65-letie dnya pobedy -- did USSR fight Nazism or Germany?
Andrey Shcherbenok
shcherbenok at GMAIL.COM
Mon May 10 16:21:28 UTC 2010
I must disagree with the previous message considering ideological stakes of
Soviet - German war.
Whatever our views on the structural similarity/dissimilarity between Nazism
and Stalinism might be, it is a simple historical fact that in the USSR
throughout the 1930s (with a 2-year break between Molotov-Ribbentrop pact
and June 1941, during which Soviet propaganda was tactically silenced on
this matter to appease Hitler), and from 1941 until present the struggle
with Hitler's regime was consistently framed as a struggle against inhuman
Nazi ideology. It is true that the term "Fascism" is a misnomer here, but it
was used to mean precisely what is meant in English by Nazism. One should
not forget that the Soviet state was the one to officially expose Nazi's
mistreatment of Jews (cf. film Professor Mamlok (1938) -- the film was then
banned in the UK and several US states), support anti-fascist (here the word
is used correctly) forces in Spanish civil war, etc. The whole generation of
the 1930s was raised to hate Nazism, more from humanistic rather than class
standpoint, and this propaganda was only increased during the war. Film Zoya
(1944) presents a very memorably story of Soviet children's anti-Nazi
upbringing in the 1930s, with a special emphasis put on Nazi's destruction
of German culture and European culture.
Best regards,
Andrey Shcherbenok
----
Dr. Andrey Shcherbenok
Royal Society Newton International Fellow
Department of Russian and Slavonic Studies
University of Sheffield, Jessop West
1 Upper Hanover St, Sheffield S3 7RA
United Kingdom
-----Original Message-----
From: SEELANGS: Slavic & East European Languages and Literatures list
[mailto:SEELANGS at bama.ua.edu] On Behalf Of FRISON Philippe
Sent: Monday, May 10, 2010 4:45 PM
To: SEELANGS at bama.ua.edu
Subject: Re: [SEELANGS] 65-letie dnya pobedy
Just for historic propriety (in English at least),
In departure from what is (still) written in Russian, the Soviets never
fought against
"fascism" for the simple reason that fascism was an Italian internal system
which had no
bearing on Soviet Union except may be for the Rapallo treaty
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Treaty_of_Rapallo,_1922)
by which Stalin helped Germany to circumvent the ban on arms control imposed
after the First
World War.
For me it is even questionable that the Soviets fought Nazism, as they
carried out a bitter
fight against German armies which invaded their land (and paid a dear price
for that), but
certainly against the system as such, as discrimination against Jews and
other minorities
went on after the war in Soviet Union.
It is true to say that Nazism was is the ideology which led Germany attack
neighbouring
countries (especially those with a German minority), but as exemplified by
Vassily Grossman,
Nazism and Stalinism had much in common.
The Alsatians (of which I am) too fought against Germany definitely not
against fascism.
As a Westerner, I am always puzzled when Russian friends send me wishes on
"Pobeda day",
as for me it is not a victory day, but rather a day of mourning at the end
of a bloody war,
the wounds of which (and of Europe division) are still not completely
healed.
Unfortunately Mitterrand thought of it somehow differently and made May 8th
a public holiday
in France because of this doubtful "victory".
Hoping not to start another debate (please answer if needed off-list).
Philippe Frison
(Strasbourg, France)
-----Original Message-----
From: SEELANGS: Slavic & East European Languages and Literatures list
[mailto:SEELANGS at bama.ua.edu] On Behalf Of /Elena Baraban/
Sent: Monday 10 May 2010 17:19
To: SEELANGS at bama.ua.edu
Subject: Re: [SEELANGS] 65-letie dnya pobedy
I wish to comment on yesterday's messages.
I find it strange that in North America, a discussion of what the
Victory Day still means for people (most?/many? people) from the
former USSR, immediately becomes an opportunity of framing these
people's sentiments in terms of Stalinism or neo-Stalinism.
Yesterday, many of my friends (people between 28-70 years old) who had
left the Soviet Union or Russia long time ago or were born somewhere in
outside Russia from parents of the post-1917 immigration got together,
called each other or at east sent e-mails to mark the V-Day... What does
Stalinism have to do with it? Maybe instead of labling war experience that
makes sense to Russians (and non-Russians) of different generations as
myth it's time we find a slightly different framework for discussing war
narratives, old and new?
I have no idea what's the source of the information posted below
re: the Russians' complete unaware of the American and British
participation in th war against Hitler... But I do remember watching a
documentary that featured interviews with college students from US who
were completely unaware of the Soviet contribution to the victory over
fascism. One of these people even stated that the war was actually
between US and the USSR...
On V-E Day (8 May) a Candian radio station mentioned celebrations of V-E
Day in Ottawa, London, Washington, and New York, and about the
veterans... And not a single word of how the Victory Day is celebrated in
the former USSR... As if the Cold-war mentality is to stay here forever...
Regards,
Elena
At Sun, 9 May 2010 17:13:39 -0400, Alina Israeli wrote:
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>
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