Gulag

[Andrey Shcherbenok]

Dear Alina, the BES you quoted says it quite accurately -- besides its
literal meaning (and the actual reality of the camp system which, you are
right, has quite verifiable existence), GULAG is a "symbol of totalitarian
regime as a whole". It is also a symbol of the fundamental criminality of
Soviet power (see Solzhenitsyn), the repressive nature of Soviet Communism
from its start to the late 1980s (not just 1934-1956), etc. These later
meanings, unlike the original one, are interpretations, not facts. They ARE
on a different plane than the location of the Atlantic ocean. My point is,
however, a more general one: when speaking about educational gaps one should
better try to speak about gaps in knowledge and lack of critical thinking,
not about morally reprehensible positions that result from these gaps. GULAG
is not a very good example precisely because it is a loaded term: if you
said that one cannot major in Soviet history without studying the
functioning of Soviet penitentiary system, because it played a very
important part in certain period of this history, that would be
incontrovertible. 

-----Original Message-----
From: SEELANGS: Slavic & East European Languages and Literatures list
[mailto:SEELANGS at BAMA.UA.EDU] On Behalf Of Alina Israeli
Sent: Sunday, February 03, 2008 2:45 PM
To: SEELANGS at BAMA.UA.EDU
Subject: Re: [SEELANGS] Gulag

БТС: ГУЛАГ - Государственное управление исправительно-трудовых  
лагерей, поселений и мест заключения. Существовало в 1934 - 1956 гг.  
при НКВД. | О социалистических странах Восточной Европы.  
Социалистический г. Восточноевропейский г.

In other words, it's an organization whose name metaphorically was  
applied to the system of camps: Bol'shoj Enciklopedicheskij  
slovar' (BES): термин "Г." стал синонимом лагерей и тюрем НКВД,  
тоталитарного режима в целом.

So what we see is a metaphorical extension of a meaning of a word to  
plug a hole where there is no word comparable to

[БЭС] Холокост - гибель значит. части евр. населения Европы (св. 6  
млн., св. 60%) в ходе систематич. преследования и уничтожения его  
нацистами и их пособниками в Германии и на захваченных ею терр. в 1933 
-45. Др. назв. - Катрстрофа.

One can deny the existence of Holocaust or Gulag, of course, but it  
would not be very different from denying the existence of the  
Atlantic ocean.


On Feb 3, 2008, at 1:48 PM, Andrey Shcherbenok wrote:

> I would like to observe that preferring this or that history  
> textbook or
> being on the left or on the right (the word GULAG, by the way, is  
> not a
> neutral word to describe Soviet penitentiary system, it predicates a
> particular radical interpretation of Soviet history, namely, that of
> Solzhenitsyn) is very different from knowing where Atlantic ocean  
> is located
> or who was fighting whom in the World War II.



Alina Israeli
LFS, American University
4400 Massachusetts Ave., NW
Washington DC. 20016
(202) 885-2387 	
fax (202) 885-1076
aisrael at american.edu




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