First Test Case for Russian Anti-Falsification Commission?

Since early September, the Russian historical community has been thrown into turmoil by the latest ‘textbook war’, this time over A History of Russia 1917-2009, 3rd ed. (Moscow: Aspekt Press, 2010), authored by Moscow State University History Faculty staff Aleksandr Barsenkov and Aleksandr Vdovin.

The debates on the book have unfolded in fascinating and sometimes bizarre ways, and have revived public attention in the concept of ‘historical falsification’ (a catchphrase used by both sides in these debates).

Summer of Memories # 2: Poland - parallel battles

The ongoing fight over whether to remove or keep the makeshift cross, erected outside Poland’s Presidential Palace in Warsaw to commemorate Lech Kaczynski, has been documented elsewhere in this blog (below). Its role in crystallizing discussions about contemporary Polish identity and, broadly defined, the politics of memory, are further highlighted by a comment piece in Gazeta Wyborcza, worth presenting here: ‘Battle of the Cross’ (‘Bitwę pod krzyzem’).

Summer of Memories # 1: Ukraine, a pruning or an overhaul?

The whiff of change – not necessarily to the good, for some democracy-watchers – has been in the air since Yanukovych’s election victory.

Various events have sparked discussion this Summer, from the visit by Security Forces to the rector of L’viv University (followed by his open letter to academics internationally), to the changing of the guard at the Institute for National Memory in Ukraine.