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Russian History Books Accused of
By MARIA DANILOVA, Associated Press Writer Mon Aug 16,10:27 PM ET MOSCOW - If you can judge a book by its cover, then the "History of Russia and the World in the 20th Century" tells students the Soviet past was all pride and glory — three of four cover photos invoke Soviet propaganda images. That goes for what's inside too: the textbook for Russian high school seniors touts the Soviet system's achievements — but treads lightly, if at all, on its failures and abuses. It is virtually mute on the deportation of ethnic groups under Josef Stalin that left hundreds of thousands dead and sowed the resentment that exploded in Chechnya a half-century later. The Gulag labor camp system gets scant attention and anti-Semitism the barest of mentions. "Labor camps, what labor camps? Those were summer camps!" President Vladimir Putin — a former KGB officer who has resurrected such Soviet symbols as the anthem and the military's red star — is a strong proponent of instilling Russia's young people with national pride. But critics warn that sanitizing Russia's tormented history will leave students unprepared to cope with the challenges they face in the post-Soviet era. "The Gulag is given minimal coverage in textbooks. Yet without the Gulag, they cannot understand the history of the Soviet Union and Russia. Without these pages, their education will not be complete," said Semyon Vilensky, a 76-year-old survivor of the Gulag labor camp system who heads an association that documents the horrors of the Stalin era. Posted by: Zenster 2004-08-17 |
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