Erased calendar day: Day of Remembrance for Victims of Political Repression fell into disgrace

There are red days in our calendar, and there are black days. And there are those who remain black, even when it falls on red weekends. Among them is October 30, the Day of Remembrance for Victims of Political Repression. This year this day fell on Monday, so the calendar coloring completely coincides with the tragic content of the memorable date. Nevertheless, to say that no dissonance is felt in the atmosphere of the day means to be very disingenuous.

There is a feeling that for our state today this day is not red, not black, but not at all. Erased. Well, more precisely, washable. The process is not completed: the resolution of the Supreme Council of the RSFSR “On the establishment of the Day of Remembrance for Victims of Political Repression” dated October 18, 1991 formally remains in force, no one has canceled it. But the sharp decline—one might even say a fall—in the status of the memorable day is, as they say, visible to the naked eye.

“The memory of national tragedies is as sacred as the memory of victories… You can still hear that these numerous sacrifices were justified by some higher state goals. I am convinced that no development of the country, no successes, no ambitions can be achieved at the cost of human grief and loss. Nothing can be placed above the value of human life… It is important not to allow, under the guise of restoring historical justice, the justification of those who destroyed their people.”

Quoted above are excerpts from the speech of Russian President Dmitry Medvedev on October 30, 2009. It’s better and more precise to say about this… Well, no, in principle, it’s probably possible to say. There are no limits to perfection. But it’s difficult. At least, in the subjective opinion of the MK observer, Russian presidents did not rise to such rhetorical heights on that day. And in general they gradually distanced themselves from him.

The last time the head of state participated in events related to the Day of Remembrance for Victims of Political Repression was noted six years ago: on October 30, 2017, Vladimir Putin attended the opening ceremony of the “Wall of Sorrow” memorial to victims of political repression (Moscow, Academician Sakharov Avenue).

Then, from the presidential lips, precise, true words also sounded about how “it is important to know and remember this tragic period of our history”, that “the terrible past cannot be erased from the national memory and, even more so, cannot be justified by anything.” But they, alas, have already begun to be forgotten.

This in itself, of course, is not an indicator. There are many other important dates on the national calendar, and the president has many other important things to do. The state also has other institutions. However, these other institutions not only did not make up for the deficit of presidential attention, but quite the opposite – they began to completely eradicate the memorable date.

Let’s take, for example, the field of education. I remember that in 2009, President Medvedev was very concerned that young people in our country did not receive enough knowledge about the period of repression: “Sociologists conducted a survey – almost 90 percent of our citizens, young citizens aged 18 to 24, could not even name the names of famous people who suffered or died from repression in those years. And this, of course, cannot but worry.”

Well, we can say with confidence that over the past 14 years the situation has changed, if at all, for the worse. Moreover, this was done, to put it mildly, not without the participation of the state. In 2021, Memorial Day was removed from the calendar of educational events for the 2021–2022 school year. No, one time, of course, could have been an accident. But everything happened again in the next and current academic year.

The calendar of educational events for 2023–2024 contains a lot of significant dates for the country, such as: Day of the Russian Internal Affairs Officer (November 10), Father Frost’s Birthday (November 18), International Hug Day (January 21), Firefighter Day security guard (April 30), the State Traffic Safety Inspectorate’s Birthday (July 3), Sportsman’s Day (August 13)… But there was not a trace left of the Day of Remembrance for Victims of Political Repression in the school calendar. And this, of course, is no accident.

No less indicative is the situation with the “Return of Names” – an all-Russian civil action in memory of the victims of political repression: participants, taking turns, read out the names of people who innocently died during the years of Stalin’s terror. In Moscow, the “Return of Names” traditionally takes place on the eve of the memorable date, October 29, at the Solovetsky Stone (Lubyanskaya Square). More precisely, it happened: the last time the event took place in person was in 2019.

In general, if things continue to go on in our country, in the same direction and at the same pace, then it cannot be ruled out that in some not too distant future the decision will be recognized as a historical mistake – and, accordingly, “corrected”, canceled – and the decision Supreme Council of the RSFSR dated October 18, 1991.

Which, of course, will not in any way affect those for whom October 30 is not just one of the days of the calendar: they will continue to celebrate it, regardless of the current political situation. But, of course, it will catastrophically reduce—it is already reducing before our eyes—the overall national immunity to something that, as the helmsmen of our ship of state assured us, will never happen again under any circumstances.

As Comrade Stalin said, “there are no fortresses that the Bolsheviks could not take.” There are no such crazy “social experiments” that a country that has lost its memory could not repeat.