From:Olga Klymenko Another seminal date, June 28, 1954: Sixty years ago this week, non-Russian prisoners rose up in Kengir against their Soviet GULAG jailors. They were crushed by Soviet tanks, with at least 600 losing their lives in the process. But this rising, despite its defeat, in fact showed the power of the powerless and forced Moscow to change its methods of rule, according to a Ukrainian historian. Ukrainians formed 46 percent of the prisoners in Steplag, a share three times their percentage in the Soviet population. Estonians, Latvians and Lithuanians formed another 22 percent; Belarusians, four percent; and ethnic Russians just under13 percent. There had been revolts in the GULAG before, Oleksandr Zinchenko writes this week on an anniversary the Putin regime is not interested in recalling, but none in which it was so clearly the case that “what initially appears to be a hopeless defeat can be transformed over the longer term into a victory” The history of the Kengir revolt,” he continues, “disproves the myth that the independence of Ukraine was achieved without effort and without blood. Kengir, a revolt of love, was one of those historical steps which in the end led to independence. Love destroyed the USSR. Love for freedom.” windowoneurasia2.blogspot.ca/2014/06/window-on-eurasia-60-years-ago-this.html Window on Eurasia -- New Series: Window on Eurasia: 60 Years Ago This Week, Ukrainians Rose Up... windowoneurasia2.blogspot
Posted on: Sun, 29 Jun 2014 05:35:49 +0000
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