Free Republic
Browse · Search
General/Chat
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

GULAG: Understanding the Magnitude of What Happened
Heritage Foundation ^ | Anne Applebaum

Posted on 02/02/2018 8:32:53 PM PST by GoldenState_Rose

One of the things that always strikes contemporary visitors to Russia is the lack of monuments to the victims of Stalin's execution squads and concentration camps. There are a few scattered memorials, but no national monument or place of mourning. Worse, 15 years after glasnost, 10 years after the collapse of the Soviet Union, there have been no trials, no truth and reconciliation commissions, no government inquiries into what happened in the past, and no public debate.

This was not always the case. During the 1980s, when glasnost was just beginning in Russia, Gulag survivors' memoirs sold millions of copies, and a new revelation about the past could sell out a newspaper. But more recently, history books containing similar "revelations" are badly reviewed or ignored.

Far and away, though, the most important explanation for the lack of debate is not the fears and anxieties of the ordinary Russian, but the power and prestige of those now ruling the country. In December 2001, on the 10th anniversary of the dissolution of the Soviet Union, 13 of the 15 former Soviet republics were run by former communists, as were many of the satellite states.

To put it bluntly, former communists have no interest in discussing the past.

But do we, in the West, remember the Soviet past any better?

For if we forget the Gulag, sooner or later we will forget our own history too. Why did we fight the Cold War, after all? Was it because crazed right-wing politicians, in cahoots with the military-industrial complex and the CIA, invented the whole thing and forced two generations of Americans to go along with it? Or was there something more important happening?

(Excerpt) Read more at heritage.org ...


TOPICS: History
KEYWORDS: coldwar; gulag; holocaust; russia; solzhenitsyn; sovietunion; ussr; wwii

1 posted on 02/02/2018 8:32:53 PM PST by GoldenState_Rose
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | View Replies]

To: GoldenState_Rose
>>One of the things that always strikes contemporary visitors to Russia is the lack of monuments to the victims of Stalin's execution squads and concentration camps. There are a few scattered memorials, but no national monument or place of mourning.

Even in the West vile Commies HATE such memorials:

VILE hatred of mankind and naked love of genocide. COMMUNISM KILLS.

2 posted on 02/02/2018 8:36:28 PM PST by a fool in paradise (Ask a lib if Alger Hiss colluded with the Russians.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: GoldenState_Rose

A good bit of Solzhenitsyn, himself, would get banned right on this very message board.


3 posted on 02/02/2018 8:39:18 PM PST by cdcdawg
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: GoldenState_Rose
For if we forget the Gulag, sooner or later we will forget our own history too

.

4 posted on 02/02/2018 8:56:37 PM PST by Elderberry
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: a fool in paradise

A very sad picture.

I like the girl with the dog-hair hood.

Dogs skinned alive in China, by pre-teens in sweat-shops,

and made into fashionable coats

for social justice warriors.


5 posted on 02/02/2018 9:00:23 PM PST by golux
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

To: GoldenState_Rose

Hey what else can you say ..... Leftists like to be oppressed.


6 posted on 02/02/2018 9:22:29 PM PST by jcon40 (The other post before yours really nails it for me. I have been a DOithS / PC guy forever and alway)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: jcon40

Exactly. The left has no interest in improving life for the lower classes, raising them UP and helping them find joy and happiness. No. The left’s goal is to upset and drag DOWN the upper classes toward the bottom and make everybody equally miserable. Obola strove for that.


7 posted on 02/02/2018 9:34:02 PM PST by Tucker39 ("It is impossible to rightly govern a nation without God and the Bible." George Washington)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 6 | View Replies]

To: jcon40

Leftists like TO oppress.


8 posted on 02/02/2018 9:59:35 PM PST by a fool in paradise (Ask a lib if Alger Hiss colluded with the Russians.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 6 | View Replies]

To: Tucker39

I notice that the Politburo types like Jane Fonda and Barack Obama prove that all animals are equal, some are more equal than others.

They don’t live in lower class squalor as they push for Communist/Marxist utopia. Wagu beef and million dollar mansions.

Suckers.


9 posted on 02/02/2018 10:10:22 PM PST by a fool in paradise (Ask a lib if Alger Hiss colluded with the Russians.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 7 | View Replies]

To: cdcdawg

A good bit of Solzhenitsyn, himself, would get banned right on this very message board.


Sadly, you are probably correct. He is one of my favorite authors...First started reading his works when I was in junior high on a long car trip thru Mexico~the tourist shop of one of our hotels sold his books in English—a luxury ;) Changed my perspective on poverty driving thru Mexico as well as driving thru rural Georgia on way home.

Should be required reading~tho I would say I was a little young to read some of the abuses detailed in his works..


10 posted on 02/02/2018 10:14:06 PM PST by Freedom56v2 (#KATE'SWALL Build it Now)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 3 | View Replies]

To: GoldenState_Rose

One of the greatest books I ever read was “Coming Out of the Ice” by American and Gulag survivor Victor Herman. Truly amazing - you never take anything for granted again after reading this book.

You also realize how important freedom is in America and how it must be protected at all costs from the wicked (both foreign & domestic enemies) who seek to take it away.


11 posted on 02/02/2018 10:57:56 PM PST by Lions Gate
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Lions Gate

Thank you so much for the book recommendation.


12 posted on 02/03/2018 12:27:22 AM PST by GoldenState_Rose
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 11 | View Replies]

To: Lions Gate; GoldenState_Rose

Vote Democrat across the board in the next election and get a chance to see all of that up close and personal. And no, I’m not exaggerating. They’ll do it to us the first chance they get. Go read the posts over at DU if you need convincing.


13 posted on 02/03/2018 4:10:31 AM PST by Hardastarboard (Three most annoying words on the internet - "Watch the Video")
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 11 | View Replies]

To: a fool in paradise

Just as in other times, the evil will be... evil. Is there really much we can do besides to try and influence events in our own time?


14 posted on 02/03/2018 6:33:28 PM PST by Mmmike
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
General/Chat
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson