“In the Second world war was won by the USA and the UK”. Alexander Oganovich, what do you say to this statement is the White house?
Alexander Chubaryan: There are statements that it is pointless to argue, because they are absurd. The same when a person sees white and says on it “black”. He had something with his vision. Don’t want to offend anyone, but this is from the same series, when he said that Ukrainian front was called so because Ukrainians fought there.
Understand what it is. The main feature of the responses to the celebration of the 75th anniversary of the Second world war is the participation of politicians. It all started last year. Mention the European Parliament resolution on the European historical memory. A week ago was a joint statement by the leaders of Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia. Then they were joined by the U.S. state Department. Historians also responded to the 75th anniversary of the Victory. It was a great interview, the largest historian of France Carrere d ances in the newspaper “Le Figaro”. Yesterday The Times gave a whole page. All noted the importance of the victory over Nazi Germany as the largest event of the last century, which ushered in a new era in world history.
in Addition to Carrer d ances the response of the community?
Alexander Chubaryan: Serious scientists prefer to very carefully enter into such discussions. In the background, we’re talking about, is convex steel pain points of world war two. They have long been the focus of historians: the causes of the war and its end, the liberation of Europe from Nazism. But suddenly in the last days the question arose, which causes me incredible amazement. It is a question of the contribution of different countries to the Victory. In preparation for today’s meeting, I took the books that we did together with the British and the Americans. The latter came out in 1995. I stress that it was the elite of historical science. In the USA there is the Association of historians of world war II. There are similar committees in England and France. There is an international Committee. We met dozens of times. Most in England and the United States. But never even a question regarding the contribution and role of the Soviet Union, one of the victors of the Second world war.
I Want to turn to the historians of the United States, Britain and other countries with a proposal to resume contacts. We are ready to discuss any questions, ready to listen to any arguments, to consider the new documents when they are submitted. The story should be given to historians. And this is the only way to a normal and impartial coverage of the past.
And there are these new sources that allowed the state Department to voice a point of view on the war?
Alexander Chubaryan: in Any of the statements that I listed above, there is no reference to the new document. I would have understood if vdru�� in that time have discovered some unknown files, which would specify the contribution of different countries or anything else. But they do not lead.
From this, I conclude that statements are not historical, not scientific. This is pure politics. The politicization of history. And she certainly does not favour impartial coverage of historical events. I began to remember how it was before and saw a clear correlation: when the relationship, for example, during the cold war worsened, there was a desire to use history as a weapon for the evaluation of established historical events.
Maybe in Europe and America, the study on bad textbooks?
Alexander Chubaryan: I would say that the books give the history of the war little attention. I’ve seen the latest French, English and American textbooks. In the us the Second world war, of course, covered, but the Soviet role is reduced to a minimum. In one of the books that is very popular in Europe, the Second world said that it was a clash of two totalitarian regimes. Like Britain and the United States did not participate in the war. Fought with the USSR against Germany. I know one French student, who does not know in honor of which event the square was named Stalingrad in Paris.
In this sense, the initiative of the French President of Macron below in the Council of Europe addressed the issue of improving the teaching of history in high school, deserves support. And our education Department participated in the signing of this document. I very much hope that we will be able to find acceptable approaches.
And our textbooks are fair to the allies?
Alexander Chubaryan: In Soviet times, might have been some underestimation in the media of the contribution of allies to the victory, but it’s gone now. We have a Federal textbook of universal history for all schools in the country. There is a large section devoted to the Second world war. It has everything: the liberation of Italy by the Anglo-American troops, and North Africa, and, of course, the second front in Normandy.
