Posted on 02/05/2018 1:50:23 PM PST by GoldenState_Rose
In today’s Russia it is not fashionable to delve too deeply into Gulag history, and 60-year-old Panikarov’s collection is one of just two museums devoted entirely to the Gulag in the whole country. Indeed, even Panikarov himself has a somewhat surprising view:
“We should not have one-sided evaluations... “It was fashionable to say bad things about the USSR. Now it is again fashionable to insult Russia. We have sanctions against us. The west looks for negative things.”
Panikarov’s views on the Gulag are part of a larger trend. With the Soviet victory in the second world war elevated to a national rallying point under Vladimir Putin’s presidency, the forced labour camps, through which millions of Soviet citizens passed, are seen by many as an unfortunate but necessary by-product. In many museums and in much public discourse, the Gulag is not ignored completely, but is “contextualised” in a way that plays down the horror and pairs it with the war, suggesting the two come as a package.
Larisa says she teaches her students one lesson about the Gulag, in which she typically divides the blackboard into two parts. On one side she puts the “military and industrial achievements” of the Stalin period, and on the other, the “unfortunate side-effects”, and lets the students decide for themselves whether the repression was justified.
Olga Gureyeva, was arrested at the end of 1945 after the Soviets took back the region from the Nazis. Aged 16 at the time, she was arrested with her family for supposed Nazi collaboration and, after repeated beatings during interrogation, sentenced to 20 years of hard labour.
Now 87, and living in a small apartment in Magadan, Gureyeva is stooped, almost blind, and unable to say what happened to her without tears. Her stories are a litany of horrors...
(Excerpt) Read more at theguardian.com ...
“” “” The Royal Wedding attests to the strength of British institutions and Western Civilization’s continued relevance as the frame of reference for the world as a whole. They have been on the right side of history and they will bask.
And don’t diss Prince Harry. He’s a true soldier. A 10-year army veteran whose served on the front lines fighting terrorists.”” “”
MUHAHA! :)
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