Sarah E. Mendelson and Theodore P. Gerber: Coming to Terms With the Soviet Past
[Sarah E. Mendelson is deputy assistant administrator in the Bureau for Democracy, Conflict and Humanitarian Assistance at the U.S. Agency for International Development. Theodore P. Gerber is professor of sociology at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. This comment appeared in Vedomosti.]
On Oct. 30, Russia commemorated the victims of political repression, including tens of millions of innocent Soviet citizens arrested, brutalized, sent to labor camps or executed under Stalin. Until recently, the date has passed with scant notice outside small groups of dedicated human rights activists. The lack of fanfare symbolizes a larger reluctance of contemporary Russia to come to terms with the horrors of the Soviet period. Russia is hardly an exception. Many societies have trouble acknowledging unpleasant aspects of their recent histories, substituting uncomfortable silence or outright denial for frank and painful discussion.
At the same time, however, the process of Russia’s recognition of its tragic Soviet past has started. For example, President Dmitry Medvedev marked Oct. 30, 2009, with a recorded video blog in which he unambiguously denounced the Stalin-era repressions: “Millions of people died as a result of terror and false accusations — millions. … There is no justification for repressions.” Medvedev also decried the lack of knowledge about this dark episode, particularly among young people. His simple message: Russia must do more to commemorate the victims of Stalinism.
Earlier this year, after decades of official denials, Russian authorities acknowledged that Soviet NKVD troops — not the Nazis — murdered 22,000 Polish officers and others at the Katyn forest massacre in 1940. They delivered secret files concerning the incident to Polish investigators.
The need for public truth and openness about the Soviet past was a main theme during the Valdai Discussion Club in September, an annual gathering of Russian and Western pundits. In addition, Sergei Karaganov, who has close ties to the authorities, characterized Russia in a comment in the July 27 issue of Russia in Global Affairs as “a big Katyn, strewn with nameless graves of the millions of victims of the regime.” Karaganov warned that silence regarding the crimes of Stalin continues to thwart Russia’s political progress.
These and other recent developments demonstrate growing support among Russia’s political and intellectual elites for a more open and far-reaching public discussion of the Stalin era, something that the country’s human rights activists have been advocating for years. But where does the public stand on this issue?..
Read entire article at Moscow Times
On Oct. 30, Russia commemorated the victims of political repression, including tens of millions of innocent Soviet citizens arrested, brutalized, sent to labor camps or executed under Stalin. Until recently, the date has passed with scant notice outside small groups of dedicated human rights activists. The lack of fanfare symbolizes a larger reluctance of contemporary Russia to come to terms with the horrors of the Soviet period. Russia is hardly an exception. Many societies have trouble acknowledging unpleasant aspects of their recent histories, substituting uncomfortable silence or outright denial for frank and painful discussion.
At the same time, however, the process of Russia’s recognition of its tragic Soviet past has started. For example, President Dmitry Medvedev marked Oct. 30, 2009, with a recorded video blog in which he unambiguously denounced the Stalin-era repressions: “Millions of people died as a result of terror and false accusations — millions. … There is no justification for repressions.” Medvedev also decried the lack of knowledge about this dark episode, particularly among young people. His simple message: Russia must do more to commemorate the victims of Stalinism.
Earlier this year, after decades of official denials, Russian authorities acknowledged that Soviet NKVD troops — not the Nazis — murdered 22,000 Polish officers and others at the Katyn forest massacre in 1940. They delivered secret files concerning the incident to Polish investigators.
The need for public truth and openness about the Soviet past was a main theme during the Valdai Discussion Club in September, an annual gathering of Russian and Western pundits. In addition, Sergei Karaganov, who has close ties to the authorities, characterized Russia in a comment in the July 27 issue of Russia in Global Affairs as “a big Katyn, strewn with nameless graves of the millions of victims of the regime.” Karaganov warned that silence regarding the crimes of Stalin continues to thwart Russia’s political progress.
These and other recent developments demonstrate growing support among Russia’s political and intellectual elites for a more open and far-reaching public discussion of the Stalin era, something that the country’s human rights activists have been advocating for years. But where does the public stand on this issue?..