- This topic has 4 voices and 5 replies.
-
Posts
-
Cracking down on those who disagree, it looks like it may soon be illegal to dispute the official Russian version of WWII history:
Sergei Shoigu, the respected emergency situations minister, has called for a law, based on Holocaust denial legislation in Germany, that would make it a criminal offence to suggest that the Soviet Union did not win the War.Mr Shoigu indicated that the legislation would also seek to punish eastern European or former Soviet states which deny they were liberated by the Red Army. The leaders of those countries could be banned from Russian soil, he said.
Russia to outlaw criticism of WWII tacticsI found that interesting about what the model for such legislation would be. Therein lies the problem with censorship, even if it's well-intentioned; sooner or later it will come back to haunt you.
Isn't this type of thing typical for repressive regimes. The first thing to go in an authoritarian society is academic freedoms. Russia is once again traveling down the path of totalitarianism under Putin and Medvedev. Almost makes you feel sorry for the Russian people, they never seem to get a fair shake.
I find it interesting, but not suprising, given the release (and translation) of much of the official Soviet archives of “The Great Patriotic War”. A lot of long held beliefs are being challenged, and that is sure to ruffle feathers. Over the last two or three years I've been doing a lot of reading and research related to the war on the Eastern Front — and most of my work has been centered on newly released / translated Soviet sources (more so than German sources, which have been available for decades).My point being, older Russian citizens (I guess I should say "former Soviet citizens") are finding their accepted version of history being challenged - and seeing long held beliefs and childhood stories and heroes being debunked hurts... so resistance is natural. Many may feel that they are fighting "revisionist" history - much the same way many of us feel when revisionists re-interpret events from our history.
Vulture you make an excellent point here. I too, have read some of the new stuff coming ut of Soviet archives and it turns many western assumptions on there head.I can also see how these facts getting out can be disconcerting to those who have been taught one thing for 60 years only to be told that not only was the version of history they were taught wrong, it was actually deliberate lies. This is an aspect I ha not considered. I still think my earlier comment has some merit as well.
This sounds interesting. Can you guys give some examples of ideas that are changing due to new material.
The reasons for the Russian non-response to the initial invasion have become clearer. The Russians military readiness is now much more well-known. There is a clearer picture of Russian casualties throughout the war. Overall, the opening of Soviet archives has made a muddy picture much clearer and also shows the Russians in a light that is less flattering than the official line. This is the source of official Russian complaints about contemporary histories of Soviet activities in WWII.
A great example of how the controversy is still raging, take a look at the operations around the Rzhev salient in November and December 1942. This was Operation MARS, which conventional Soviet history describes as a diversion to fix German reserves in place in and around Army Group Center in order to prevent them being sent south to counter the Soviet offensive operations to envelop the German Sixth Army at Stalingrad (Operation URANUS). Newly released / translated sources indicate that MARS was much, much more ambitious and was aimed, perhaps, at the total collapse of Army Group Center. More troops were allocated for MARS, Zhukov himself was in command of MARS, and it was an utter defeat militarily for the Soviets. Many historians speculate that the “official” version of history, that MARS was designed primarily to hold German reserves in place to protect Army Group Center, appears to be “making the results match the plan.”In other areas, casualty lists are a big area where new info is being released, as well as the actions associated with the initial invasion in June 1941. Other areas where info is coming out: the 1942 campaign in Crimea, actions in the north around Finland, and Bagration... to name a few.
