WORLD : Mongols Topple Stalin Statue
The last statue of Josef Stalin in the Mongolian capital was toppled today to the cheers of passers-by, illustrating the dictator’s dramatic fall from grace in this longtime Soviet satellite.
Shortly after midnight, the 51-foot granite statue was lifted from its pedestal onto the back of a truck and carted away. Some people applauded its removal; some even kicked it.
It had stood in front of the national library in the city center since 1951. Workers said they did not know where the statue was taken or what would happen to it.
Officials say more than 38,000 people in Mongolia were purged or killed during a Stalin-inspired era of terror in the 1930s and 1940s.
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