Alexandr Něvský a Stalin

Talking about an alliance between Alexander Nevsky, the legendary prince who ruled the principality of Novgorod in the 13th century, and Joseph Stalin (1878–1953), the Bolshevik leader of the USSR, seems like an anachronism that is impossible to take seriously. Nonetheless, even if it existed above all on a metaphorical level, this alliance was in some ways really formed during World War II. Already at the end of the 1930s, with the situation in Europe becoming increasingly tense, the Soviet regime was preparing for a confrontation with Nazi Germany. The figure of the medieval sovereign therefore became the ideal prefiguration for this conflict: just as Prince Alexander had defeated the Teutonic knights, Stalin would triumph over Hitler. Once the conflict broke out, Alexander was elected as one of the imaginary champions of the Soviet cause: from cinema to the plastic arts, the image of the sovereign became a tool to galvanize the Russian "nation". After his victory, Stalin did not forget his "ally" who was immortalized in a golden mosaic in the Moscow subway.