The international round table on “Wars of the XX century in the history of Russia and Pridnestrovie: new approaches to the study” was held in the Shevchenko State University of Pridnestrovie. The event was attended by the RISS experts, research fellows of Shevchenko State University of Pridnestrovie, specialists in the field of museum and archives, members of the public related to the military and historical issues.
The presentation of three-volume edition of the Russian Institute of Strategic Studies, “The First World War: historiographical myths and historical memory” opened the round table. Deputy Director of the RISS Tamara Guzenkova who presented the edition stressed the special value of the book and the study conducted by researchers. In particular, according to her, a deep analysis of a large number of historiographical materials, as well as a paradigm shift in national science made it possible to develop new approaches and conceptions in defining the role and meaning of the most important event for Russia: “In the Bolshevik period, during the Soviet period, the First World War was regarded as one of the battles in which Russia suffered a devastating defeat”. “In the current conditions, when other ideological directions and trends begin to develop, when so-called conservative ideology and policy of conservatism begin to become increasingly important - said Tamara Guzenkova - it becomes possible to interpret this war in a different way, look at it not as a defeat of the tsarist Russia, but as a quite different event, which had profound implications for the Russian state”.
The authors of the publication, in accordance with new approaches and perspectives, offer to consider the First World War as the Second Patriotic War. According to them, the Russian army was not really suffered a defeat in that war battle, and the war itself would have ended successfully, if not the Brest peace was concluded.
According to Candidate of Historical Sciences, Associate Professor of Shevchenko State University of Pridnestrovie Irina Blagodatskikh, the First World War had a special significance for Pridnestrovie, because a new statehood arose in that territory. The Pridnestrovian historian noted that the peculiarity of the national approach to the study of the event is a focus more on local area study, rather than methodology.
The round table discussed the problematic issues of the Great Patriotic War of 1941-1945. It was noted that in Pridnestrovie extensive work on preservation of historical and cultural heritage had already been conducted within the target programme on perpetuating the memory of the Defenders of the Fatherland, providing for a set of measures aimed not only to restore the monuments to the Liberators, but also at patriotic education of youth.
During the event there was an initiative to establish the historical center of policy on the basis of which it would be possible to combine the efforts of the Pridnestrovian and Russian scientists, dealing with issues of the revision of the history.
The experts of the round table voiced a range of opinions on the descriptions of the war of 1992 between Pridnestrovie and Moldova in Russian and Pridnestrovian historiography. According to Irina Blagodatskikh, approaches to conflict are different and are largely due to scientists’ belonging to one or another party of the conflict. According to her, objective researches on this issue are insufficiently in the Russian historiography. The expert proposed the establishment of a joint project of scientists representing the self-determined states for the development of the issue. In addition, professor Nicholai Babilunga informed about the forthcoming four-volume edition of the “History of Pridnestrovie” in which scientists plan to give more detailed description of the war in 1992.
Special attention was paid to the issues on improving state policy aimed at patriotic education of youth, involvement of young people in activities to restore and preserve the historical memory.
Source of the photos: spsu.ru
