Panfilovet’s Park, Almaty, Kazakhstan

Panfilovet’s Park on Gogol Street in Almaty, Kazakhstan, in the centre of the city is dedicated to the Panfilov Heroes. It is a memorial to 28 Almaty soldiers who died near Moscow in the conflict with Germany. Ivan Panfilov was the General during the conflict.

An eternal flame commemorates soldiers of the 1917-1920 Civil War and the 1941-1945 World War II. The eternal flame burns in front of a giant black monument of soldiers from all 15 Soviet republics.

MARTINA NICOLLS is an international aid and development consultant, and the author of: Similar But Different in the Animal Kingdom (2017), The Shortness of Life: A Mongolian Lament (2015), Liberia’s Deadest Ends (2012), Bardot’s Comet (2011), Kashmir on a Knife-Edge (2010) and The Sudan Curse (2009).

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