英雄或受爱戴的人表达了敬意。
Remarkably, the least controversial of the three is Kim Jong-il.
需要注意的是，这三个人中争议最小的是金正日(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.
俄罗斯自身也经历过暴君，但即使按照这样的标准，这位前朝鲜独裁者也颇为残暴。他做过什么，以至值得拥有一块纪念牌？他15年前顺道参观过当地的一家工厂。
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.
当一座桥被重新命名，以纪念在2004年5月遇刺的车臣领导人艾哈迈德•卡德罗夫(Akhmad Kadyrov)时，皱眉的人更多了。此举普遍被认为是对其子、车臣共和国现任总统拉姆赞•A•卡德罗夫(Ramzan A. Kadyrov)的政治安抚。车臣共和国是高加索地区的一片动乱地带。
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.
圣彼得堡市长的发言人指出艾哈迈德•卡德罗夫曾在第二次车臣战争期间支持俄罗斯，并表示，“俄罗斯铭记并缅怀它的英雄。”尽管如此，在第一次车臣战争期间，艾哈迈德领导了一个反俄民兵组织，并出现在多个宣传视频中，号召车臣民众尽可能多杀俄罗斯人。
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9万人在网上的一封请愿书上签名，抗议这次重新命名活动，但无济于事。反对派政治人物马克西姆•列兹尼克(Maksim Reznik)试图在一次立法会议上挑战该决定，但他的话筒突然被掐断。
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.
然后便是纪念芬兰军官、政治家卡尔•古斯塔夫•曼纳海姆(Carl Gustaf Mannerheim)的牌匾。芬兰曾是俄罗斯帝国的一部分，曼纳海姆在俄日战争和一战期间为俄罗斯奋战。但布尔什维克革命之后，芬兰独立。二战期间，芬兰与纳粹德国结盟，共同对付苏联，曼纳海姆正是芬兰军队的领导人。
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.
圣彼得堡军事工程技术大学(St. Petersburg Military Engineering-Technical University)的领导层显然忽略了他的后半生，这座学校位于19世纪90年代曼纳海姆服役时所在的军营内。甚至连俄罗斯联邦政府的文化部长都出席了揭牌仪式。
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.
但当地人认为，在二战期间德军围困圣彼得堡并造成毁灭性影响一事上，这位将军与德国串通一气。当时，圣彼得堡还叫列宁格勒。牌匾两次被人泼了红漆。
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.
在这件事上，反对派可能会取得一些进展。在一名愤怒的共产党议员的敦促下，俄罗斯总检察长办公室在8月表示，将开始调查牌匾安放一事。
