Battle of Stalingrad in popular culture

The Battle of Stalingrad (1942–43), a battle on the Eastern Front of World War II and one of the bloodiest battles in human history, has inspired a number of films, books, and games.

Books

Non-fiction

• Michael K. Jones - Stalingrad: How the Red Army Triumphed. Pen & Sword Military, 19 April 2007
• Jonathan Bastable - Voices from Stalingrad: Nemesis on the Volga. Charles Ltd., London 2006
• Antony Beevor - Stalingrad: The Fateful Siege, 1942-1943. New York: Viking, 1998. An overall perspective of the battle. Noted for its extensive use of first-hand accounts.
• William Craig - Enemy at the Gates: The Battle for Stalingrad. London: Pengiun, 1973. Based on five years of research of documents and personal accounts. Formed part of the basis for the film of the same name, Enemy at the Gates.
• Viktor Nekrasov - In trenches of Stalingrad (Виктор Некрасов "В окопах Сталинграда")
• Last Letters from Stalingrad

Fiction

• Vasily Grossman - Life and Fate. New York: New York Review of Books, 2006. A novel written by one of the most celebrated reporters in the Red Army.
• Sven Hassel - SS-General. A novel about the Battle of Stalingrad written from the perspective of a German soldier.
• Jonathan Littell - Les Bienveillantes. Gallimard, Paris 2006. A fictional story of a former SS officer, the third chapter ("Courante") takes place in Stalingrad. The book received two major French literary awards.
• Theodor Plievier - Stalingrad. New York: Time, inc., 1966. A pseudo-memoir novel.
• David L. Robbins - War of the Rats. New York: Bantam Books, 2000. A novel which was later adapted for the 2001 film Enemy at the Gates.
• William T. Vollman - Europe Central. New York: Penguin Books, 2005. A postmodern novel that received the 2005 National Book Award.

Poetry

• Pablo Neruda - Canto a Stalingrado (1942) and Nuevo canto de amor a Stalingrado (1943)
• Carlos Drummond de Andrade - A rosa do povo (1945)

Films

Documentary films

• The World At War Episode 9 Stalingrad (June 1942–February 1943)

• Secrets of The Dead Deadliest Battle

Fiction films

• The Battle of Stalingrad (Сталинградская битва), a 1949 two-part Soviet movie.
• Soldiers (Солдаты), a 1958 Soviet movie based on novel by Russian writer and participant of Stalingrad battle Viktor Nekrasov
• Stalingrad: Dogs, Do You Want to Live Forever? (Hunde, wollt ihr ewig leben?), a 1958 West German film directed by Frank Wisbar^[1]
• The Great Battle on the Volga (Velikaya bitva na Volge), using archive footage taken by 150 Soviet cameramen during the battle, released in 1962^[2]
• Stalingrad, a 1989 two-part film directed by Yuri Ozerov.^[3]
• Stalingrad, a 1993 German film directed by Joseph Vilsmaier ^[4]
• Enemy at the Gates, a 2001 Franco-British film which dramatized and in some cases fictionalized elements of real exploits by sniper Vasily Zaytsev. Directed by Jean-Jacques Annaud and starring Jude Law, Joseph Fiennes, Ed Harris and Rachel Weisz ^[5]
• The Beast (or The Beast of War in the United Kingdom), a 1988 film depicting a cat-and-mouse battle between a Soviet T-55 tank and a group of mujahedin fighters during the Soviet-Afghanistan War: Tank Commander Daskal (played by George Dzundza) describes to his crew how he, as an 8-year-old boy, was lowered by rope onto German tanks to sabotage them with Molotov cocktails and grenades during the Battle of Stalingrad.

Music

Concert music

• Elias Tanenbaum - Last Letters from Stalingrad a chamber music piece based on the book of the same name^[6][7]
• Aubert Lemeland - Symphonie No.10 "Letzte briefe aus Stalingrad" (1998), a collage of music and recitation based on Last Letters from Stalingrad^[8]

Popular music

• Sabaton sang a song based on the battle in their album Primo Victoria.
• The Feindflug song "Roter Schnee"
• The song "Stalingrad" by progressive rock band Nightingale
• The "dramatic death metal" band Dark Lunacy has written many songs in relation to the Battle of Stalingrad, particularly on the 2006 release The Diarist.
• The song "Stalingrado" by Stormy Six, a former Italian rock band.
• Dutch Death Metal band Hail of Bullets has written a song based on the Battle of Stalingrad, titled "Stalingrad". The song appeared on their 2008 Full-Length, ...Of Frost And War.
• Swedish Black Metal band Marduk have a strong interest in the Battle of Stalingrad and have written several songs in relation to the topic. Most noticeably "Steel Inferno". The music video features raw footage of the Battle of Stalingrad itself.
• Stalingrad is mentioned in "Roads to Moscow" by Al Stewart.

Games

Board games

• Stalingrad (1963), Avalon Hill
• Turning Point: Stalingrad (1989), Avalon Hill
• Red Barricades (1989), Avalon Hill (module for Advanced Squad Leader)
• Valor of the Guards (2008), Multi-Man Publishing (module for Advanced Squad Leader)
• Stalingrad Pocket I and II (1994), Multi-Man Publishing (part of the Standard Combat Series)
• Streets of Stalingrad (2002), L2 Design Group

Video games

• Close Combat III: The Russian Front (1999)
• Sudden Strike (2000)
• Battlefield 1942 (2002)
• Commandos 3: Destination Berlin (2003)
• Call of Duty (2003)
• Call of Duty: Finest Hour (2004)
• Red Orchestra: Combined Arms (2004)
• Call of Duty 2 (2005)
• Medal of Honor: European Assault (2005)
• Panzer Campaigns: Stalingrad '42 (2005)
• Stalingrad (2005)
• Red Orchestra: Ostfront 41-45 (2006)
• Commandos: Strike Force (2006)
• Close Combat: Cross of Iron (2007)
• Call of Duty: World at War (2008)
• Red Orchestra 2: Heroes of Stalingrad (2011)

Other

• In theater, the play Stalingrad 1942 ^[9] was presented by Theatre Formation Paribartak of India in 2006^[10]
• In the first series of the British comedy Peep Show, the character Mark attempts to seduce his neighbor by recounting the battle.
• In the 12th episode of the British comedy series Monty Python's Flying Circus, Adolf Hitler (Who is living in postwar England under the guise "Mr. Hilter") is told "you won't have much fun in Stalingrad", to which he replies, "no, not much fun in Stalingrad".
• In episode 8 of series 2 of Horrible Histories, there was a WWII sketch based on the Battle of Stalingrad which shows two Germans trading items from dead people (as the Germans ran out of supplies and had to improvise).

References