CONFERENCE HIGHLIGHTS CHILD VICTIMS OF FASCISM, BLASTS

UNCLAS VLADIVOSTOK 000065


E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PHUM PGOV RS
SUBJECT: CONFERENCE HIGHLIGHTS CHILD VICTIMS OF FASCISM, BLASTS
REVISIONISM


1. The international conference "The Second World War in the
Eyes of Children: Former Prisoners of Fascist Concentration
Camps" was held in Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk on April 3. The event was
attended by about two hundred participants, including former
concentration camp prisoners and visitors from the U.S., Israel,
and Estonia. The stated goal of the conference was to "ensure
that fascist crimes are never forgotten." Presenters also spoke
about the threat of neo-Nazis within Russia and about "historic
revisionism" abroad that downplays the Soviet Union's
contributions to defeating fascism.


2. A historian at the conference reported that of the 26
million Soviet victims of World War Two, 13 million were
civilians. The detailed statistics are 7,420,379 civilians
executed, 2,164,313 deaths at labor camps and 4,100,000 deaths
from disease. German Ambassador Walter Yurgen Shmidt said the
"measureless sufferings" of the Holocaust still evoke "fury,
despair, and shame."


3. The Association of Former Juvenile Prisoners of Fascist
Concentration Camps (Pamyat) reports that there are 238 former
juvenile inmates from concentration camps in their organization.
The of the president of the organization in the US, Mark
Borisovich Goldovskiy described his personal experiences and his
personal struggle to overcome the nightmares he still has from
the war.


4. Yuriy Ivanovich Nedorez, the head of geopolitics at the
Russian Geographical Society in Sakhalin, lamented that most
Americans still do not recognize the depth of the sacrifice of
the USSR in World War Two and the "crucial role" the country
played in defeating fascism. He also said that the
Perestroika-era re-examining of Soviet actions during the war
led to the de-glorification of Red Army and its leadership, and
has tainted Soviet wartime achievements in the eyes of the youth.


5. Psychologist Elena Gennadievna Vlasenkovk from Sakhalin
State University discussed World War Two as a "nation forming"
epic that will be the source of stories and inspiration for
"hundreds and thousands" of years. She said the people who
overcame the suffering of the camps help psychiatrists and
psychologists find ways to help other people even today to find
meaning in their lives and to overcome tremendous difficulties.


6. Comment: The resolution of the conference states that the
passing of generations has led to a "weakening of the historical
memory" of people which must be reversed. Though the tone of
some of the speakers seemed nationalistic, critical of
neighboring countries, and eager to preserve the Soviet
"legacy," most of the presenters had simple and moving personal
stories to tell that brought home the main point of the
conference -- that the inhumanity of war should never be
forgotten.

ARMBRUSTER