I N T E R O F F I C E M E M O R A N D U M
Date: 17-May-1995 08:51am EST
From: Thomas Langhorne
TLANGHOR
Dept:
Tel No: 607-777-2332
TO: Remote RSCS/NJE Network User ( _JNET%HISTARCH@ASUACAD )
Subject: Tangential, but thought provoking
I received this from another list, but decided to post it here for
the membership. I know some of us (well, maybe archaeologists in
general, not so much histarch's) have begun to work in the former
soviet union.
Tom Langhorne
---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Sat, 13 May 95 12:37:29 EWT
From: krshnbtt <[log in to unmask]>
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: URGENT: Russian Institute of Ethnology (fwd)
Please disseminate the following letter of protest
concerning the harboring of pseudo-scientific neo-Nazis in the Russian
Institute of Ethnology and Anthropology.
HATE SPEECH ENDORSED BY RUSSIA'S INSTITUTE OF ETHNOLOGY
An Open Letter from Russian Anthropologists to Their Colleagues Abroad
Moscow, April 14, 1995
Dear Colleagues:
We find it urgent to share with the world community of social
scientists our anxiety and indignation about some dangerous
trends in Russian anthropology.
Recent years have seen the emergence in Russia of various organ-
ized political groupings of Neo-Nazi, White-supremacist, and/or
extreme right-wing nationalistic orientation. One such group in
the city of St. Petersburg is called "Venedian Union." It is a
Neo-Paganist and extremely racist organization established and
led by Viktor Bezverkhy, a former Professor of Marxism in one of
the city colleges. In 1991 he was indicted for republishing and
disseminating Hitler's Mein Kampf with "biased" commentaries.
Investigation revealed that Bezverkhy was a leader of a racist
group, that he and his friends wrote an oath with their own blood
to fight the Jews as "the worst enemies of mankind" and to oppose
Christianity as a form of "international Jewish conspiracy
against humanity." In 1991, however, Bezverkhy was acquitted
since he claimed in court that he had republished "Mein Kampf"
seeking only commercial profit.
In 1994, St. Petersburg Prosecutor's Office again indicted Bez-
verkhy for "inciting ethnic and racial hatred," this time in his
own writings. One of these is titled "Anthropology" (1992), the
other "The Volkhvs [Ancient Slavic pagan priests] - Philosophy of
History" (1993). Both books quite explicitly illustrate the
level of racial intolerance, vicious anti-Semitism, and open
bigotry professed by the author. Permit us to provide but a few
quotations:
-"The course of history during many centuries has demon-
strated that black-white bastards (i.e. Kikes, gypsies, Mulattos,
and Quadroons) are absolutely needless in a socially organized
society (i.e. among representatives of the species Homo) since
they are completely incapable of being socially honest and have a
low level of natural morality and thus are unable to become
citizens of the Society" (Anthropology, p. 36).
-"The emergence of the Theory of Evolution in the 19th cen-
tury highlighted the proper role of Kikes as human slag (i.e.
waste)" (Anthropology, p.4).
-"Cultures created by White people are assimilated by the
Yellow people, degraded by the Black people and destroyed by
bastards" (Volkhvs, p.3).
-"In the 1930's the Germans could unmistakably determine who
is a Kike. This experience is worth study" (Anthropology, p.
41).
In processing the case, the Prosecutor's Office requested the
expert opinion of the most authoritative anthropological research
body in Russia, the Moscow-based Institute of Ethnology and
Anthropology of the Russian Academy of Sciences (the former
Institute of Ethnography). The Institute duly supplied a 15-page
expert opinion of Bezverkhy's writings and a few other similarly
publications, produced by Professor Viktor I. Kozlov and Senior
Researcher, Dr. Nadezhda Lebedeva, who were commissioned for this
by the Director of the Institute.
The Prosecutor's Office had asked whether Bezverkhy's writings
contained statements aimed, explicitly or implicitly, at inciting
ethnic or racial hostility or hatred, insulted and humiliated
"national honor and dignity," was propaganda of superiority or
inferiority of certain peoples or restricted civil rights on
ethnic or racial grounds. The experts response to all these
conditions was unequivocally negative , and was accompanied with
a short remark worthy of mention:
"In the Journal no.3(6), 1992, p. 36 [see, the first quota-
tion from Bezverkhy's "Anthropology"] we found a negative state-
ment about the Gypsies. But we don't precisely know what the
meaning of Gypsies' "national honor and dignity" is.
As such, the experts found nothing offensive when people are
publicly named "black-white bastards" or Kikes or when they are
declared "needless" in society or incapable of becoming citizens
due to their low level of morality. In fact, some of the phrases
of experts opinion are hardly distinguishable from Bezverkhy's
own language:
-"As for the term "human slag" (waste), it is indeed rude
and groundless. But shouldn't the Judiasts who elevate them-
selves over the "goyim", as over "second sort people," be psy-
chologically aware that they will be humiliated in response".
They also hasten to add that ". . . As is widely known, Jews-
Judiasts and Gypsies do indeed communicate within their own
communities differently from the way they treat outsiders."
Following the expert opinion submitted by the respectable Insti-
tute of Ethnology the court again acquitted Bezverkhy in early
1995. This acquittal and the Institute's role was brought to
public attention by several Russian newspapers (e.g. "Izvestiia"
1995 n.11; "Moskovskie Novosti" 1995, n.5, etc.) and nongovern-
mental organizations. A group of scholars sent a letter to the
President of the Russian Academy of Sciences stating "...never
has Russian science been so humiliated--neither during the
"Beylis case" [a notorious blood-libel case in Kiev in 1913], nor
during Stalin's campaign against "rootless cosmopolitans." On
January 25, 1995 the City Prosecutor of St. Petersburg appealed
the lower court's decision.
Regrettably, the reaction of the Institute of Ethnology and
Anthropology was quite different. The Institute's leadership did
its best to avoid any public discussion of the expert opinion
submitted by two of it members. In a short letter published in
the newspaper "Izvestia" (of February 22, 1995), the Institute's
Director, Dr. Valerii Tishkov simply referred to this opinion as
a "personal view of certain scholars", without expressing any of
his own or his staff's attitude towards it. In fact, the majori-
ty of the Institute staff implicitly or quite explicitly approved
the experts' position by compiling letters of support to Viktor
Kozlov and by re-electing him with an overwhelming majority of
votes to the Institute's Academic Board. That happened on Janu-
ary 24, 1995, i.e. after the acquittal of Bezverkhy and despite
the highly negative publicity of the Institute's role in the
case. When a few people tried to raise the issue of Kozlov's
activities in condoning the Russian neo-Nazis and hate-groups,
they were silenced by other fellow colleagues, outvoted, and
shelved.
In March 1995, there was another trial in Moscow. Another Rus-
sian Fascist was indicted for publishing and disseminating "Cate-
chism of the Soviet Jews", "Protocols of the Elders of Zion" and
similar anti-Semitic and racist forgeries. Not surprisingly, the
court again relied upon a "well-known expert" in such cases,
Professor Viktor Kozlov from the Institute of Ethnology who again
proved the "chauvinistic" nature of Judaism, and clannishness of
the Gypsies. . .
That is why with much pain and bitterness we have decided to send
this letter informing our colleagues anthropologists about our
current disgrace and shame. We believe that indifference and
connivance expressed by the Russian community of anthropologists
towards racial hatred and ethnic bigotry has gradually trans-
formed its main academic body, the Institute of Ethnology into an
established defender of Russian neo-Nazis. We hope that joint
effort in condemning the Institute's position may save the one of
Russian Anthropology and will help us to throw racism, xenopho-
bia, and anti-Semitism out of our academic grounds and our pro-
fessional life.
M. Chlenov
A. Borodatova
A. Pershitz
I. Kozhanovskaya
A. Kozhanovsky
N. Kulakova
V. Stelmakh
L. Shainbaum
K. Tertitzky
L. Ferepyolkin
O. Artyomova
YOUR ACTION REQUIRED:
Please send your letters of concern to:
Dr. Valerii Tishkov
Director, Institute of Ethnology and Anthropology
32A Leninskiy Prospect
Moscow 117334 RUSSIA
Fax 7-095-938-0600
Prof. Sergei Arutyunov
President, Association of Russian Ethnologists and Anthropologists
32A Leninskiy Prospect
Moscow 117334 RUSSIA
Fax 7-095-938-0600
Jack Kugelmass,
Department of Anthropology
University of Wisconsin-Madison
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