Katyn and Its Prelude Stalin’S Polish Policy
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Exorcising Stalin's Ghost
TURNING BACK TOTALITARIANISM: Exorcising Stalin’s Ghost Matthew R. Newton The Evergreen State College N e w t o n | 1 "During times of universal deceit, telling the truth becomes a revolutionary act." --George Orwell The death of Joseph Stalin left the Soviet Union in a state of dynastic confusion, and the most repressive elements of the society he established remained. After Nikita Khrushchev secured power in the mid-1950s, he embarked on a campaign to vanquish these elements. While boldly denouncing Stalin’s cult of personality and individual authority in his ‘Secret Speech’ of 1956, he failed to address the problems of a system that allowed Stalin to take power and empowered legions of Stalin-enablers. Khrushchev’s problem was complex in that he wanted to appease the entire Communist Party of the Soviet Union in 1956 and yet legitimize his position of power. The level of embeddedness of Stalinism in the Soviet Union was the biggest obstacle for Khrushchev. Characterized with the “permanent” infrastructure of the Soviet Union, Stalin’s autocratic rule was intertwined with virtually all aspects of Soviet life. These aspects can be broken down into four elements: Stalin’s status as an absolute champion of Communism, and his cult of personality; the enormous amount of propaganda in all forms that underlined Stalin as the “protector” of the Soviet Union during threat and impact of foreign war, and the censorship of any content that was not aligned with this mindset; the necessity and place of the Gulag prison camp in the Soviet economy, and how it sustained itself; and the transformation of Soviet society into something horrifically uniform and populated with citizens whom were universally fearful of arrest and arbitrary repression. -
Title of Thesis: ABSTRACT CLASSIFYING BIAS
ABSTRACT Title of Thesis: CLASSIFYING BIAS IN LARGE MULTILINGUAL CORPORA VIA CROWDSOURCING AND TOPIC MODELING Team BIASES: Brianna Caljean, Katherine Calvert, Ashley Chang, Elliot Frank, Rosana Garay Jáuregui, Geoffrey Palo, Ryan Rinker, Gareth Weakly, Nicolette Wolfrey, William Zhang Thesis Directed By: Dr. David Zajic, Ph.D. Our project extends previous algorithmic approaches to finding bias in large text corpora. We used multilingual topic modeling to examine language-specific bias in the English, Spanish, and Russian versions of Wikipedia. In particular, we placed Spanish articles discussing the Cold War on a Russian-English viewpoint spectrum based on similarity in topic distribution. We then crowdsourced human annotations of Spanish Wikipedia articles for comparison to the topic model. Our hypothesis was that human annotators and topic modeling algorithms would provide correlated results for bias. However, that was not the case. Our annotators indicated that humans were more perceptive of sentiment in article text than topic distribution, which suggests that our classifier provides a different perspective on a text’s bias. CLASSIFYING BIAS IN LARGE MULTILINGUAL CORPORA VIA CROWDSOURCING AND TOPIC MODELING by Team BIASES: Brianna Caljean, Katherine Calvert, Ashley Chang, Elliot Frank, Rosana Garay Jáuregui, Geoffrey Palo, Ryan Rinker, Gareth Weakly, Nicolette Wolfrey, William Zhang Thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements of the Gemstone Honors Program, University of Maryland, 2018 Advisory Committee: Dr. David Zajic, Chair Dr. Brian Butler Dr. Marine Carpuat Dr. Melanie Kill Dr. Philip Resnik Mr. Ed Summers © Copyright by Team BIASES: Brianna Caljean, Katherine Calvert, Ashley Chang, Elliot Frank, Rosana Garay Jáuregui, Geoffrey Palo, Ryan Rinker, Gareth Weakly, Nicolette Wolfrey, William Zhang 2018 Acknowledgements We would like to express our sincerest gratitude to our mentor, Dr. -
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. -
20Th Century Mass Graves Proceedings of the International Conference Tbilisi, Georgia, 15 to 17 October 2015
IPE International Perspectives 74 in Adult Education 20th Century Mass Graves Proceedings of the International Conference Tbilisi, Georgia, 15 to 17 October 2015 Matthias Klingenberg / Arne Segelke (Editors) International Perspectives in Adult Education – IPE 74 The reports, studies and materials published in this series aim to further the develop- ment of theory and practice in adult education. We hope that by providing access to information and a channel for communication and exchange, the series will serve to increase knowledge, deepen insights and improve cooperation in adult education at international level. © DVV International 2016 Publisher: DVV International Institut für Internationale Zusammenarbeit des Deutschen Volkshochschul-Verbandes e. V. Obere Wilhelmstraße 32, 53225 Bonn, Germany Tel.: +49 (0)228 97569 - 0 / Fax: +49 (0)228 97569 - 55 [email protected] / www.dvv-international.de DVV International is the Institute for International Cooperation of the Deutscher Volkshochschul-Verband e. V. (DVV), the German Adult Education Association. As the leading professional organisation in the field of Adult Education and development cooperation, DVV International provides worldwide support for the establishment and development of sustainable structures for Youth and Adult Education. Responsible: Christoph Jost Editors: Matthias Klingenberg/Arne Segelke Managing Editor: Gisela Waschek Opinions expressed in papers published under the names of individual authors do not necessarily reflect those of the publisher and editors. This publication, or parts of it, may be reproduced provided the source is duly cited. The publisher asks to be provided with copies of any such reproductions. The Deutsche Nationalbibliothek lists this publication in the Deutsche National bibliografie; detailed bibliographic data is available at http://dnb.ddb.de ISBN: 978-3-942755-31-3 Corporate design: Deutscher Volkshochschul-Verband e.V. -
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. -
The Katyn Massacre: Cover-Up, Suppression, and the Politics of War, from an American Perspective Joe Grundhoefer
Hamline University DigitalCommons@Hamline Departmental Honors Projects College of Liberal Arts Spring 2017 The Katyn Massacre: Cover-up, Suppression, and the Politics of War, From an American Perspective Joe Grundhoefer Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.hamline.edu/dhp Part of the American Politics Commons, and the United States History Commons Recommended Citation Grundhoefer, Joe, "The Katyn Massacre: Cover-up, Suppression, and the Politics of War, From an American Perspective" (2017). Departmental Honors Projects. 64. https://digitalcommons.hamline.edu/dhp/64 This Honors Project is brought to you for free and open access by the College of Liberal Arts at DigitalCommons@Hamline. It has been accepted for inclusion in Departmental Honors Projects by an authorized administrator of DigitalCommons@Hamline. For more information, please contact [email protected], [email protected]. The Katyn Massacre: Cover-up, Suppression, and the Politics of War, From an American Perspective By Joseph M. Grundhoefer An Honors Thesis Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for graduation with honors in History from Hamline University April 2017 Abstract In the spring of 1940, roughly twenty two thousand Polish officers, the cream of Poland’s intelligentsia, were executed in Katyn forest. While the Soviet Union blamed Nazi Germany for the massacre, in the past seventy years all gathered evidence including documents from the Soviet archives, point out to the Soviet Union as responsible for the killings. However, the British and American governments, who had knowledge of the Katyn Massacre, were engaged in a suppression of the truth, during the war and into the early years of the Cold War, even while they confronted the Soviet Union over Poland’s independence. -
Katyn Massacre – Basic Facts
The Person and the Challenges Volume 3 (2013) Number 2, p. 65–92 Monika Komaniecka, Krystyna Samsonowska, Mateusz Szpytma, Anna Zechenter Monika Komaniecka, Institute of National Remembrance, Cracow, Poland Krystyna Samsonowska, Jagiellonian University, Cracow, Poland Mateusz Szpytma, Institute of National Remembrance, Cracow, Poland Anna Zechenter, Institute of National Remembrance, Cracow, Poland Katyn Massacre – Basic Facts Abstract Katyn is a symbol of the criminal policy of the Soviet system against the Polish nation. The present study aims to demonstrate the basic facts of Katyn massacre – the execution of almost 22,000 people: Polish prisoners of war in Katyn, Kharkov, Kalinin (Tver) and also other Polish prisoners (soldiers and civilians), which took place in the spring of 1940 in different places of the Soviet Ukraine and Belarus republics based on the decision of the Soviet authorities, that is the Political Bureau of All-Union Communist Party (Bolsheviks) of March 5, 1940. This article refers not only to the massacre itself, but also its origin, historical processes and the lies accompanying Katyn massacre. Keywords Katyn massacre, Soviet policy, All-Union Communist Party (Bolsheviks). The term ‘Katyn massacre’ refers to the execution in the spring of 1940 of almost 22,000 people: Polish prisoners of war in Katyn, Kharkov, Kalinin (Tver) and also prisoners (soldiers and civilians), in different places of the Soviet Ukraine and Belarus republics based on the decision of the Soviet authorities, that is the Political Bureau of All-Union Communist Party (Bolsheviks) of March 5, 1940. The commonly used expression referring to the simultaneous murders at many locations includes only the name of one of them, where the bodies of the officers were buried. -
Intelligence Infiltration of the Polish Ministry of Foreign Affairs by Soviet Intelligence
258 INTERNAL SECURITY REVIEW 20/19 Marek Świerczek Intelligence infiltration of the Polish Ministry of Foreign Affairs by Soviet intelligence Introduction In 2009 a set of documents by L.F. Sockow1, entitled Секреты польской политики. Сборник документов was issued in Moscow. It contained selected materials from the SVR archive (Служба Внешней Разведки Российской Федерации, СВР2) that come from the INO GUGB NKVD (Иностранный отдел Главного управления государственной безопасности Народного комиссариата внутренних дел СССР, INO GUGB NKVD3) and that referred to the foreign politics of the Second Republic of Poland 1935‒1945. Both the editor of the work, i.e. the Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR) and the set of documents with a clear-cut introduction by gen. Lev Filipovich Sockow leave no room for doubt about the propaganda nature of the work. And it was received exactly so by the Polish side. Polish historians and journalists tried to discredit the paper by proving that the thesis suggested there about the alleged politics of rapprochement between the Second Republic of Poland and Nazi Germans to establish that probable alliance against the USSR is in reality a manipulation. Probably it was only Władysław Bułhak who admitted that gen. Sockow’s work proves the thesis that the Soviets had an agent in the Polish MoFA. He developed a hypothesis that the documents of the Polish MoFA published in the set could have been the result of a disinformation operation carried out by the II Department of the Polish General Staff (further: II Department) against INO GUGB NKVD.4 Apart from the short discussion storm the work did not seriously change the way the intelligence infiltration of the state institutions of the II Republic of Poland by the Soviet intelligence. -
Historical Fallacies in Communist Propaganda
Historical Fallacies in Communist Propaganda Anna Zofia Cichocka, PhD 'Who controls the past controls the future,' wrote George Orwell in 1984, a novel that portrays the stark nature of totalitarianism. For communists, control over collective memory was an indispensable element of exercising and strengthening power. Its tool was a lie – the foundation of totalitarian enslavement. A story rewritten Once the communists came to power as a result of the coup in Russia in 1917, history became an area of strict political control. It was supposed to serve the current political interests of those in power and the Soviet Empire. It was subject to censorship and became an instrument of propaganda. As a science that explores the past, it was no more. It was constantly being rewritten. As ordered by the Communist Party, which was considered infallible, large-scale manipulation was carried out. Selected facts, dates and people were distorted or deleted. For example, after the removal from office and the killing of the head of the Soviet secret police Lavrentiy Beria in 1953, subscribers to The Great Soviet Encyclopaedia were instructed to use a razor blade to cut out a page containing an entry with his name and portrait and paste new sheets with the entry 'The Bering Sea' in its place. The same thing happened with the famous photograph depicting the Soviet dictator Stalin and Beria's predecessor Nikolay Yezhov. When Yezhov was murdered, he suddenly 'disappeared' from the photo, which was duly prepared before its successive publications. Access to the archives was strictly regulated, and revealing the truth or accepting an interpretation of history different from the official version became a crime, for which people risked being repressed. -
What Americans Thought of Joseph Stalin Before and After World War II
A Thesis entitled “Uncle Joe”: What Americans Thought of Joseph Stalin Before and After World War II by Kimberly Hupp A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of The Masters of Liberal Studies ______________________________ Advisor: Dr. Michael Jakobson ______________________________ College of Graduate Studies University of Toledo May 2009 1 2 An Abstract of “Uncle Joe”: What Americans Thought of Joseph Stalin Before and After World War II by Kimberly Hupp A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of The Master of Liberal Studies University of Toledo May 2009 A thesis presented on the American public opinion of Josef Stalin before and after World War II beginning with how Russia and Stalin was portrayed in the media before the war began, covering how opinions shifted with major events such as the famine, collectivization, the Great Terror, wartime conferences, the Cold War and McCarthyism. ii TABLE OF CONTENTS Abstract ................................................................................................................ii Table of Contents................................................................................................iii Acknowledgements .............................................................................................v List of Figures……………………………………………………………….vii List of Abbreviations……………………………………………………… .viii Introduction.........................................................................................................