RE�: [SEELANGS] Gruz-200

[FRISON Philippe]

During the oviet-Afghan war, Gruz-200 was the code name for coffins supposed to contain 200 cm corpses...
 
As for zinc people, it is an allusion to Bielorussian writer Svetlana Alexievitch's "ZInkovye mal'chiki" book on returnees from Afghanistan.
 
Best regards
 
Philippe Frison
(Strasbourg - France)

________________________________

De: Slavic & East European Languages and Literature list de la part de Tony Anemone
Date: lun. 15/01/2007 18:22
À: SEELANGS at LISTSERV.CUNY.EDU
Objet : [SEELANGS] Translation question



Aleksei Balabanov's new film, presently in production, is called 
GRUZ-200 (Official English translation is CARGO 200).   This is 
apparently a bureaucratic phrase describing the shipment home of 
military coffins of soldiers killed in action.   The movie is set 
during the late "zastoi" and concerns a soldier killed in 
Afghanistan.  I'm hoping that someone on the list will be able to 
tell me more about this term:  is it a reference to the weight of the 
coffin and body? 200 kg seems heavy, but Balabanov speaks of "zinc" 
coffins in an on-line interview. . .  Does (did?) the Russian army 
commonly use zinc in coffins? is the term used and understood today?

Thanks in advance,

Tony




Tony Anemone
Visiting Associate Professor of Humanities and Russian
University Humanities Program
The New School
anemonea at newschool.edu
757-870-8083




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