Holy Worlds Christian Forum
https://archive.holyworlds.org/

The Soviet Holocaust (Stalin's Terror)
https://archive.holyworlds.org/viewtopic.php?f=246&t=8755
Page 1 of 1

Author:  Elijah McGowan [ June 6th, 2014, 3:36 pm ]
Post subject:  The Soviet Holocaust (Stalin's Terror)

This is to continue a specific train of discussion from the "Favorite Time in History" thread.

I said:
Quote:
I forgot about Soviet History! It's my pet topic above all others. Solzhenitsyn's Gulag Archipelago and One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich are two of my most favorite books. For an entire year I did a speech in my high school speech and debate league about how the Soviet holocaust had to be taught about in public schools just like the Nazi one, which pales in comparison.


And then Rosamund replied:

Quote:
Really?! Mine too! Anything Russian is cool.


And then I ranted with:

Quote:
Very. ^_^ Got to watch a Soviet film recently in European Cinema class called Battleship Potemkin. It contains a scene widely recognized as the greatest scene in movie history.

But yeah... I find it heartbreaking that upwards of 65 Million people died in the U.S.S.R. between 1989 and 1956, by the government's own records, in prison camps alone. This doesn't count execution, mass starvation of the populace in the 20s and 30s, or the "disappearances" of thousands of outspoken political minds.

Worldwide during the 20th century more than 125 Million people died under Communism worldwide. It frustrates me when I hear people, Christians, say that "in a perfect world, it would work fine", when, at its core, it is anti-biblical, and demonic. Karl Marx said that his ideas served two purposes: "My object in life is to dethrone God and destroy capitalism." Communism is built equally on both of these principles. It is not an economic theory, but a social theory that encompasses not only economics, but religion, philosophy, government, the arts, the family, and everything. And it is the most hellish philosophy of the 20th century, as based on its fruits alone.

One of my life goals is to make a Schindler's List for the Soviet holocaust. Something that CANNOT be sidelined, ignored, or forgotten.

It is a tragedy that schoolchildren today will never be taught any of the above.

Marx also said "History repeats itself, first as tragedy, second as farce."

A 48th of the world's population died during the 20th century to Communists. 1 out of every 42 people on planet earth. All that blood, is on the hands of the Communists. The butchers. The fiends. If I didn't believe in total depravity before, learning my history sure did. All that precious blood would be lost in vain, all those lives cut short an even greater tragedy, if we repeated it again, completely in vain, out of a self-imposed ignorance.


And then Rosamund continued:

Quote:
*agrees*

That is one of the reasons that Andrew and I are co-writing a novel set in the Terror. People are forgetting what went on in the USSR at that time, and that can't happen. Take Solzhenitsyn, for example, I had no idea who he was or what the Gulag Archipelago was until we began research for the novel.

Let me know if you ever make that movie.


Continue discussion of this time period, and this singular event, which began in 1918, yet has no clearly defined end date, and lasted from Lenin right through Gorbachev, here.

Author:  Elijah McGowan [ June 6th, 2014, 3:37 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: The Soviet Holocaust (Stalin's Terror)

I'd like to know about any books, films, or other resources people have discovered about this time period.

We have of course, the classic masterpiece, and definitive work on the subject, Gulag Archipelago. It's three volumes long, but every page is worth it. Simply one of my top three favorite books.

Also by Aleksandr Isayevich Solzhenitsyn, we have the classic, and heartbreaking master-short story One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich.

I also know of a children's series called the Ivan series about a young boy in Soviet Russia, six or so books long, and it touches on the topic.

Sławomir Rawicz, a Polish citizen, tells his true story of imprisonment and escape from the Gulag along with several other foreigners, including an American, in his book The Long Walk, which was turned into a movie released in 2011 by National Geographic titled The Way Back.

Louis L'Amour wrote a great (historical fiction) book called Last of the Breed about an American Indian pilot shot down in the Cold War who escapes from the Gulag, and tries to survive the Siberian wild while heading back east toward America, all the while outwitting the camp commander.

Finally, I saw a 2003 Walden Media film called I Am David, about a boy who escapes a Stalinist camp alone, and journeys across Europe, eventually being reunited with his mother in Denmark.

Author:  Faith_Blum [ June 6th, 2014, 3:38 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: The Soviet Holocaust (Stalin's Terror)

Michael Phillips and Judith Pella wrote a really good series called "The Russians" I really liked it, although I'm not sure it goes into as much of the Stalin Terror stuff that you are talking about. It starts while Tsar Nicolas is in power and goes through the overthrow and the start of Lenin's reign.

Author:  Elijah McGowan [ June 6th, 2014, 3:38 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: The Soviet Holocaust (Stalin's Terror)

Lady Katherina wrote:
Michael Phillips and Judith Pella wrote a really good series called "The Russians" I really liked it, although I'm not sure it goes into as much of the Stalin Terror stuff that you are talking about. It starts while Tsar Nicolas is in power and goes through the overthrow and the start of Lenin's reign.


Interesting. I'll have to look it up sometime.

Author:  Faith_Blum [ June 6th, 2014, 3:39 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: The Soviet Holocaust (Stalin's Terror)

Yes, you should. I think you'd like them.

Author:  Zoe M. Scrivener [ June 6th, 2014, 3:39 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: The Soviet Holocaust (Stalin's Terror)

I read an interesting - and saddening - book called The Forsaken by Tim Tzouliadis. It was about how Americans that emigrated to Russia during the Depression got trapped there, and the US government did nothing about it.

Author:  AzlynRose [ June 6th, 2014, 3:40 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: The Soviet Holocaust (Stalin's Terror)

In catching up on the forums, I stumbled across this thread. :D

I don't know much about the Soviet Holocaust, but from the way you guys describe it, it certainly sounds like something people need to remember. Would anyone care to give a brief summary of what happens for those of us who do not know much about it?

Page 1 of 1 All times are UTC - 6 hours [ DST ]
Powered by phpBB © 2000, 2002, 2005, 2007 phpBB Group
http://www.phpbb.com/