Comments on: Historian arrested http://russian-front.com/2009/10/16/historian-arrested/ Fri, 16 Dec 2011 12:37:02 -0600 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.4 hourly 1 By: THE RUSSIAN FRONT » Suprun update http://russian-front.com/2009/10/16/historian-arrested/comment-page-1/#comment-438 THE RUSSIAN FRONT » Suprun update Tue, 10 Nov 2009 17:22:59 +0000 http://russian-front.com/?p=165#comment-438 [...] struck me originally about this case appears to be borne out: this is about local issues more than President Dmitrii Medvedev’s [...] [...] struck me originally about this case appears to be borne out: this is about local issues more than President Dmitrii Medvedev’s [...]

]]> By: J. Otto Pohl http://russian-front.com/2009/10/16/historian-arrested/comment-page-1/#comment-428 J. Otto Pohl Tue, 20 Oct 2009 04:52:44 +0000 http://russian-front.com/?p=165#comment-428 Attitudes towards Germany as a state and ethnic Germans in the USSR are two very different things. The Germans in the USSR were always portrayed as Nazis and treated as scapegoats for Hitler's crimes even as the Soviet government heaped praise upon the DDR. So it is nothing new for Russians to support a German state and practice discrimination against Russian-Germans. It is not much different from the fact that elements of the French Right are both anti-semitic and pro-Zionist. I have been hearing a number of stories about FSB intimidation of Russian-German scholars recently, I have no doubt that this is because they are considered to be an easy first target. They are after all the largest nationality in the RF with no republic to protect them. Attitudes towards Germany as a state and ethnic Germans in the USSR are two very different things. The Germans in the USSR were always portrayed as Nazis and treated as scapegoats for Hitler’s crimes even as the Soviet government heaped praise upon the DDR. So it is nothing new for Russians to support a German state and practice discrimination against Russian-Germans. It is not much different from the fact that elements of the French Right are both anti-semitic and pro-Zionist. I have been hearing a number of stories about FSB intimidation of Russian-German scholars recently, I have no doubt that this is because they are considered to be an easy first target. They are after all the largest nationality in the RF with no republic to protect them.

]]> By: DStone http://russian-front.com/2009/10/16/historian-arrested/comment-page-1/#comment-427 DStone Mon, 19 Oct 2009 15:32:32 +0000 http://russian-front.com/?p=165#comment-427 Otto--glad to have you joining in. I see a few reasons to question this line of argument. One is that it seems fairly clear to me that the Russian government sees Germany as its best friend in Europe. The British, the French, and certainly the East Europeans have been generally less friendly to Russian initiatives. In terms of the public resonance, I'm likewise skeptical. The <a href="http://bd.english.fom.ru/report/cat/frontier/blocks/NATO/Germany/egur050408" rel="nofollow">latest poll data I found were from 2005</a>, but they seem in line with what I've seen in the Russian press. In that data, 6% of Russians have a negative attitude towards Germany (21% towards the US). 70% believe Germant is a friendly country; only 13% see Germany as unfriendly (46% believe the US is unfriendly). In other words, if there's mass anti-German sentiment, it's hard to see the evidence for it. Otto–glad to have you joining in.

I see a few reasons to question this line of argument. One is that it seems fairly clear to me that the Russian government sees Germany as its best friend in Europe. The British, the French, and certainly the East Europeans have been generally less friendly to Russian initiatives.

In terms of the public resonance, I’m likewise skeptical. The latest poll data I found were from 2005, but they seem in line with what I’ve seen in the Russian press. In that data, 6% of Russians have a negative attitude towards Germany (21% towards the US). 70% believe Germant is a friendly country; only 13% see Germany as unfriendly (46% believe the US is unfriendly).

In other words, if there’s mass anti-German sentiment, it’s hard to see the evidence for it.

]]> By: J. Otto Pohl http://russian-front.com/2009/10/16/historian-arrested/comment-page-1/#comment-426 J. Otto Pohl Mon, 19 Oct 2009 12:25:36 +0000 http://russian-front.com/?p=165#comment-426 I think Suprun's case is a test case to see if they can get away with ending research into Stalinist crimes in the Russian Federation. A necessary step in part of a plan to basically rehabilitate Stalin. Suprun was chosen precisely because he was researching Russian-Germans who must always be portrayed as a Nazi "fifth column" in the Soviet mythology of WWII. I am guessing that the Russian government believes, correctly in my opinon, that the majority of Russians are not only pro-Stalin, but also harbor racist views of ethnic Germans and will go along with the persecution of Suprun and Dudarev due to their connections with the German Red Cross. I think Suprun’s case is a test case to see if they can get away with ending research into Stalinist crimes in the Russian Federation. A necessary step in part of a plan to basically rehabilitate Stalin. Suprun was chosen precisely because he was researching Russian-Germans who must always be portrayed as a Nazi “fifth column” in the Soviet mythology of WWII. I am guessing that the Russian government believes, correctly in my opinon, that the majority of Russians are not only pro-Stalin, but also harbor racist views of ethnic Germans and will go along with the persecution of Suprun and Dudarev due to their connections with the German Red Cross.

]]>