Russia erases memory of Soviet mass repressions

by Renato Caputo

Russian authorities are changing their attitude toward Soviet political repression: the General Prosecutor's Office of the Russian Federation intends to revise some decisions on the rehabilitation of victims. In addition, the concept on the victims of political repression has been completely cleaned up: already on June 20, references to the massive Soviet repression, provisions on the need to perpetuate the memory of their victims, and much more were removed. The main goal of the revision of history is to emphasize that "the state is stronger than the individual, and anyone who disagrees with this is a fool or an enemy," human rights activists say.

The Prosecutor General's Office of Russia has prepared a draft order, published on the official portal of legal acts. Documents on rehabilitation decisions will be transferred to government agencies. This is explained by the intention to "prevent the acquittal of Nazi collaborators and traitors to the Fatherland," says the General Prosecutor's Office of Russia. Too bad the 1991 Law on the Rehabilitation of Victims of Political Repression already prohibited the rehabilitation of those convicted of crimes specified by the Prosecutor General's Office. St. Petersburg deputy Boris Vishnevsky suggests that some cases might be reconsidered for political reasons. "The annulment of rehabilitation decisions could affect not so much those who were actually illegally rehabilitated, but rather those who need to be found guilty again based on the current situation, including people of Ukrainian, Baltic, and other origin. Those who are now considered "hostile," - Vishnevsky wrote in an article for Novaya Gazeta.

During the regime of Joseph Stalin and other leaders of the USSR, millions of people were victims of political repression. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, many of those who were repressed were rehabilitated. In recent years, several Russian cities have begun removing memorial signs and plaques dedicated to the victims of repression.

On June 20 this year, the Russian government introduced changes to the concept of state policy to perpetuate the memory of victims of political repression. The authorities significantly modified the document's preamble. Moscow removed the statement that "Russia cannot fully become a rule of law state and take a leading role in the world community without perpetuating the memory of many millions of its citizens who became victims of political repression." Moreover, the concept now says nothing about the persecution of representatives of religious denominations and representatives of the pre-revolutionary elite who remained in the country, forced collectivization and associated famine, and mass repressions, during which "millions of people were deprived of their lives, became prisoners of the Gulag, were deprived of their property, and subjected to deportation."

In addition, the section describing the rehabilitation process of victims of repression, including the number of those who have been rehabilitated and the fact that the rehabilitation process has not yet been completed, has been completely removed from the document. There is also no information on the decisions by which the repressions of the 1920s and 1950s were declared illegal and the rights of all victims of political repression were restored. Data on the recognition of political repressions in pre-Stalinist and post-Stalinist times have disappeared. Mentions of the massive scale of Soviet repressions have also been removed from the concept.