Russian Invasion , Part 1
There will be just a little bit on recent events.
My original blog post was waiting for final proofreading when Russia invaded Ukraine. As part of my research, I’ve been studying Ukrainian history. It is very complex and the Russians as well as some Ukrainians have used this complexity to create false versions.
Whether the Russians absorb Ukraine or turn it into a puppet state they cannot turn Ukrainians into Russians. Putin claims that there is essentially no difference between Ukrainians and Russians. Even if we look at recent history we have to admit that the Ukrainians have a strong separate identity. And consider this; The Ukrainian language has more words in common with Polish than with Russian. The only way Putin can maintain his lie is with repression. It will be similar to methods now used within Russia but more severe.
As I write this, the Ukrainian museums are trying to hide their collections to preserve their national heritage. Putin knows how important it is to control history. I have been in communication with historians in Ukraine and have been exchanging document images. The study of Ukrainian history will now have to be continued by expatriates. Documents inside Ukraine will probably be destroyed or moved to Russia. I may never be able to access my grandfather’s prison records from 1933.
Now, the follow-up to my last blog which was about my grandfather’s time in prison in 1933.
My mother alerted me to one detail I left out of the last blog post. In 1933, when her father, Valentin, was in prison, the interrogators threatened that they would harm my grandmother and mother in some way. At the time my mother was three years old and only learned about this much later. She doesn’t know the details of the interrogator’s threats. My grandfather didn’t cave in, or so the story goes. I’ve come to believe the story.
One might wonder how a whole country could have put up with such a repressive government, and it is easy to judge those who caved in or who were complicit. If history is our guide, it is unlikely we would have acted more defiantly. First there is family. The Soviets would think nothing of penalizing the entire family and this could include execution. Second, to take a stand against the Soviet government at that time would have been a fool’s mission since there was little chance of success.
After my grandmother left the Soviet Union, the remaining relatives kept her existence secret. My mother’s cousin, Dison, became an airline pilot in the Soviet Union. He wanted to fly an international route but was denied because of his foreign relatives. He knew nothing about them and at first denied he had any foreign relatives.
It may have been my grandmother’s closest sister, Klava, who persuaded the family to keep the secret. Klava didn’t want the fact that she had a sister in America to ruin her children’s access to education and employment opportunities.
Childhood photo of Polina and Klava. The father owned an embroidery establishment and may have embroidered the flags on Polina’s collar.
So, why was the existence of an American aunt a problem when Dison applied for a foreign air route and not before? The Soviet government used a combination of repression, occasional ruthlessness, frequent incompetence, and inconsistent policy. Dison was denied the international route because someone was doing his job diligently that day. My grandfather was freed from prison and returned to his job because there must not have been significant pressure from above to convict him.
Valentin in 1933, the year he was in prison. He was 49 years old.