The “Official” Version of the Katyn Massacre Disproven?
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Degradation, Restitution and the Elusive Culture of Rural-Urban Thinking
Degradation, restitution and the elusive culture of rural-urban thinking MIREK DYMITROW Dymitrow, Mirek (2017). Degradation, restitution and the elusive culture of rural-urban thinking. Fennia 195: 1, pp. 36–60. ISSN 1798-5617. Despite fierce criticisms, ‘rural’ and ‘urban’ still constitute powerful narratives around which we structure our society. The ‘formal reality’, however, frequently disregards the cultural nature of these concepts, elevating them to the role of objective spaces apt to serve as acceptable guiding perspectives. While the analytical inadequacy of rural-urban ideations is well-documented, the phenomenon of formal-cultural conflation remains much less explored. Acknowledging that ideational space of social representations can only exist through the practices of discursive interaction, this paper’s objective is to lay bare the phenomenon of rural-urban thinking when externalized through the little-known practices of ‘degradation’ and ‘restitution’ in Poland. Using conceptual methods, including discourse analysis and historical deconstruction, this paper assays the hidden architectures of formal-cultural conflation by means of a richly contextualized analysis. The findings, presented in four discursive openings, reveal embedded elements of hierarchy, loss, injustice and self-victimization, which may create a divisive culture spawned by elusive promises of development at the cost of misinterpretations of history, local disappointment and cultural segmentation. In conclusion, formal appropriation of historical concepts is likely to engender a cultural geography of discord spun around a largely insignificant division, especially when development-oriented aspects of urbanization become entwined with emotional issues. Keywords: rural-urban, cultural-formal, degradation, restitution, discourse analysis, Poland Mirek Dymitrow, Department of Economy and Society, Human Geography Unit, School of Business, Economics and Law, University of Gothenburg, P.O. -
State-Sponsored Violence in the Soviet Union: Skeletal Trauma and Burial Organization in a Post-World War Ii Lithuanian Sample
STATE-SPONSORED VIOLENCE IN THE SOVIET UNION: SKELETAL TRAUMA AND BURIAL ORGANIZATION IN A POST-WORLD WAR II LITHUANIAN SAMPLE By Catherine Elizabeth Bird A DISSERTATION Submitted to Michigan State University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Anthropology- Doctor of Philosophy 2013 ABSTRACT STATE-SPONSORED VIOLENCE IN THE SOVIET UNION: SKELETAL TRAUMA AND BURIAL ORGANIZATION IN A POST WORLD WAR II LITHUANIAN SAMPLE By Catherine Elizabeth Bird The Stalinist period represented one of the worst eras of human rights abuse in the Soviet Union. This dissertation investigates both the victims and perpetrators of violence in the Soviet Union during the Stalinist period through a site specific and regional evaluation of burial treatment and perimortem trauma. Specifically, it compares burial treatment and perimortem trauma in a sample (n = 155) of prisoners executed in the Lithuanian Soviet Socialist Republic (L.S.S.R.) by the Soviet security apparatus from 1944 to 1947, known as the Tuskulenai case. Skeletal and mortuary variables are compared both over time and between security personnel in the Tuskulenai case. However, the Tuskulenai case does not represent an isolated event. Numerous other sites of state-sponsored violence are well known. In order to understand the temporal and geographical distribution of Soviet violence, this study subsequently compares burial treatment and perimortem trauma observed in the Tuskulenai case to data published in site reports for three other cases of Soviet state-sponsored violence (Vinnytsia, Katyn, and Rainiai). This dissertation discusses state-sponsored violence in the Soviet Union in the context of social and political theory advocated by Max Weber and within a principal-agent framework. -
Rainian Uarter
e rainian uarter A JOURNAL OF UKRAINIAN AND INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS Volume LXIV, Numbers 1-2 Spring-Summer 2008 This issue is a commemorative publication on the 75th anniversary of the Stalin-induced famine in Ukraine in the years 1932-1933, known in Ukrainian as the Holodomor. The articles in this issue explore and analyze this tragedy from the perspective of several disciplines: history, historiography, sociology, psychology and literature. In memory ofthe "niwrtlered millions ana ... the graves unknown." diasporiana.org.u a The Ukrainian uarter'7 A JOURNAL OF UKRAINIAN AND INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS Since 1944 Spring-Summer 2008 Volume LXIV, No. 1-2 $25.00 BELARUS RUSSIA POLAND ROMANIA Territory of Ukraine: 850000 km2 Population: 48 millions [ Editor: Leonid Rudnytzky Deputy Editor: Sophia Martynec Associate Editor: Bernhardt G. Blumenthal Assistant Editor for Ukraine: Bohdan Oleksyuk Book Review Editor: Nicholas G. Rudnytzky Chronicle ofEvents Editor: Michael Sawkiw, Jr., UNIS Technical Editor: Marie Duplak Chief Administrative Assistant: Tamara Gallo Olexy Administrative Assistant: Liza Szonyi EDITORIAL ADVISORY BOARD: Anders Aslund Carnegie Endowment for International Peace Yaroslav Bilinsky University of Delaware, Newark, DE Viacheslav Brioukhovetsky National University of Kyiv-Mohyla Academy, Ukraine Jean-Pierre Cap Professor Emeritus, Lafayette College, Easton, PA Peter Golden Rutgers University, Newark, NJ Mark von Hagen Columbia University, NY Ivan Z. Holowinsky Rutgers University, New Brunswick, NJ Taras Hunczak Rutgers University, Newark, NJ Wsewolod Jsajiw University of Toronto, Canada Anatol F. Karas I. Franko State University of Lviv, Ukraine Stefan Kozak Warsaw University, Poland Taras Kuzio George Washington University, Washington, DC Askold Lozynskyj Ukrainian World Congress, Toronto Andrej N. Lushnycky University of Fribourg, Switzerland John S. -
Pilgrimage to the Holy Shrines of Russia
PILGRIMAGE TO THE HOLY SHRINES OF RUSSIA With the blessing of Archbishop Gabriel of Montreal and Canada a pilgrimage to the Holy Shrines of Moscow, Holy Trinity-Sergius Lavra, Tver Region, Vladimir, Murom, Diveevo, Mordovia and Raizan will be conducted between May 12 and May 27 of 2019 from Toronto, Canada. Spiritual director of the pilgrimage – Archpriest Vladimir Malchenko (view of the Monastery at Diveevo with the Holy relics of St. Seraphim of Sarov) 12 May, Sunday Flight from Toronto to Moscow via Lufthansa. 13 May, Monday Arrival to Moscow at Domodedovo and transfer to The 5 star hotel of the Pokrov Monastery where Holy relics of St. Matrona are located. Visitation of the Holy relics of St. Matrona. 14 May, Tuesday Holy Liturgy at the Pokrov Monastery. After breakfast visitation of the many churches and monasteries of Moscow. Visitation of the Kremlin Cathedrals, Kremlin museum “Armoury”, Red Square and city center. 15 May, Wednesday Holy Liturgy. Visitation of the many miracle icons of Moscow, churches, monasteries and the famous Tretiakov Art Gallery. 16 May, Thursday Holy Liturgy. After breakfast travel to Tver region and visitation of the famous Hermitage-Monastery of St. Nil of Stolobenskii. Evening service in the Monastery. Overnight in a nearby hotel. 17 May, Friday Holy Liturgy in the St. Nil Monastery with Holy Communion. After breakfast visitation of the ancient churches and shrines of the Tver region: Ostashkov, Torzhok, Staritza, the famous source of the mighty Volga River. Overnight in the city of Tver. 18 May, Saturday Holy Liturgy in the Resurrection Cathedral of Tver. -
Supply Base Report V1.1 MLT FINAL
Supply Base Report: MLT Ltd www.sustainablebiomasspartnership.org Focusing on sustainable sourcing solutions Completed in accordance with the Supply Base Report Template Version 1.1 For further information on the SBP Framework and to view the full set of documentation see www.sustainablebiomasspartnership.org Document history Version 1.0: published 26 March 2015 Version 1.1 published 22 February 2016 © Copyright The Sustainable Biomass Partnership Limited 2016 Supply Base Report: MLT Page ii Focusing on sustainable sourcing solutions Contents 1 Overview ........................................................................................................................................... 1 2 Description of the Supply Base ...................................................................................................... 2 2.1 General description ................................................................................................................................. 2 2.2 Actions taken to promote certification amongst feedstock supplier ...................................................... 10 2.3 Final harvest sampling programme ....................................................................................................... 10 2.4 Flow diagram of feedstock inputs showing feedstock type [optional] .................................................... 10 2.5 Quantification of the Supply Base ......................................................................................................... 10 3 Requirement for -
The Impact of Holodomor Studies on the Understanding of the USSR
The Impact of Holodomor Studies on the Understanding of the USSR Andrea Graziosi University of Naples Federico II Abstract: This paper investigates what the Holodomor tells us about the development and dynamics of Soviet history. It starts by examining the evolving relations between Stalin and the peasantry during the Soviet Union’s first decades as well as the social, economic, moral, and psychological consequences in the USSR after 1933 following the destruction of traditional rural society. The relationship between the Holodomor and the viability of the Soviet system will then be discussed along with the opportunities that history presented to the Soviet leadership after 1945 to reverse the country’s critical 1928-29 decisions. This leadership’s awareness of the tragedies of the 1930s in the countryside, as well as of their consequences, will then be raised, before shifting the focus to the linkage between the peasant and the national questions in Soviet history. In this context the Holodomor will be discussed as a tool to solve both the peasant and the national “irritants” caused by Ukraine to both the Soviet system and Stalin’s personal power. The legacy of such a “solution” will then be addressed, including a consideration to the background of the collapse of the Soviet system from the perspective of the sustainability of a state whose past is marred by unacknowledged genocidal practices. Finally, the consequences of the growing awareness of the Holodomor’s importance and nature on the USSR’s image will be discussed. In particular, the question of the “modernity” of the Soviet system and of the “modernizing” effects of Stalin’s 1928-29 policies will be raised. -
Reflections on Stalin and the Holodomor
Reflections on Stalin and the Holodomor Françoise Thom Paris-Sorbonne University (Paris IV) Abstract: The mechanisms and the chronology of the great crimes committed by totalitarian regimes are now well documented. While they may explain the mechanics of these events, they do not always explain why they transpired. The implementation of Stalin’s policy of collectivization and de-kulakization relied on dissimulation. Moreover, the pace of collectivization was justified by external threats, initially from Great Britain and Poland, and later extending to Japan. This made possible the branding of any political adversary as a traitor. As long as Stalin faced organized political opposition, he was unable to launch any maximal policies. After the defeat of Trotsky in December 1927 he was able to create crisis situations that ultimately furthered his own power. The offensive he unleashed against the peasants became a means of reinforcing his increasing dictatorship. The collectivization campaign employed the rational argument that the backward countryside needs to modernize production. Its ultimate aim, however, was the crushing of an independent peasantry. There are enlightening comparisons that can be made between collectivization in China and the USSR, which are explored in this essay. The resistance to collectivization was particularly strong amongst Ukrainians. Stalin, who had long regarded the national question as inseparable from the peasant question, deliberately chose mass starvation to break resistance to his will. The history of these events was for a long time shrouded in great secrecy until it began being discussed by Western scholars, becoming a matter of considerable debate between the “totalitarian” and “revisionist” schools of Soviet historiography. -
Remembering the Crimes of the Holodomor
Remembering the crimes of the Holodomor By Sarah Shah Referred to as a ‘bloodless war’1, the Holodomor (1932-1933) was an incomprehensible tragedy which led to countless avoidable Ukrainian deaths. The nature of such an appalling famine becomes increasingly eerie when considering how Ukraine is the third largest grain exporter2 and points to this event being deliberately man-made by Stalin’s policy of collectivisation, imposed as a genocide to weaken Ukrainian nationalism. Furthermore, the outrageous cover-up is still in full force: the Russian Federation considers it part of the wider Soviet Famine3, downplaying the suffering of individual nations. Failing to recognise the specific devastation in Ukraine appears flippant, especially considering current tensions. As Conquest writes, ‘the silence must surely be seen as the silence of complicity, or justification’4. Regardless of this debate, the unjust hardship is undeniable. It is necessary to break the silence to remember an event which should have never been forgotten. The Holodomor was undoubtedly significant on an individual basis, leading to as many as over 7 million deaths. Those who did live did not do so in luxury, as survivor Vera Smereka recounts ‘borscht… consisted of just water and herbs’5 and later attributes this to their swollen stomachs. This was very common, as many sources describe similar swelling due to use of water to combat hunger, and illustrates the extent of desperation to survive while also conveying an upsetting futility. Survivors were faced with difficult decisions which no doubt would later traumatise them in the long term, for example in Galina Smyrna’s account ‘my aunt went crazy – she ate her own child’6. -
The Holodomor National Awareness Tour: a Reflection on Teaching
The Councilor: A Journal of the Social Studies Volume 0 Number 1 Article 5 The Holodomor National Awareness Tour: A Reflection on Teaching Alexandra Marchel Canada-Ukraine Foundation, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://thekeep.eiu.edu/the_councilor Part of the Curriculum and Instruction Commons, Educational Methods Commons, and the History Commons Recommended Citation Marchel, Alexandra () "The Holodomor National Awareness Tour: A Reflection on eaching,T " The Councilor: A Journal of the Social Studies: Vol. 0 : No. 1 , Article 5. Available at: https://thekeep.eiu.edu/the_councilor/vol0/iss1/5 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Journals at The Keep. It has been accepted for inclusion in The Councilor: A Journal of the Social Studies by an authorized editor of The Keep. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Marchel: The Holodomor National Awareness Tour: A Reflection on Teaching The Councilor: A Journal of the Social Studies Volume 0, Number 1 REFLECTION The Holodomor National Awareness Tour: A Reflection on Teaching about Genocide Alexandra Marchel, PhD The Holodomor National Awareness Tour (Canada-Ukraine Foundation)1 “Does anyone have any questions?” I asked after finishing my introduction to the lesson. Several students put their heads down and promptly looked at their phones. My eyes must have revealed some concern. Their teacher explained: “They are using Google Translate to help with their English. They recently moved to Canada from Syria.” One student waved me down to show what she had written: “I understand this history. My government is trying to starve our population into submission.” Since 2018, I have been working as program manager and lead educator for the Holodomor National Awareness Tour on their Holodomor Mobile Classroom (HMC). -
Death at KATYN
) ' ..... 1 IJ DEATH AT- KATYN DEAtH AT KATYN Published by NATIONAL COMMITTEE of AMERICANS of POLISH DESCENT 105 EAST 22ND STREET NEW YORK, N. Y. Printed in U.S.A. I THE GRAYES OF KATYN The wooded region lying around Kosgory. near Smo MAGNA EST VERITAS ET PRAEVALEBIT lensk, j.s known to the local population as the Katyn This bookl~t is composed of two parts. The first is a Forest. Today this forest-land in one vast cemetery. In mass graves, piled systematically layer on layer, lie the resume of all the facts so far available which bear on the bodies of thousands of Polish officers captured by the massacre of thousands of officers, flower of the Polish Soviet Army in the autumn of 1939. More than 3,000 of Army, whose murdered bodies were found lying in mass these bodies have already been disinterred, and there is graves near Smolensk, in the spring of 1943. The second reason to believe that the total number may exceed section is the personal narrative of a P'blish officer who 8,000. These men who, as prisoners of war, wer.e under by good fortune escaped the fate of his comrades-in-arms. the protection of the provisions of the Hague Conven tion and of the enactments of the Geneva agreements, The Publishers. were murdered in cold blood. one by one, by a single shot accurately fired into the base of the skull. Who Murdered The Polish Officers? For more than a year the question of who is responsible for this mass murder at Katyn has been the subject of controversy in the press of the world. -
The Crime of Genocide Committed Against the Poles by the USSR Before and During World War II: an International Legal Study, 45 Case W
Case Western Reserve Journal of International Law Volume 45 | Issue 3 2012 The rC ime of Genocide Committed against the Poles by the USSR before and during World War II: An International Legal Study Karol Karski Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarlycommons.law.case.edu/jil Part of the International Law Commons Recommended Citation Karol Karski, The Crime of Genocide Committed against the Poles by the USSR before and during World War II: An International Legal Study, 45 Case W. Res. J. Int'l L. 703 (2013) Available at: https://scholarlycommons.law.case.edu/jil/vol45/iss3/4 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Student Journals at Case Western Reserve University School of Law Scholarly Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in Case Western Reserve Journal of International Law by an authorized administrator of Case Western Reserve University School of Law Scholarly Commons. Case Western Reserve Journal of International Law Volume 45 Spring 2013 Issue 3 The Crime of Genocide Committed Against the Poles by the USSR Before and During WWII: An International Legal Study Karol Karski Case Western Reserve Journal of International Law·Vol. 45·2013 The Crime of Genocide Committed Against the Poles The Crime of Genocide Committed Against the Poles by the USSR Before and During World War II: An International Legal Study Karol Karski* The USSR’s genocidal activity against the Polish nation started before World War II. For instance, during the NKVD’s “Polish operation” of 1937 and 1938, the Communist regime exterminated about 85,000 Poles living at that time on the pre- war territory of the USSR. -
New Security Architecture’ in Europe: a Critical Examination of the Concept
Russia and its ‘New Security Architecture’ in Europe: A Critical Examination of the Concept CEPS Working Document No. 310/February 2009 Andrey S. Makarychev Abstract The paper first summarises Russia’s present critique of the international security architecture and its aspiration to build something new and better. The author then presents a matrix of four models of international society as a framework within which to try and discern what Russia may be seeking. While it is clear that Russia objects to one of these models, that of a unipolar US-led world, its current foreign policy discourse and actions offer no clear guidance as to what its aims are in this regard, as there are confusions and contradictions in the different elements of official Russian discourse. CEPS Working Documents are intended to give an indication of work being conducted within CEPS research programmes and to stimulate reactions from other experts in the field. Unless otherwise indicated, the views expressed are attributable only to the author in a personal capacity and not to any institution with which he is associated. ISBN 978-92-9079-852-1 Available for free downloading from the CEPS website (http://www.ceps.eu) © Centre for European Policy Studies, 2009 Contents Russia’s critique of the existing security architecture and the search for a new one .................... 1 Four models of international society............................................................................................. 4 Russia and the four models ........................................................................................................