The Soviet Story#Disputed points by Alexander Dyukov

The documentary film, commissioned by the national-conservative and right-wing Union for Europe of the Nations group in the European Parliament, compared the atrocities of the two regimes. In the documentary, producer and director Edvīns Šnore argued that "not only were the crimes of the former inspired by the crimes of the latter, but that they helped each other, and that without their mutual assistance the outcome of World War II could have been quite different." In Latvia the forced Soviet deportations are commonly seen as a genocidal practice.{{cite news|url=https://satori.lv/article/latvias-soviet-story-transitional-justice-and-the-politics-of-commemoration|title=Latvia's 'Soviet Story'. Transitional Justice and the Politics of Commemoration|website=Satori|date=26 October 2009|access-date=6 August 2021}} The European Day of Remembrance for Victims of Stalinism and Nazism,{{cite web|url=http://www.europarl.europa.eu/president/view/en/press/press_release/2010/2010-August/press_release-2010-August-10.html |title=President Jerzy Buzek on the European Day of Remembrance for Victims of Stalinism and Nazism|publisher=European Parliament|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101012030559/http://www.europarl.europa.eu/president/view/en/press/press_release/2010/2010-August/press_release-2010-August-10.html|archive-date=12 October 2010|access-date=10 May 2011|url-status=dead}} proclaimed by the European Parliament in August 2008 and endorsed by the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe in July 2009;{{cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/8133749.stm|title=Resolution on Stalin riles Russia|date=3 July 2009|agency=BBC News|access-date=9 July 2020}} it is officially known as the Black Ribbon Day in some countries, including Canada.{{cite news|title=Victims of totalitarianism remembered|last=Proussalidis|first=Daniel|url=http://www.torontosun.com/2011/08/23/victims-of-totalitarianism-remembered|newspaper=Toronto Sun|date=23 August 2011|access-date=23 August 2011|archive-date=11 April 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170411022843/http://www.torontosun.com/2011/08/23/victims-of-totalitarianism-remembered|url-status=dead}} Some scholars{{who|date=December 2021}} in Western Europe have rejected the comparison of the two totalitarian regimes and the equation of their crimes.

According to Mārtiņš Kaprāns, a communication science expert and researcher at the Institute of Philosophy and Sociology, University of Latvia, "[s]cholars have argued that The Soviet Story is an effective Latvian response to Russian propaganda, but it also exemplifies the broader problems of post-communist memory politics." Kaprāns writes that "the idea of how memory work triggered by the documentary got started on social networking sites" and on "the video-sharing website YouTube and the Internet encyclopedia Wikipedia, both of which are crucial meaning-making sites with respect to history." According to Kaprāns, his memory studies article "demonstrates transnational memory work in YouTube and Wikipedia as a multidirectional enterprise that both reinforces and emancipates existing hegemonic representations of controversial past."{{cite journal|last=Kaprāns|first=Mārtiņš|date=2 May 2015|title=Hegemonic representations of the past and digital agency: Giving meaning to 'The Soviet Story' on social networking sites|journal=Memory Studies|volume=9|issue=2|pages=156–172|doi=10.1177/1750698015587151|s2cid=142458412}}

This film had also been aired on several televisions with 12+ or 18+ rating, including TVR, TVP{{Cite web |last=S.A |first=Telewizja Polska |title=Świat bez tajemnic - Sowiecka historia |url=https://www.tvp.pl/program-tv/swiat-bez-tajemnic-sowiecka-historia/5d784a9ed03410dbd97883f0 |access-date=2024-04-06 |website=www.tvp.pl |language=pl}} and TVB.

Various Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) who were interviewed for the film have expressed views in favour of it. According to the Latvian MEPs Inese Vaidere and Ģirts Valdis Kristovskis, writing in The Parliament Magazine, "The Soviet Story makes a significant contribution to the establishment of a common understanding of history and brings us closer to the truth about the tragic events of the 20th century. A common understanding of history among the member states is crucial for the future of the whole EU."{{cite news |first=Inese |last=Vaidere |author-link=Inese Vaidere |author2=Kristovskis, Ģirts Valdis |author-link2=Ģirts Valdis Kristovskis |title=Warning from the past |url=http://www.theparliament.com/news-analysis/news-analysis-article/newsarticle/warning-from-the-past/412/ |work=The Parliament Magazine |date=15 April 2008 |access-date=12 June 2008 }} Both Vaidere and Kristovskis represent the Union for Europe of the Nations group which actively supported the production of the film.{{cite web |url=http://www.sovietstory.com/about-the-film/sponsors/ |title=The Soviet Story: Sponsors |access-date=12 June 2008 |website=The Soviet Story |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20080407071151/http://www.sovietstory.com/about-the-film/sponsors/ |archive-date = 7 April 2008}}

After watching the film, Finnish MEP Ari Vatanen opined: "It is a powerful message. Thank you for telling the truth. It will awaken people."{{cite news |first=Viesturs |last=Sprūde |title=Aplausi 'Padomju stāstam'|trans-title=Applause for 'Soviet Story'|url=http://www.tvnet.lv/zinas/latvija/article.php?id=541712 |work=Latvijas Avīze |date=14 April 2008 |language=lv }} After the premiere in the European parliament, Vatanen stated: "We cannot build a humanity if we close our eyes to this kind of massacres. Our possibility is to serve justice to those people."{{cite web|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BlWq4D0QAbQ |title=Ari Vatanen about 'The Soviet Story'|publisher=TheSovietStory|date=21 April 2008|access-date=30 December 2009|via=YouTube}} British MEP Christopher Beazley commented: "This film is very important. It's a very powerful representation of what took place in Poland, in Latvia and the other Central European countries."{{cite web |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qZoaSaN-aZY |title=Christopher Beazley about 'The Soviet Story' |publisher=TheSovietStory |date=21 April 2008 |access-date=30 December 2009|via=YouTube}}

Vytautas Landsbergis, MEP and the former head of the Seimas, assessed The Soviet Story as "a world class film, which should be shown to the world",{{cite news |first=Egils |last=Līcītis |title=Edvīns Šnore sakārto pagātni |trans-title=Edvīns Šnore arranges the past|url=http://www.delfi.lv/news/comment/comment/article.php?id=20873643 |work=Latvijas Avīze |date=3 May 2008 |language=lv }} while Latvia's Minister of Justice Gaidis Bērziņš from For Fatherland and Freedom/LNNK stated that he would encourage the Ministry of Education to have the film shown in all schools in Latvia because of its important historical message.{{cite news |title=Tieslietu ministrs: filma 'Padomju stāsts' jārāda visās skolās|trans-title=Minister of Justice: The film 'Soviet Story' must be shown in all schools|url=http://forums.apollo.lv/portal/news/articles/127043 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20120709160519/http://forums.apollo.lv/portal/news/articles/127043 |url-status=dead |archive-date=2012-07-09 |publisher=Apollo.lv |date=8 May 2008 |language=lv |access-date=12 June 2008 }}

A number of critics condemned the film even before its premiere.{{cite news|url=http://www.chas-daily.com/win/2008/04/09/l_007.html|title='Sovetskuyu istoriyu' otsenyat v Bryussele|script-title=ru:'Советскую историю' оценят в Брюсселе|trans-title='Soviet Story' will be appreciated in Brussels|date=9 April 2008|agency=Chas|language=ru|access-date=7 September 2009|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080612043151/http://www.chas-daily.com/win/2008/04/09/l_007.html|archive-date=12 June 2008|url-status=dead|df=dmy-all}} Boris Tsilevitch, a Latvian member of the Saeima representing Harmony Centre, stated that it was a "typical propaganda" and its release was timed to coincide with the 2009 European Parliament election in Latvia. MEP from Latvia Tatjana Ždanoka, who opposed Latvia's independence from the Soviet Union and ran as a candidate of the largest Russian political bloc in Latvia,Jamestown Foundation 23 May 2004: [http://www.jamestown.org/single/?no_cache=1&tx_ttnews%5Btt_news%5D=26551 Zhdanoka Candidacy Polarizes Latvian Election] by Vladimir Socor regards the film as a "propagandistic odd job, which is given out to be "a new word in history",{{cite news |title=Zhdanok: fil'm 'The Soviet Story' — propagandistskaya podelka |script-title=ru:Жданок: фильм 'The Soviet Story' — пропагандистская поделка|trans-title=Ždanoka: film 'The Soviet Story' – propagandistic odd job |url=http://rus.delfi.lv/news/daily/politics/article.php?id=20714429 |publisher=Delfi.lv |date=11 April 2008 |language=ru |access-date=9 June 2008 }} while also expressing her belief that "the second part of the film is pure political PR" because the first part of the film pictures the point of view of some historians and contemporary politicians criticize modern Russia in the end of the film. Ždanoka also stated that "a lot of attention was devoted to the partnership of the German and Russian military. This is followed by a jump forward in time to the 1940s, with a mass-meeting of Vlasovites is shown against a background of swastika."

The film prompted negative reactions from Russian organizations, press, and politicians. The film was strongly boycotted by Russia. According to the "European Voice" newspaper, Russians are infuriated by the film which reveals the extent of Nazi and Soviet collaboration.{{cite news |title=Telling the unofficial, but true, Soviet story |url=http://www.europeanvoice.com/article/imported/telling-the-unofficial-but-true-soviet-story/60941.aspx |work=European Voice |date=29 May 2008 }} On 17 May 2008, the Russian pro-governmental youth organization Young Russia ({{langx|ru|Россия Молодая}}) organized the protest "Let's not allow the rewriting of history!" ({{langx|ru|Не дадим переписать историю!|Ne dadim perepisat' istoriyu!}}){{cite web |title=Aktsiya 'Rossii molodoy' 'Ne dadim perepisat' istoriyu!'|script-title=ru:Акция 'России молодой' 'Не дадим переписать историю!'|trans-title=Young Russia campaign 'Let's not allow the rewriting of history!'|url=http://rumol.ru/news/3603.html |date=14 May 2008 |language=ru |access-date=6 June 2008|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080515072904/http://rumol.ru/news/3603.html |archive-date=15 May 2008 |url-status=dead }} in front of the Embassy of Latvia in Moscow; pro-Kremlin Russian protesters burned the effigy of Edvīns Šnore.{{cite news |title=Prokremliskie jaunieši pie Latvijas vēstniecības protestē pret 'vēstures pārrakstīšanu'|trans-title=Pro-Kremlin youth protest against the 'rewriting of history' in front of the Latvian Embassy|url=http://www.tvnet.lv/zinas/arzemes/krievija/article.php?id=546107 |agency=TVNET |date=30 May 2008 |language=lv |access-date=6 June 2008 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20080609164328/http://www.tvnet.lv/zinas/arzemes/krievija/article.php?id=546107 |archive-date=9 June 2008}} Alexander Reshideovich Dyukov, a former member of the Russian ARMS-TASS Agency of Military and Technical Information, has been the most vocal critic of the documentary. He was quoted as saying: "After watching two thirds of the film, I had only one wish: to kill its director and to burn down the Latvian Embassy."{{cite web |url=http://novchronic.ru/1393.htm|title=a_dyukov. The Soviet Story: pervyy prosmotr – Novyye Khroniki|script-title=ru:a_dyukov. The Soviet Story: первый просмотр – Новые Хроники|trans-title=a_dyukov. The Soviet Story: First View – New Chronicles|publisher=Novchronic.ru|language=ru|access-date=30 December 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081228151309/http://novchronic.ru/1393.htm |archive-date=28 December 2008 |url-status=dead }} As a result of Dyukov's statements, a criminal investigation was initiated against him in Latvia.{{cite news|url= http://rian.ru/world/20090820/181802350.html|title=Politsiya Latvii proveryayet zayavleniye o zaderzhanii rossiyskogo istorika|script-title=ru:Полиция Латвии проверяет заявление о задержании российского историка|trans-title=Latvian police check the statement about the arrest of the Russian historian|publisher= RIA Novosti |date= 20 August 2008|access-date= 13 April 2015 |language= ru}} Asked to comment on the case, Latvian Foreign Minister Māris Riekstiņš commented that Dyukov might be a "mentally unstable personality",{{cite news |url= http://www.mixnews.lv/ru/politics/news/2008-06-10/4631 |title=Glava MIDa: rossiyskiy istorik — psikhicheski neuravnoveshen|script-title=ru: Глава МИДа: российский историк — психически неуравновешен|trans-title=Foreign Minister: Russian historian is mentally unstable|website= Mixnews.lv |date= 10 June 2008 |access-date= 13 April 2015 |language= ru |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20100620004240/http://www.mixnews.lv/ru/politics/news/2008-06-10/4631 |archive-date= 20 June 2010 |url-status= dead }} while Prime Minister of Estonia Mart Laar called Dyukov "an officer of FSB", Russia's principal security agency.{{cite web|url=http://www.baltinfo.ru/news/V-podtverzhdenie-teorii-okkupatcii-v-Estonii-snyali-film-na-angliiskom-yazyke-101070|title=V podtverzhdeniye 'teorii okkupatsii' v Estonii snyali fil'm na angliyskom yazyke|script-title=ru:В подтверждение 'теории оккупации' в Эстонии сняли фильм на английском языке|trans-title=In support of the 'theory of occupation' in Estonia filmed in English|publisher=Baltinfo.ru |language=ru|access-date=30 December 2009}}

Russian State Duma Deputy Irina Yarovaya, the coordinator of the ruling party United Russia's State Patriotic Club and a member of the Presidium of the General Council, declared that the film "glorifies Estonian Nazi collaborators, those who killed people in Khatyn and in Pskov region."{{cite web|date=13 March 2009|url=http://www.edinros.ru/text.shtml?6/8797 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20120910195234/http://www.edinros.ru/text.shtml?6/8797 |url-status=dead |archive-date=10 September 2012|title=Yarovaya: Neofashisty v Yevrope razzhigayut mezhnatsional'nuyu rozn'|script-title=ru:Яровая: Неофашисты в Европе разжигают межнациональную рознь|trans-title=Yarovaya: Neo-fascists in Europe fuel ethic hatred |publisher=United Russia|language=ru|access-date=8 August 2021}}{{cite web|date=13 March 2009|url=http://www.gpclub.ru/news/0x24x48x1776_p.html|title=Irina Yarovaya: Seminar v Khel'sinki napravlen na vozrozhdeniye natsizma i fashizma|script-title=ru:Ирина Яровая: Семинар в Хельсинки направлен на возрождение нацизма и фашизма|trans-title=Irina Yarovaya: Seminar in Helsinki was directed towards restoration of Nazism and Fascism|publisher=State-Patriotic Club United Russia|language=ru|access-date=8 August 2021}} In response to Yarovaya's statement, Estonian politician and historian Mart Laar wrote: "It is indeed impressive how much wrong can be put into one sentence. First, Estonians did not kill anyone in Khatyn and, secondly, the specific crime committed in Khatyn is not mentioned in the film at all. ... This gives the impression that Yarovaya, actually, has not seen the film."{{cite news|last=Sulbi|first=Raul|date=15 March 2009|url=http://www.postimees.ee/?id=94499 |title=Laar tunnustas Imbi Paju ja Sofi Oksaneni algatust|trans-title=Laar acknowledged the initiative of Imbi Paju and Sofi Oksanen|work=Postimees|language=et|access-date=8 August 2021}}

File:Soviet-Nazi-officers.jpg officers while delivering Jewish prisoners to them in 1940 (screenshot from the film){{cite AV media |people=Edvīns Šnore |year=2008 |title=The Soviet Story |medium=DVD|url=http://www.sovietstory.com/buy-dvd/ |time=46:22}}]]

The film has attracted both praise and criticism from political commentators. The Economist praised it as "a sharply provocative work", and stated that "Soviet Story is the most powerful antidote yet to the sanitisation of the past. The film is gripping, audacious and uncompromising. ... The main aim of the film is to show the close connections—philosophical, political and organisational—between the Nazi and Soviet systems." For The New York Times, Neil Genzlinger wrote: "The filmmaking in The Soviet Story is so overwrought that at times the movie comes across as comical. ... The film is not dispassionate scholarship; Mr. Snore, who is Latvian, and his backers (including some members of the European Parliament) obviously have an agenda, though to the casual American viewer it may not be clear what it is."{{cite news|url=https://movies.nytimes.com/2008/10/24/movies/24sovi.html|title=Atrocities Magnified|last=Genzlinger|first=Neil|date=24 October 2008|work=The New York Times|access-date=7 September 2009}}

Latvian political scientist and cultural commentator Ivars Ijabs offered a negative review of The Soviet Story, describing it as a well-made and "effective piece of cinematic propaganda in the good sense of this word", whose message is clearly presented to the audience. Ijabs does not agree with a number of historical interpretations in the film, asserting that it contains errors. In one example, Ijabs states: "In late 1930s Hitler did not yet plan a systematic genocide against the Jews [as it is suggested in the film]. Everybody knows that this decision was made in 1942 at the Wannsee Conference in Berlin." Ijabs also disagreed with the contention in the film by the British literary historian, liberal, and former political activist George Watson that Friedrich Engels is "the ancestor of the modern political genocide." Further, Ijabs refuted the film's criticism of Karl Marx as being the 'progenitor of modern genocide', although he acknowledged the use of the term Völkerabfälle in Karl Marx's newspaper.{{refn|Although sometimes translated as "racial trash", other translations of Völkerabfälle include "residual nations" or "refuse of nations", that is those left behind, or discarded, by the dominant civilizations. This view has also been criticized by reviewer Robert Grant as ideologically biased and for citing evidence that "seems dubious", arguing that "what Marx and Engels are calling for is ... at the very least a kind of cultural genocide; but it is not obvious, at least from Watson's citations, that actual mass killing, rather than (to use their phraseology) mere 'absorption' or 'assimilation', is in question."{{cite journal|first=Robert|last=Grant|title=Review: The Lost Literature of Socialism|journal=The Review of English Studies|publisher=New Series|volume=50|issue=200|date=November 1999|pages=557–559|doi=10.1093/res/50.200.557}}|group=nb}}{{cite news |last=Ijabs |first=Ivars |date=23 May 2008 |title=Cienīga atbilde: Soviet Story |work=Latvijas Vēstnesis |language=lv |url=http://www.lv.lv/?menu=exblogi&sub=&type=full&id=44 |access-date=15 June 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110720194148/http://www.lv.lv/?menu=exblogi&sub=&type=full&id=44 |archive-date=20 July 2011 |url-status=dead }}

Boris Vadimovich Sokolov, one of the historians interviewed in the film, was quoted as saying: "I had only been an expert there and I can only answer for what I am saying there myself. I had told to Šnore that some of his narratives are obvious forgeries he was tricked by. For example, Beria—Müller agreement on killing Jews together."{{cite news |url= http://www.mixnews.lv/ru/exclusive/news/2014-05-10/150057 |title= Эксперт фильма 'Soviet Story': этот фильм — фальшивка|trans-title='Soviet Story' film expert: this film is fake|website= Mixnews.lv |date= 10 May 2014 |access-date= 13 April 2015 |language= ru |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20140614104407/http://www.mixnews.lv/ru/exclusive/news/2014-05-10/150057 |archive-date= 14 June 2014 |url-status= dead }}

In Lauren Wissot's review for Slant Magazine, "Soviet Story does a thorough job of laying out what happened, but its dull, educational-style format doesn't guide us to the next step of why we should care."{{cite magazine|last=Wissot|first=Ivars|date=20 October 2008|url=https://www.slantmagazine.com/film/the-soviet-story/|title=Review: The Soviet Story|magazine=Slant Magazine|access-date=6 August 2021}} In his Time Out review, Joshua Rothkopf stated: "An offensively schlocky treatment of an important subject, The Soviet Story turns Stalin's systematic starvation and slaughter of millions into a hopped-up horror flick."{{cite magazine|last=Rothkopf|first=Joshua|date=21 October 2008|url=https://www.timeout.com/movies/the-soviet-story|title=The Soviet Story|magazine=Time Out|access-date=6 August 2021}}

The Soviet Story has been screened in the following film festivals:

• 2008 Boston Film Festival – Boston, Massachusetts; received the "Mass Impact Award"
• 2008 KinoLev Film Festival – Lviv, Ukraine
• 2008 Black Nights Film Festival – Tallinn, Estonia
• 2008 [http://arsenals.lv/ Arsenals Film Festival] – Riga, Latvia
• 2008 Promitey Film Festival – Tbilisi, Georgia
• 2008 Baltic Film Festival – Berlin, Germany
• 2009 Sedona International Film Festival – Sedona, Arizona
• 2009 [http://www.menetekel.cz/en/ Mene Tekel festival] – Prague, Czech Republic
• 2009 [http://www.politicsonfilm.com/ Politicsonfilm Film Festival] – Washington, D.C.
• 2011 [http://www.freemindsfilmfestival.com/ Free Minds Film Festival] – Colorado Springs, Colorado
• 2012 [http://www.freemindsfilmfestival.com/ Free Minds Film Festival] – Colorado Springs, Colorado

In 2008, the president of Latvia, Valdis Zatlers awarded the director Edvīns Šnore with the Order of the Three Stars. In 2009, the film was nominated for the biannual Latvian National Film Award Lielais Kristaps in the "Best Documentary" category.{{cite news|date=29 August 2008|title=Paziņo Lielā Kristapa nominācijas|trans-title=Announced the nominations of Kristaps the Great|work=Diena|language=lv|url=http://www.diena.lv/lat/izklaide/filmas/filmu_zinas/pazino-nacionala-filmu-festivala-lielais-kristaps-2009-nominacijas|access-date=30 August 2008}} In the same year, Šnore received the Estonian Order of the Cross of Terra Mariana for creating The Soviet Story.{{cite web|url=http://www.president.ee/en/estonia/decorations/bearers.php?id=17630|title=Edvīns Šņore – Bearers of decorations|publisher=Office of the President of the Republic of Estonia|access-date=8 August 2021}}

{{Portal|Socialism}}

• Comparison of Nazism and Stalinism
• Double genocide theory

{{reflist|group=nb}}

{{reflist|30em}}

• {{official website|http://www.sovietstory.com}}
• {{IMDb title|1305871}}
• {{Rotten Tomatoes|soviet_story}}
• {{YouTube|6YPmoJT1PRs|Trailer}}
• {{YouTube|eE0f-HZPO9M|Russian language trailer}}

{{anti-communism in Europe since 1989}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Soviet Story, The}}

Category:Latvian documentary films

Category:2008 films

Category:Documentary films about the Soviet Union in the Stalin era

Category:Documentary films about ideologies

Category:Documentary films about World War II

Category:Films about famine

Category:Occupation of the Baltic states

Category:Films about the Holodomor

Category:Films about Soviet repression

Category:2000s English-language films

Category:English-language documentary films