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 xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx