[aaus-list] Fwd: Russian "reversionism?" Russia's archivist disputes Ukraine Famine/Holomodor was genocide ... and more.

[Natalia Pylypiuk]

Colleagues,
With apologies for double postings, I forward a thread that has  
appeared on H-Russia.
Any comments on this exchange?
Regards,
N. Pylypiuk (U of Alberta)

Begin forwarded message:

> From: Dave Pretty <prettyd at WINTHROP.EDU>
> Date: March 6, 2009 4:39:28 AM MST (CA)
> To: H-RUSSIA at H-NET.MSU.EDU
> Subject: Re: Russian "reversionism?"  Russia's archivist disputes  
> Ukraine Famine/Holomodor was genocide ... and more.
> Reply-To: H-Net Russian History list <H-RUSSIA at H-NET.MSU.EDU>
>
> 	
> Date: 	Fri, 6 Mar 2009 09:13:26 +0000 (GMT)
> From: 	ALEX MARSHALL <alex.marshall3 at btopenworld.com>
>
> 3.5 million dead in the Ukraine is now generally recognised to be  
> far closer to the mark than 6-10 million. The higher figures usually  
> refer to famine across the Soviet Union as a whole at that time  
> (Kazakhstan, North Caucasus). Certain historians go for the higher  
> figure in regard to the Ukraine alone because they want to outdo the  
> Holocaust. The charge of genocide has been fairly thoroughly  
> disproved for a long time now-I refer you to the work of Stephen  
> Wheatcroft, Wheatcroft and R W Davies, and the excellent summary by  
> Hiroaki Kuromiya in volume 60 issue 4 of Europe-Asia Studies, 2008.  
> The most obvious rejoinder is that the Soviet government did  
> eventually implement famine relief measures, both at the time and  
> again in 1935-6, see-I. E. Zelenin, Stalinskaia 'revoliutsiia  
> sverkhu' posle 'velikogo pereloma' Moscow 2006
>
> I find the current situation deeply ironic. Russian historiography,  
> with certain obvious execptions, is generally moving in the right  
> direction-towards an attempt at abstract truth, with many contested  
> interpretations. A lot of Western historiography by contrast remains  
> locked in the Cold War era, where Ann Applebaum, Abdurrakhman  
> Avtorkhanov and Robert Conquest remain the last word on a subject.
>
> Alex Marshall
>
>
> ________________________________
> From: Dave Pretty <prettyd at WINTHROP.EDU>
> To: H-RUSSIA at H-NET.MSU.EDU
> Sent: Wednesday, 4 March, 2009 10:35:11 PM
> Subject: Russian "reversionism?" Russia's archivist disputes Ukraine  
> Famine/Holomodor was genocide ... and more.
>
>   Date:     Wed, 25 Feb 2009 19:30:30 -0800 (PST)
> From:     Lou Coatney <cl52 at yahoo.com>
>
>
> In the Guardian newspaper's Comment Is Free (CIF) section last  
> December
> was the article by Vladimir Putin's personal spokesman Dmitry Peskov
>
>
> "It is ludicrous to compare modern Russia with the old Soviet
> Union:  We are a fully integrated part of the global economy, and
> we respect our neighbours' borders, says Dmitry Peskov" at
>
> http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2008/dec/17/russia-not-soviet-union-putin
>
> (His previous CIF column had decried the London-based Russian oligarch
> Berezovsky's publicly proclaimed intent to overthrow the Russian
> government by violent means, if necessary.)
>
>
> Note my two (uncensored) responses to Peskov, asking why if that is
> true was one Aleksandr Sabov in the official Russian Gazette newspaper
> disputing the authenticity of the NKVD order authorizing the execution
> of thousands of Polish officers, cadets, intelligentsia at Katyn and
> elsewhere in early 1940 ... and would Putin and Medvedev make a public
> statement revalidating the NKVD's guilt for the crime?
>
> Now, we have another historical offensive, regarding the intent and  
> extent of the Ukraine Famine -- the Holomodor:
>
> "Russia:  Famine that killed millions not genocide," by Steve  
> Gutterman, Associated Press
>
> http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090225/ap_on_re_eu/eu_russia_great_famine/print
>
> Archivist Kozlov is claiming that the mass murder was class- -- not
> nationality- -- oriented (against kulaks, the independent farmers,
> throughout the Soviet Union) and that the number of deaths is greatly
> exaggerated.
>
> My research experience with the Katyn Massacre showed that, if
> anything, the number of the NKVD's victims were typically
> underestimated -- vastly -- and I'll go with the Library of Congress's
> information page on the Ukraine Famine, with its estimate of 6-7
> million dead, at
>
> http://www.loc.gov/exhibits/archives/ukra.html
>
> I am confident that Librarian of Congress James Billington would not  
> have allowed an irresponsible estimate.
>
> And as to whether or not the Holomodor qualifies as genocide, if the
> Ukrainians suffered a disproportionate number of victims as opposed to
> the rest of the Soviet Union, an empirical conclusion of "genocide"
> could stand.
>
> If this historical "reversionism" -- regarding responsibility for  
> Katyn
> and the intent and extent of the Holomodor -- is to be a growing trend
> and inherent part of Russia's resurgence, the West is in for trouble
> and not just academically ... not that our "neoconservative"
> governments haven't done everything possible to provoke the Russians
> the past 10 years.
>
> What are other historians' opinions (especially from Russia) of  
> these recent historigraphical developments?
>
>
> Lou Coatney, Macomb Illinois, http://LCoat.tripod.com (Free  
> mililitary/naval history boardgames, etc.)
>

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