The 70th anniversary of the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact and the beginning of the WW II, its causes and culprits, and also a PACE resolution equating Nazism and Stalinism, are being widely discussed in the Russian media. Under the guidance of various western political circles operating in Russia, this discussion has turned into a real campaign involving some politicians, journalists and also the most vulnerable groups: women, young people, national and religious minorities.
The question is whether this campaign was plotted deliberately overseas? I believe it was. Remember who and why attempts to rewrite the history of the bloodiest war ever. Not to let Russia strengthen its position on the international scene, the West is using all means to diminish the role of the Soviet Union in the WW II.
The US seems to be playing the leading role here. The State Department provides unspoken support to the states which governments are pursuing Russia for “the crimes of the totalitarian Communist regime”. These sentiments are especially strong in the countries formerly comprising the Warsaw Pact and in the post-Soviet area, first of all in Georgia and Ukraine.
Poland and Baltic states seem to be taking the most active part in this ‘conspiracy’. The non-acceptance of geopolitical results of the war is the core of ideology of the Polish right-wing factions (the ruling Civil Platform as well as the opposition Right and Justice).
The Baltic authorities hope to use a theory of ‘illegitimate post-war world order’ to justify its claims to Russia. Thus, Lithuania plans to suggest the creation of a special court to investigate “the Soviet genocide” case, where Russia would be a respondent. Apart from this, nationalists from the Union for Fatherland are also going to put the status of the Russian Kaliningrad region on the agenda at the European Parliament. Estonia hopes to present its claims for the territories in the Pskov and Leningrad regions of Russia.
‘Occupational’ approach to the newest history is getting more popular in post-Soviet states as well. The local authorities are blaming Russia for ‘humiliating’ minor nations and are posing themselves as ‘victims of Russian imperialism’. Ukraine panders to it in a most active way. The official Kiev welcomes heroization of militants from the Ukrainian Insurgent army and other independence fighters (S. Bandera, R. Shukhevitch, e.t.c).
In their attempt to rewrite WW II history, the western governments address some research centers to have a detailed plan of how to hold scientific discussions on war memorials and burial places somehow related to the Soviet army, and also on how to organize neo-Nazi marches and offer privileges to former SS officers.
This policy results in the creation of the so-called ‘museums of occupation’ and ‘national remembrance institutions’. These organizations enjoy stable financial support from the government and grants from abroad and thus have plenty of money to ‘carry out investigation’ into Russia’s occupation of adjacent states and other ‘war crimes’. The names of the researches speak for themselves. ‘Museums of occupation’ have been opened in the Baltic states (Museum of Genocide in Lithuania and Military Museum in Latvia) and in Georgia (Museum of Occupation) and in Kiev (Museum of Soviet Occupation, 2007).
The Institute of National Remembrance-Commission of the Prosecution of Crimes Against the Polish Nation was established in Poland in 1998 with a special bill and focuses on the investigation of crimes against the Polish citizens in the period from 1944 to 1990.
There is also a national remembrance institute in Slovakia, headed by I. Petransky, an active member of the neo-Nazi movement which took part in campaigns in memory of a Slovakian dictator and Hitler`s ally Jozef Tiso. The Institute for the Study of Totalitarian Regimes was founded in Romania in 1993. It deals with the collection and analysis of the information related with socialism in Romania.
The Institute for Information for the Crimes of Communism was established in the Czech Republic in 1995, its aim being to investigate crimes against humanity committed by the communist regime. In 2007 there was also found the Institute for the Study of Totalitarian Regimes which deals with the ‘epoch of Communism’ (1948-1989) and Nazi occupation of the Czech Republic.
The Commission of the Historians of Latvia was established in Latvia in 1998. Adviser to the Latvian President on History Issues Antonijs Zunda is among members of the commission. The main task of the Commission is to provide state officials with the information they need to be successful in their rhetoric about ‘Two Occupations’ (Soviet and German) in the period from 1940 to 1991. There is also a Center for Documentation of the Consequences of Totalitarianism of the Constitution Protection Bureau and a governmental commission for identifying the victims of ‘totalitarian communist occupational regime of the Soviet Union’, routes of deportation and their burial places.
In early 1990s in Lithuania there was founded the Genocide and Resistance Research Center, which later received the status of a department in the Cabinet of Ministers. The center provides legal assessment on the crimes committed by the communist regimes against Lithuanians.
But the biggest number of institutions dealing with the problem of occupation is in Estonia. They are: Estonian International Commission for Investigation of Crimes against Humanity, a center for studies of the Soviet period, a bureau for registration of the repressed, the Kistler-Ritso Foundation and also the State Commission for studying repressive policies of the occupational regimes. This commission released the “White Book of Losses Estonia Suffered During the Occupations”. The edition was used to boost a large-scale anti-Russian campaign. In November 2007, a remembrance institute was established in Estonia as well. In May 2008 the Foundation for Investigating Crimes Committed by Communist regimes said its aim was to “condemn Communism as criminal ideology”.
The city of Lviv in western Ukraine was the first in the post-Soviet area to take up the baton from its neighbors in the Baltic states. A governmental commission for studying the history of the Ukrainian Insurgent Army and rehabilitation of its members was established there. Independent western experts also name some other organizations in Ukraine which have obvious anti-Russian tasks: the Institute of Ukraine Studies, the Institute of Ethno-National Research, the Institute of Philosophy. The staff of these institutions mainly deals with the Holodomor (1933) and heroization of such controversial figures like Shukhevich, Bandera, Konovalets and other members of various insurgent groups.
Following the initiative of the Ukrainian President Victor Yushchenko, on May 31 2006 there was established a national remembrance institution to promote the belief that Ukrainians were starved to death due to the Soviet politics and that members of the insurgent movements of 1920-50ss in Ukraine were national heroes.
Some countries of the Eastern Europe and the CIS, following the instructions from Washington and PACE, insist that ‘both totalitarian regimes are equally responsible for unleashing the war’. Here I should quote Efraim Zurov, director of the Israeli branch of Simon Wiesenthal Center, who said that by equating crimes committed by Hitler to those of the Communists, the governments of Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia have practically invalidated the former. “The idea is the following: by talking about Communist genocide to distract public attention from the extermination of the Jews by the Baltic armies during the Nazi occupation… When the EU, US, Israel and all the Jews living worldwide failed to make the Baltic states take responsibility for the Holocaust, the Baltic governments launched their campaign of equating Nazism to Communism”, Zurov says. 1
A special commission under the auspices of the Russian President is expected to play a crucial role in consolidating efforts of different scientific and political organizations aimed at resisting the attempts to distort historical facts and damage Russia’s national interests. The suffering endured by the Russian people during the WW II is the strongest thing that unites all people, as well as the Victory Day, despite their political preferences and financial well-being. However, it does not mean that this commission will complete its work after the celebrations of the 65th anniversary of victory in 2010 are over. It should work systematically. Sadly, this is what we cannot see today.
To resist the US-led anti-Russian campaign, it would be the right thing to establish non-governmental organizations in Russia and in the countries formerly comprising the anti-Hitler coalition,and also in Germany, Israel, Italy, Spain, Japan, and use media outlets around the globe to let people know the truth about this tragic page in the history of the 20th century.
