War and oblivion. Nika Chernikova - about the connection between past and present

In Moscow and other Russian cities, signs of the “ Last Address ” project, dedicated to perpetuating the memory of victims of political repression in the USSR, began to be torn down. It is not known for certain who is engaged in this activity, which is clearly associated with vandalism. There is only information that signs are usually removed by local authorities based on anonymous complaints.

Recently, six “Last Address” memorial signs disappeared from the wall of house 51 on Arbat . On them were the names of radio engineering specialist Maxim Mark, translator Leonid Frchek, foreign language teacher Mikhail Solonino, fisherman Natalya Ergomysheva, MSU student Valentin Getzeld and acting head of the supply office Efim Zeigelman.

Born in Vinnitsa in 1886, Efim Zeigelman , who took part in the student movement while still at the university and was imprisoned for this under the Tsar, was arrested by the Soviet authorities on March 15, 1938. A month later - on April 25 - he was sentenced to death on charges of “participation in an anti-Soviet right-wing Trotskyist sabotage, sabotage and espionage organization in Glavselmash.” According to the case materials, he “as a member of this organization carried out sabotage work in agricultural engineering.” The sentence was carried out on the same day at the training ground in Kommunarka. Zeigelman was 52 years old. He was rehabilitated in 1956, and the “Last Address” sign was installed on May 28, 2017 on the initiative of his niece Lyudmila Voskresenskaya, who came to the ceremony from France. But now there is a void where the sign used to be.

They not only erase and replace the memory of the past, but also suppress attempts to comprehend the present

Propagandists want to see such emptiness not only on the walls of houses, but also in the minds of Russian citizens. After all, it will be easier to fill them with jingoistic slogans, justification of Stalinism and support for today’s war against Ukraine. The education of supporters of the Putin regime begins already in kindergarten - for this they came up with “ Conversations about Important Things ” and other events.

As you know, Russia is a country with an unpredictable past. Now, once again, the authorities are rewriting her history. And in the course of this rewriting, they not only erase and replace the memory of the past, but also suppress attempts to comprehend the present. And since this present is very unsightly, a significant part of Russians voluntarily refuses to perceive and think about it, to try to influence it. So, there is a noticeable group of people who prefer to “not notice” the war. After two and a half years, both for others and for themselves, they pretend that nothing is happening and try to live an ordinary life. And if there is a conversation that is uncomfortable for them, they try to quickly move it to another topic.

Reluctance to think, to take responsibility for making decisions, to swim against the tide - these are traits desired by totalitarian regimes and purposefully cultivated by them. This is probably why Putin’s government reacts so painfully to attempts to perpetuate the memory of the victims of Stalin’s repressions.

The connection of times is all the more important because the reluctance to comprehend the past and influence the present naturally leads to a lack of prospects for the future.

Nika Chernikova – independent journalist

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