Located in Khoroshevo village, in the cabin where the dictator spent a night during the Second World War. Human rights activists warn: the initiative "inappropriate" in a very delicate moment in society.

Moscow (AsiaNews) - A cabin in the village of Khoroshevo - Tver region near the town of Rzhev - where between 4 and August 5, 1943 Stalin spent a night, during the Great Patriotic War (World War II for the Russians ) will become the first museum in Russia dedicated to the Soviet dictator.

As Radio Free Europe reports, the 1943 visit was the closest Stalin ever got to the front. Rzhev was the location of one of the fiercest battles, between January 1942 and March 1943 that led to the liberation of the city from the occupation of Hitler's troops.

This cottage, overlooking the river Volga, has been chosen by the Russian military history society - chaired by the Minister of Culture, Vladimir Medinsky -  the Russian Communist Party and the local Rzhev administration as the site for the first museum dedicated to Stalin.

The opening is planned for May 9, a symbolic date of great significance in Russia because it marks the 70th anniversary of the Red Army victory over the Nazis (the so-called day of Victory), which this year comes at a particularly delicate moment with state propaganda centered in the fight "against the Kiev fascists" and a strong militaristic momentum in public discourse.

"It will be a complete exhibition dedicated to the supreme military commander," said Artem Goncharov, a member of the Communist Party in Tver in a statement. But "complete" does not mean it will take account of all of Stalin's strengths and weaknesses, warn human rights activists.

"The museum has proposed 14 exhibitions covering different aspects of the Soviet statesman, including 'the role of Stalin in the restoration of the Russian Orthodox Church' or 'Stalin's contribution to the victory '." The final exhibition will be titled 'Stalin as a symbol of success and Soviet victories'. Nothing on the Great Terror, the Gulags, the Molotov-Ribbentrop pact or years of collaboration with Hitler.

"When we read of the plan for the museum, we were very concerned," said Serghei Gluzhkov, a member of the local NGO Memorial, which is fighting for the memory of the victims of political repressions. "We decided that this museum is now absolutely inappropriate and impossible, a museum that distorts history and celebrates evil," he added.

For several years Stalin has been a gradually rehabilitated into Russian society and politics. President Vladimir Putin has personally described him as an "effective manager". A poll by the Levada Center revealed that 57% of Russians see the role of Stalin in the history of the country as positive; this is the highest percentage so far in the post-Soviet period.

"With the 70th anniversary of The Victory - writes the analyst Andrei Kolesnikov on Gazeta.ru - they are promoting Stalin, Stalinism and social policies associated with him as possible. Those who are opposed to this trend will be defined falsifiers of history ". "The anniversary is becoming a sort of pass for the neo-Stalinists. They're privatizing the victory in World War II," he concluded.

Despite the poll numbers, Glushkov will not give in: Many people in Tver are unhappy about the initiative, particularly those who had relatives victims of repression. There is a lot 'of people who look at the Stalin museum as a personal affront, an insult to the memory of their loved ones, even in Rzhev. "

 

 

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• stalin
• victory
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• war
• II
• museum