ISSN: 2158-7051 ==================== INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF RUSSIAN STUDIES ==================== ISSUE NO. 11 ( 2022/2 ) |
PUTIN’S RUSSIA AND THE FALSIFICATION OF HISTORY, REASSERTING CONTROL OVER THE PAST, By Ayse Dietrich*, Published by Bloombury Academic, Written by Anton Weiss-Wendt, Year of Publishing: 2021.
Subject Area: History. Book Type: Chronicle. Total Number of Pages: 336. ISBN: 978-1350130555, paperback, $26.09.
Anton
Weiss-Wendt states that his book Putin’s Russia and the Falsification of
History, Reasserting Control over the Past is a chronicle that
reflects on Russian history politics. Weiss states that his intention in
writing this book is to demonstrate how
history-related practices
are used by Putin to strengthen
his power, and how the word politics is designed and manipulated from the top.
In
Chapter 1, the author discusses how authorities have consistently
restricted access to researchers, foreign and local correspondents. He states
that “policymaking on history in Putin’s Russia has three important elements: commitment
to the cause by the state, failure to find receptive foreign audiences to a
Russian perspective on history, and a stranglehold on academia at home”. He
believes that since 2012, the Russian government has strengthened its control
over history in order to forge a single, consistent policy on the writing of
history, however, the government’s undemocratic mindset has hobbled this effort
with substandard methodology and unachievable goals. Specifically, he states
that the Russian policymaking on history limits academic freedom; and the
government’s limitations on foreign research funds and restrictions on academic
travel, tie the hands of Russian historians and make them incapable of devising
new approaches to conduct research. Weiss claims that since the survival of the
regime depends on silencing the opposition, any interpretation of history
different from their view becomes “falsification.”
In Chapter 2, the author discusses the
major organizations, and government-funded bodies active in the field of Russian
historymaking in 2012. One of the organizations was the
Russian Historical Society (RIO), that acted as a nongovernmental
organization, but tightly linked to the government. The Historical Memory
Foundation (2008) and World without Nazism (2010) were
established to support the work of the Commission to Counteract Attempts to
Harm Russia’s Interests by Falsifying History (2009). The author
also talks about the role the Russian Orthodox Church has played in history making,
how Patriarch Kirill received support from the Night Wolves biker club, a highly
centralized quasi-paramilitary force that had close ties with Putin, and how
they established their presence in Russian history politics.
Chapter 3 The author talks about the Immortal
Regiment, a massive grassroots initiative during the Victory Day
celebration, and the cult of the Great Patriotic War, which has a religious
connotation, and the character of a civil religion. Being a sacred endeavor,
any questioning of the war becomes in and of itself a heresy. Weiss states that the Putin regime takes credit for a
record-high sense of pride in the Soviet
victory over Nazi Germany in today’s Russia. The author also talks about how critical
views on Stalin get censored. He states that Stalinism has deeply penetrated
the state’s foundational myth.
In Chapter 4, the author discusses a Soviet
modelled militaristic civic patriotic education program provided by the state
for five years in Putin’s Russia, to promote unquestioning support for the state’s
ideology, loyalty to the present authorities and intolerance toward opponents. Weiss
states that patriotism in Russia serves as a uniting factor for government and
pro-government agencies like the military and the Orthodox Church, the United Russia
Party and youth organizations, and that this patriotic education is provided
within the framework of
geopolitical confrontation with the West with an emphasis on military duty.
In Chapter 5, the author discusses the
process of Soviet style memorialization and monuments that have been built in
Russia since the late 2000s, and states that the statues
of tsars, saints, and
military men that have been erected in Putin’s Russia
manifests a penchant for historicism and reveal the government perspective on
history.
In Chapter 6, the author talks about
Holocaust commemoration in Putin’s Russia. The author states that the present
Russian discourse on the Holocaust is surprisingly similar to the late Soviet
one, and that it becomes significant only when it fits the story of a heroic
Red Army that saved Europe from the Nazis; and the story of a Jewish rebellion led
by the Red Army officer Pechersky in the Nazi death
camp Sobibor, and the Soviet liberation of
Auschwitz form the core of the official Russian narrative of the Holocaust.
In Chapter 7, Weiss examines the
efforts of the state to silence political dissent and the impact of articles in
the criminal code based on certain interpretations of history on nonconformist
individuals, memorial projects, and independent institutions.
In the Conclusion, the author states that his
book provides
evidences for the existence of a centralized state policy on history that influences historymaking
in Russia in order to strengthen Moscow’s position internationally since
the field of history is considered an essential part of soft power in Russia.
Putin’s
Russia and the Falsification of History, Reasserting Control over the Past provides a convincing picture of the state monopoly on the
writing of history under Putin and a detailed analysis of the results of this
policy in historical research and writing. The book is well-written and has an
extensive bibliography. While this book could be of interest to anyone in the
broad field of Russian history, it is of particular value to anyone with an
interest of the the use (and misuse) of history by
Russian political leaders.
*Ayse Dietrich - Professor, Part-time, at Middle East Technical University, Department of History and Eurasian Studies. Editor and the founder of the International Journal of Russian Studies (IJORS) e-mail: editor@ijors.net, dayse@metu.edu.tr, dietrichayse@yahoo.com
© 2010, IJORS - INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF RUSSIAN STUDIES