Download Слайд 1 - Project "What do we teach about our neighbours?"

What we will not tell you…
• What we teach about Vikings from Iceland,
Denmark, Sweden and Norway
• What we teach about Finland before the
20. century
• What we teach about Netherlands as a
Russian neighbour
What we will focus on is…
The relations between the Soviet
Union and the Baltic countries
in 1939-1940.
We will dwell on
• General characteristics
• Analysis of texts
• Methods of teaching
Baltic history in Russian textbooks
• The tribes of the Eesties, Latgals, Zemgals, Livs
are named as the neighbours of Slavic tribes.
• The Livonian order is mentioned in the textbooks
as the unlucky enemy of Alexander Nevsky and
Ivan the Terrible.
• In the medieval history course the Great
Lithuanian Principality is mentioned as a rival to
Moscow for uniting eastern Slavic lands.
• Then there is a gap of many centuries, till 1917,
after which Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia appear
as independent states.
Baltic history in Russian textbooks
In the XX century:
• The Molotov-Ribbentrop pact, the
Secret protocol, the events of 1940
• The disintegration of the Soviet Union
(but too the Baltic Popular Front there
is not paid much attention)
New textbooks: what has
changed?
• The changes from the Soviet tradition
mainly in description the 1939 – 1940
events.
• No evident evolution in presenting
this material either.
New textbooks: what has
changed?
• The recent past touches personal
feelings of textbooks authors.
• Two approaches: “democratic” and
“patriotic”.
• However, even such personal
ideological differences don’t impact
much the selection of historic events.
New textbooks: what has
authors agree upon?
All the authors of the textbooks
acknowledge:
• Secret agreements between the Soviet
Union and Germany on dividing the
Eastern Europe into spheres of influence
• The pact and protocol given as documents
• Forced annexation (inclusion) of the Baltic
States by the Soviet Union in 1940
Otechestvennaya istoriya XX – nachala XXI vekov.
(Native history of the 20.-beginning of the 21.
centuries). For 11. form. Edited by A. Chubarian. M.:
Prosveshchenie, 2005. - P. 115
“The protocol was a violation of legal and moral
principles, deciding the fate of other countries and
peoples behind their backs. In 1989 the Supreme
Council of the USSR adopted special resolution, in which
the Council condemned the Secret protocol and
recognized that the protocol contradicts the norms of
international law and moral.
The protocol to the Soviet-German pact laid out the
foundation for the actions of the Soviet Union in
1939-1941 to include in the composition of the Soviet
Union the territories which entered its sphere of
interests.”
A. Levandovskii, Yu. Shchetinov Istoria Rossii XX –nachala XXI
veka.(History of Russia, 20.-beginnig of the 21. centuries). For
11. form. M.: Prosveshchenie, 2005. - P. 225.
The Secret protocol in action
“In September-October 1939 the Stalin’s leadership forced
“agreements about mutual assistance” to Estonia, Latvia and
Lithuania, under which they had to give their military bases to the
Soviet Union. The following year, blaming these countries for
violation of the agreements, Moscow demanded the establishment of
“people’s governments”, controlled by Moscow’s political
plenipotentiaries. Soon there were held “elections” to the Seims of
Lithuania and Latvia and the State Council of Estonia. There took
part the candidates supported by local communist parties and
checked by Soviet secret services. The parliaments, elected in this
way, addressed with a request to include their countries in the
USSR. In the end of August 1940 this request was met and the
Soviet Union was added with three new “socialist republics”.
L. Zharova, I. Mishina Istoriya Otechestva. (1900-1940).
(History of Fatherland. 1900-1940) For 10. form. SPb:
SMIO Press, 2003. - P. 386.
“There was a controversial attitude of population to the
new power. There were cases of attacks on Soviet
[military] units. There were facts of arbitrariness of Soviet
commanders in provinces. It was all there: some adopted
the Soviet regime, some did not. For some it was a hope,
for some it was a tragedy. But then, in 1940 entering the
Soviet Union many workers dreamed about socialism as the
regime of social justice, democracy and broad rights of
workers. However, imposing the Soviet order was done with
brutality, in a hurry, with violation of national traditions and
without taking into the consideration local features. As in
the rest of the country, in the Baltic states there were
repressions, terror and mass deportation”.
A. Levandovskii, Yu. Shchetinov Istoria Rossii XX –
nachala XXI veka.(History of Russia, 20.-beginnig of
the 21. centuries). For 11. form. M.: Prosveshchenie,
2005. - P. 225.
The Secret protocol in action
…On newly acquired lands, where 23 million people lived
[together with Western Ukraine, western Belorussia and
Romania], there started “socialist transformations”,
analogical to those which were held in the USSR at
the turn of 1920s-1930s. They were accompanied
with terror and deportation of large people’s masses
to Siberia”.
A. Danilov, L. Kosulina, A. Pyzhikov Istoria
Rossii XX –nachala XXI veka.(History of
Russia, 20.-beginnig of the 21. centuries). For
9. form. M.: Prosveshchenie, 2003. - P. 230.
“The presence of these
troops was used for
submission of these former
parts of Russian empire”
Analysis of textbooks
• extreme lack of information on the Baltic states
• absence of one unified idea sometimes even
within one book
• the unity of Baltic peoples’ fate with that of the
Russian Empire and the USSR
• no distinct positive or negative image of
Lithuanians, Latvians and Estonians or their
stated presented in the textbooks
• no details about the way of life
Analysis of textbooks
• impartial approach to hide the acknowledgment of the
Soviet (Russian) fault, which hurts the national
consciousness
• the topic is not as close to Russian scholars as, for
example, Polish history (painful Khatyn or the war of
1920)
• afraid of weakening the position of Russia
• no author cares about establishing a dialogue between
Russians and Latvians, Lithuanians and Estonians;
Russia and the Baltic States
• few of authors ready to view the Baltic States history in
the categories of the European values system, as a
society developing ideals of democracy, constitutional
state and civil society.
Educational environment
• A. Filippov The contemporary history of
Russia. 1945-2006. Teacher’s book. M.:
Posveshchenie, 2007
New items:
• the “Forest brothers”
• the industrial recovery in the Baltic
republics after Second World war
• National fronts during the perestroika
• integration in the NATO and the EU
Educational environment
• Computer educational programme “History
of Russia in the 20. century”
• Educational TV-programmes (the Livonian
order, the Northern war, 1939-1940,
repressions, nationalism in 1988-1990)
• National competition “The 20. century in
my family history”