After Stalin in Poland and Hungary
June 20, 2007 6:52 AM   Subscribe

Learn the Truth is an excellent (Flash) presentation on the years after Stalin's death in Poland and Hungary. There's also a plain HTML version.
posted by Wolfdog (6 comments total) 6 users marked this as a favorite
 
All these events aroused the hopes of the societies of Poland and Hungary for an improvement in the standard of living, for democratisation and greater national independence.

Just like they both enjoyed under the Nazi occupation before Stalin and his Red Army came in and messed everything up.
posted by three blind mice at 7:45 AM on June 20, 2007


Stalin died in Poland and Hungary?
posted by The Ultimate Olympian at 7:48 AM on June 20, 2007


Excellent indeed. (I highly recommend the HTML version, unless you have a deep fondness for staring at a single sentence for minutes on end while lugubrious music plays.) I would have liked a mention of the fact that Radio Free Europe and Voice of America encouraged the uprisings and promised help from the West while knowing all along there wasn't going to be any help, but that's a sidelight.

three blind mice: What the fuck are you babbling about?
posted by languagehat at 8:05 AM on June 20, 2007


A study in courage, thank you Wolfdog.
Must agree with languagehat both about the music and wondering what point three blind mice has there.
posted by Abiezer at 8:17 AM on June 20, 2007


I would have liked a mention of the fact that Radio Free Europe and Voice of America encouraged the uprisings and promised help from the West while knowing all along there wasn't going to be any help, but that's a sidelight.
Maybe so, but it's hard to say that RFE and VoA didn't have a large impact on helping those movements and uprisings come along, which seems good in and of itself.
posted by Sangermaine at 9:07 AM on June 20, 2007


Excellent, interesting post Wolfdog, thanks.

Also commending the html version of this story, which has pictures and is nicely laid out.

The whole story connected with how people survived Stalin's monstrous abuse fascinates me: the betrayals of trust, his malignant narcissism and the malignant optimism of those who thought he and his abuse support network were offering something for the good of all, Stalin's seduction of many wise people, the huge abuse support network around Stalin that made the slaughter of millions of people possible...finally the awakening process beginning and the process of healing from the damage done, how that has played out on the world stage.

Swaddled Nation: Modern Mother Russia and
A Psychohistorical Reassessment of Stalin

It interests me how people get manipulated and conned into submission by a dictator. The only book I've read that helped me make sense of that process is Soul Murder by Leonard Shengold in examining, among other things, how Germany came under Hitler's sway.

Anyway, thanks again.
posted by nickyskye at 9:39 AM on June 20, 2007


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