Friday, October 09, 2009

FSB Arrests Historian of Stalinist Repression Against Russian-Germans

On 13 September 2009, the FSB arrested and interrogated Mikhail Suprun of Pomorsky State University of Arkhangelsk in connection with his research on Stalin era repression of Russian-Germans. They seized his computers and databases as well as a large number of books and documents. He was working on creating a memory book for the Russian-German victims of the Gulag's labor camps and special settlements in Arkhangelsk. Assisting him in this endeavor was Aleksandr Dudarev, the Head of the Information Center of the Arkhangelsk MVD, who provided Suprun with access to the relevant archives. The Russian government intends to prosecute both Professor Suprun and Col. Dudarev for their research into Stalinist repression. The official charges against Suprun are "divulging personal information" that is collecting the names and other biographical data of individual Russian-Germans repressed by Stalin for publication. He is also charged with urging Dudarev to abuse his authority by granting him access to the Arkhangelsk MVD archives. For more information see the links below.

http://www.khpg.org/en/index.php?id=1254770164

http://www.khpg.org/en/index.php?id=1254517948

3 comments:

Unknown said...

The Russians myth of being exploited by the west and the "Great Patriotic War" will never allow for Germans to be persecuted, especially prior to the Holocaust.

Gabriele Goldstone said...

Unbelievable! It makes me feel stronger about my kid book coming out next month. My mom's cousin was sent to up to the Arklengsk (?) area. My mom herself went to the Tomsk region. And now that the survivors are dying they want the truth to die with them. Disgusting.

I find your blog very interesting. Thank you.

J. Otto Pohl said...

Yaro and Gabe: The Russian government's supression of historical research on Stalinist repression of Russian-Germans is indeed disturbing. It does appear that Gabe is right. The Russian government would like the survivors to die quitely without disturbing their vision of a glorious Stalinist past. Research on the fate of "troublesome" minorities like the Russian-Germans is not at all welcome in this scheme.