The authors rewrote the paragraph of the Russian history textbook about repressed peoples

The Ministry of Education sent the Congress of the Karachay People a rewritten paragraph from a history textbook for the 10th grade concerning Stalin’s deportations of peoples. It now makes no mention of specific peoples and notes that “justice was gradually restored between 1957 and 2014.” Changes will be made to textbooks no earlier than the next academic year, said one of the authors Anatoly Torkunov RBC.

The modified paragraph of the textbook is contained in the response of the Department of State Policy and Management in the Sphere of General Education of the Ministry of Education to the Congress of the Karachay People. It was published by RBC. Mr. Torkunov stated that “thanks to the efforts of the republican authorities and public organizations, it was possible to achieve significant and fair changes.” Former mayor of Magas Beslan Tsechoev said that the changes had been agreed upon.

A paragraph from a history textbook for grade 10, authored by Vladimir Medinsky and Anatoly Torkunov, which high school students are now studying from:

“Based on the facts of cooperation with the occupiers of the Karachais, Kalmyks, Chechens, Ingush, Balkars, Crimean Tatars of the State Defense Committee (State Defense Committee.— “Ъ”) in 1943–1944 decided to liquidate the state formations of these peoples within the USSR and subject them to collective punishment – forced relocation (deportation) to the eastern regions of the country. As a result, not only bandits and collaborators of the enemy were repressed, but also many innocent people. The settlers had to endure many troubles and hardships. Justice was restored to them after 1953.”

Paragraph after changes:

“A tragic page in the history of the Second World War was the mass eviction of peoples in 1941–1944 in conditions of proximity to the front and military operations, indiscriminately accused by the State Defense Committee of treason. 12 peoples were subjected to forced relocation (deportation), who lost not only their native land, but also the national-territorial autonomies that most of them had. In the shortest possible time, hundreds of thousands of people were sent under escort to the other end of the country – to Siberia and Central Asia. Along with individual renegades and traitors, masses of completely innocent and loyal people, including those who fought in the Red Army, suffered. The settlers had to endure many troubles and hardships. Justice was gradually restored in 1957–2014. In the USSR, and then in the Russian Federation, repressions against entire peoples were condemned and measures were developed for their complete rehabilitation.”

The Ministry of Education believes that the textbook now fully complies with the federal state educational standard of secondary general education. However, the department takes into account that “the history of the forced resettlement of representatives of 12 peoples of the Soviet Union during the Great Patriotic War is one of the most dramatic pages of modern national history.” In this regard, it was decided to make changes to the paragraph on page 351 of the textbook on Russian history for grade 10.

Public figures and politicians in the North Caucasus previously criticized the new textbook because of this paragraph about Stalin’s deportations of peoples who were mentioned immediately after the “Vlasovites” and “Banderaites.” A number of organizations demanded that the textbook be banned or at least rewritten.

Read more about the problem in the Kommersant article. “The history textbook was sent from the Caucasus”.

Leonid Uvarchev