There are collections of names in both in online memory books of the repressed and paper-published books. AHSGR has one for Kazakhstan specifically that is very good. But deportations of ethnic Germans in the Soviet Union to labor camps and special settlements were all over the northern regions of the European part of RSFSR, east into the western part of Siberia, as well as the SSRs in Central Asia. These collections include the person’s name, father’s name, place and year of birth, arrest date, sentencing date, the sentence, where they were deported, and the rehabilitation date.
Because I’ve been working with the Black Sea Germans on these lists lately and mapping the locations, this just published article in The Atlantic caught my eye. Russian president Vladimir Putin has decided “de-rehabilitate” and reinstate the original charges.
Seriously? 3.5 million defendants, mostly deceased, in a collapsed regime for the purpose of nostalgic glory of Stalin’s terror?
Last updated 5 December 2024
Wanting to be civil, I looked up a nicer way to say what I wanted to say:
Unsatisfied with the softer alternatives, I will stick with my original thought: that was a dick move.
In the end, does it even matter? No, probably not. It’s one man spinning out in his final years on Earth and creating busy work for those around him and to what end. What I don’t know how it might affect the descendants of the repressed who still live in Russia. There is no reason not to think that the descendants would be further punished for the crimes of the their ancestors. Ridiculous. Yes. Also “not very thoughtful,” a “poor choice,” “not very kind,” “not very fair,” and “could be handled differently.”
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