“It’s a very dark phase for Russia”, Judge Cécile Vaissié, professor of Russian, Soviet and post-Soviet studies at the University of Rennes 2, Tuesday, December 28 on franceinfo, after the dissolution by the Russian Supreme Court of the Memorial NGO, pillar of the defense of the fight against repressions in contemporary Russia and guardian of the memory of the victims of the Gulag.
Franceinfo: Can you remind us what the Memorial NGO represents in Russia and for the Russians?
Cecile Vaissié: Memorial is an association that comes from Russian society, dissidence or those close to dissidence who, at the end of the 1980s, saw a chance to bring about the emergence of a democratic Russia that would repair all the traumas that the Stalinist purges, that is to say purges where millions of Soviets were arrested, executed, deported without having done anything.
This movement was authorized by Gorbachev in 1989. It brought together volunteers, historians and archivists who explored all the archives of Russia. For years, they went to the camps to copy the lists of prisoners, to study the orders and the decisions. They did work that is recognized by historians around the world and developed other aspects, including research into post-Stalinist purges and repressions.
“The NGO Memorial is the opportunity for anyone to find out what happened to their grandfather or grandmother.”
Cécile Vaissié, professor at Rennes 2 Universityto franceinfo
The NGO denounces a political decision. Do you think she is right? Memorial embarrassing Russian power?
We currently have two opposing narratives that revolve around the person of Stalin. Was Stalin the one who deported and executed millions of Soviets? Or is it that at the end of the day, as we have seen in textbooks validated by the power [russe], all this had taken place but was justified because, supposedly, it would have made it possible to win the war?
We have seen the rise over the years, on the one hand, of the narrative that affirmed that Stalin was a good leader, both economically and militarily, which is more than questionable. And on the other, the narrative which consists in saying that we are dealing with a seriously traumatized society. These traumas must be explored. You have to understand how it was possible, so that it never happens again. This narrative, indeed, embarrassed.
The decision is political and does not come from the President of the Supreme Court. It comes very clearly from much higher.
Cécile Vaissié, professor at the University of Rennes 2to franceinfo
Do you think other NGOs are threatened in Russia?
It has already started! For several months, we have only seen arrests. I believe that this is a very dark phase for Russia, that this year 2021 marks a turning point. It started with the arrest of Navalny and the arrest of his supporters. We have seen an increase in arrests, bans, repressions and at the same time, the migration of people who understood that they would have problems. There, with the liquidation of Memorial, we have the end of the Gorbachevian period.