![]() ![]() The idea that Russia is either an empire or it doesn’t exist is being repeated ad nauseam by Russian propagandists. It would be too simplistic to claim that the Russian aggression is based on its skewed rendering of history, although a heavy bias of history policy does color the worldview in the Kremlin. This is partly due to ignorance, but also because of negligence. But after the annexation of Crimea and the war of attrition in the Donbas, and now the full-scale Russian war against Ukraine, it is awkward to realize that we have accepted the Russian perspective, which has had the prerogative of interpretation for two centuries. This imperial Russian and Stalinist view was adopted and perfected by Russian President Vladimir Putin, who draws parallels with the reunification of Germany and pleads for sympathy from the German people in understanding the Russian quest for harmony. This is the myth of the reunification of the dispersed children of Kyivan Rus. ![]() It is embarrassing to realize that the prevalent rendering of Russian history in the West is still the canonized simplification of a straight path from ancient Kyiv to Muscovy and St. ![]() The sentiment of the seminar was that there is a need to decolonize Russian history. Similar views were voiced at a recent seminar in Berlin organized by Historians Without Borders, an NGO founded by the former Finnish foreign minister Erkki Tuomioja, together with the Friedrich Ebert Foundation. Already after 2014 we realized that there were, with few exceptions, no historians specializing in Eastern Europe. Karl was blunt: we must revisit the historiography of Russia, even as presented by the classics like Richard Pipes and George Vernadsky. Afterward, we sat down for a hot cup of tea in a nearby café. A Ukrainian children’s choir was performing, and I was there with Professor Karl Schlögel. It was a freezing December Sunday on Steinplatz in Berlin. ![]()
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