Friday, July 10, 2009

Governmental Control of History

Trevor Dane of Opinion Forum writes: "President Dmitry Medvedev has ordered the creation of a new commission tasked with countering attempts to rewrite history to the detriment of Russia’s interests. . . The “Commission on Analyzing and Suppressing Falsifications of History Detrimental to Russia,” is being created in response to efforts in Ukraine and the Baltic States to bring attention to atrocities that were committed by the Soviet Union before and during World War II against the people of the region. Russia has never come to terms with the atrocities committed by the Soviet Union. Russia’s leaders believe that any denunciation or attention to the Holodomor famine, the mass deportations, the gulags, and the terror imposed on the people of Eastern Europe is an attack against present day Russia. . . Even more scary is that under the bill, which is likely to sail easily through both houses of the parliament, Russian and foreign citizens could be sent to prison for up to three years for accusing the Red Army of atrocities or illegal occupation during World War II, an allegation commonly lodged in the Baltic countries. If such accusations are made by an official or disseminated in the media, the crime would be punishable by up to five years in prison, according to the legislation."
As I wrote in one of my previous posts: "Juan Carlos, the King of Spain, found it necessary to express his regret for the expulsion of Jews from Spain in 1492. Not only did he not participate personally in the expulsion, he is not even a descendant of the kings who ordered it. Nevertheless, 500 years later the King asked the Jews to return to Spain, promising that "never again will hate and intolerance provoke desolation and exile."Pope John Paul II publicly apologized to the Jewish people for the persecutions by the Catholics. He also apologized for the Holocaust and left a note pleading for forgiveness in the Western Wall. Nobody suspects the Pope of personally participating in the persecutions of the Jews. He did, however, offer a personal apology." A country whose leaders cannot recognize the atrocities their country committed in the past has no future. Juan Carlos of Spain and Pope John Paul II understood this. Putin and Medvedev unfortunately do not.

Some of the people who experienced the atrocities that now cannot be mentioned in Russia are still living. It's unconscionable that they or their surviving relatives should not be allowed to talk about their plight. It's terrifying that decades of Soviet attempts to rewrite history haven't taught the people of Russia anything. Writing history is not about serving anybody's political interests. It's about people knowing their past in order to have a future.

My grandfather was in the Red Army during the entire duration of Wolrd War II. He was wounded several times in the war. His health never recovered fully. I'm very proud of my grandfather for liberating Europe from fascism. I'm very proud that he wrote our last name on the walls of Reichstag. This doesn't mean, however, that I want any of the atrocities committed by the Red Army to be buried in the archives and never brought to light. I believe that doing this would constitute disrespect of my grandfather and other soldiers like him. By suppressing dissent Russian leaders promote the very fascism that my grandfather fought to destroy. And that is the greatest insult to his memory.

13 comments:

Anonymous said...

WHY DO YOU READ THESE GUYS AT OPINIONFORUM? THEY ARE A BUNCHH OF SOCIAL CONSERVATIVES.

Clarissa said...

I really like what they have to say about Israel, Russia, and the issues of individual responsibility. If that makes me "a social conservative", I couldn't care less.

My favorite magazine "The Nation", for example, always delivers incredible garbage on the topics related to Russia and Israel. So it's very refreshing to read reasonable things about these issues at Opinion Forum.

Anonymous said...

Clarissa, if you have read the second reference I've sent you carefully, you know that it went beyond the issues of modern history.

Decabrists (the participants of the uprising of progressive-minded nobles against the Czar in 1825 - for our American friends) are also suspect - because their western renaissance inspired ideas were inherently alien to Russian ways.

And the critics of some expansionist military campaign by Cathrine the Great are accused of not properly respecting the concepts of "interests of the state" and "natural borders". Not by some marginal idiots, but by the authors of the future obligatory history textbook for Russian children.

So it is not just about Stalin, or the Red Army defeating fascism any more. Now it is about the eternal battle of Russian civilization, the spiritual beacon of the humankind, against the corrupt and evil Western civilization. (Hope my irony is noticeable.)

By now criticizing Stalin's policies is suspect not because such critique is considered anti-communist. Now the reason is that Soviet Union is seen as just one of the reincarnations of the Great Russia, and everything about the Great Russia is right, holy, and should not be criticized.

V.

Clarissa said...

"Clarissa, if you have read the second reference I've sent you carefully, you know that it went beyond the issues of modern history."

-I know! I can't tell you how scary that whole article is. I just think that the issue merits being analyzed in a series of posts rather than in one large post. So I want to take on their egregious history-rewriting plans one by one.

Tom Carter said...

This re-writing of history isn't surprising, given the direction that Putinism is taking (I suppose it's time to start using that term). I commented earlier on Putin's role and influence, and I think Russia is headed the wrong way.

Anonymous, your perception that Opinion Forum is "a bunch of social conservatives" is interesting. You obviously haven't read much of it. We publish opinions that reflect all political persuasions, plus delightful articles by a young author and an older gent who tells nostalgic stories of his youth. We'll publish a good article by you, too, if you want to submit one. But you'll have to use your name.

Clarissa, we published an article today on century-old, high-quality photography from around the Russian empire. You'd like it.

Anonymous said...

It is an awful thing that Russian history is now understood as the History of the Great Russian Civilization, and that this ideological version of Russian history is the one taught in schools. It is like that in every country, and we have to question such official constructs of history.

That being said, you probably realize the limits of your counter-examples, King Juan Carlos and the pope. Their silence on many atrocities is telling. We should stroll in the many avenidas del Generalisimo in Spain to discuss this topic.

V. Thank you for your distinction between the USSR and the Great Russia, especially your note on the decabrists. And Clarissa, please continue with your series of posts on the issue of Russian history.

Clarissa said...

"given the direction that Putinism is taking (I suppose it's time to start using that term)"

- I believe that Putin himself is nothing. He's just a puppet put in place by people who made the decision to transition the USSR out of its "communist" mode and who profited extremely well from that. We can talk about "Putinism" but only because we don't know the people who are really in power.

"we published an article today on century-old, high-quality photography from around the Russian empire. You'd like it."

-It's really cool, too. If only your site didn't keep shutting down on me. :-)

"you probably realize the limits of your counter-examples, King Juan Carlos and the pope. Their silence on many atrocities is telling. We should stroll in the many avenidas del Generalisimo in Spain to discuss this topic."

-You're totally right!! The sad thing is that even a superficial, meaningless little apology is impossible with the Russians. They (not normal people so much, but the politicians) actually believe WE owe them something. It's like the Nazis feeling wronged by the Jews.

"please continue with your series of posts on the issue of Russian history."

-Will do. I'm happy many people are interested. I did not expect that and it's very rewarding.

Anonymous said...

Returning to modern history, there is one more important thing one has to remember and which belongs here under the picture of Russian victors in Berlin: Russians sincerely believe that the fact they defeated the Nazis made them forever immune to becoming Nazis themselves. Or even "simply" nationalists.
Therefore, any attempts to explain them anything along those lines usually result in being accused of "russophoby" and being a CIA agent...

---Thank you for your distinction between the USSR and the Great Russia

Yes, by now considering modern Russia just a heir to the USSR is misleading. By now Lenin is bad because he caused a civil war where Russians killed Russians, as well as lost Western provinces;
Stalin is great because he restored the empire, and even expanded it, if one counts the vassal states, as well as made Russia a second great superpower... Khruschev was bad again, because he admitted crimes of Stalin, and real statesman does not admit mistakes of his country and its leaders. Brezhnev is on the bad side, because he did pretty much nothing for the empire, but the technological gap with the West increased during his time. Gorbachev and Yeltsin are completely evil, because they lost the empire again. And Putin is great because he at least gives his people promise of the restoration of the empire, and being respected as a superpower again...
V.

Clarissa said...

"Russians sincerely believe that the fact they defeated the Nazis made them forever immune to becoming Nazis themselves. Or even "simply" nationalists."

-Very well said!

"By now Lenin is bad because he caused a civil war where Russians killed Russians, as well as lost Western provinces;
Stalin is great because he restored the empire"

-This is the weirdest kind of revisionism I have ever encountered.

"Putin is great because he at least gives his people promise of the restoration of the empire, and being respected as a superpower again..."

-This superpower bullshit is just so annoying. I hate it when people need this rubbish for their self-esteem. Urrgh!!

Anonymous said...

----This is the weirdest kind of revisionism I have ever encountered.

I am overdoing it a little, but I swear that I encountered every point I collected above in some "Russian patriot's" writings...

---They (not normal people so much, but the politicians) actually believe WE owe them something.

Of course you owe them everything! They brought you culture! Kiev? What Kiev? Re-read the first two sentences of this paragraph, you ungrateful russophobic Ukrainian nationalist! :) :(
V.

Clarissa said...

The latest news is that they also brought is the industrialization and fed us during the entire Soviet era. I think that started right after Holodomor. Or before. Or maybe it all happened at the same time.

Though, wait, there was no Holodomor, so that's a non-issue. :-)

I'm living with a very reasonable and non-patriotic Russian person but I still had to dispel many myth he believed like gospel.

Anonymous said...

---I'm living with a very reasonable and non-patriotic Russian person

That's something I wanted to ask about since I learned you are a patriot of Ukraine, but always hesitated to mention...

V.

Clarissa said...

It's ok, you can always ask anything. :-) At the beginning of the relationship, he even had dreams of Ukrainian nationalists chasing him around the house with a Ukrainian flag. :-) So you can imagine.