Memory of Caucasian people’s exile preserved despite restalinization

The growth of veneration for Joseph Stalin did not affect the official events dedicated to the deportation of the peoples of Northern Caucasus, concluded historians and the chairman of the Union of the Repressed Peoples of Russia after the Memorial Day in Karachay-Cherkessia.

The “Caucasian Knot” has reported that on November 2, on the Remembrance Day for the Victims of the Deportation, flowers were laid at memorials in Karachay-Cherkessia. Rashid Temrezov, the leader of the region, noted that in the difficult conditions of exile, the people “managed not only to survive, but also to preserve their culture, language, traditions, and customs.”

In Karachay-Cherkessia, like in other republics of Northern Caucasus, which population was subjected to deportation, the memory of the tragedy is combined with the rehabilitation of Stalinism, and this is in line with the policy of the Russian authorities, historian Nikita Sokolov suggests.

Among residents of the republics of Northern Caucasus, Stalin is revered by those who mistakenly associate with him the concept of “social justice,” which they despaired to achieve from the modern authorities, historians note.

The memory of the victims of deportation is kept in Northern Caucasus at the official level, and the only exception was Chechnya some time ago, historian Pavel Polyan adds.

The leaders of the regions should participate in mourning events by virtue of the law, suggests Kady Khalkechev, the head of the Congress of the Karachay people, the chairman of the Union of the Repressed Peoples of Russia.