Soviet Terror, American Amnesia

IT HAS been customary in our times to make reference to the Holocaust whenever we wish to allude to some unrivaled evil. The Holocaust became the undisputed reference point for self-evident evil, and for good reason. By the same token, words like “Nazi,” “Auschwitz,” “Storm Troopers,” and “Gestapo” are reflexively appended to political or social phenomena we wish to discredit conclusively.

It rarely happens that self-evident evil is denoted by reference to the mass murders committed in the Soviet Union under Stalin. Words like “Soviet,” “Soviet Communist,” “Kolyma,” or “KGB” are rarely used to discredit political movements and practices. It is doubtful that one in a thousand Americans knows what Kolyma was, or would recognize the name of a single Soviet concentration camp. It is just as unlikely that one in a thousand Americans has heard the names of Beria, Serov, Yagoda, or Yezhov, who used to be in charge of the Soviet mass murders.

About the Author

Paul Hollander

Mr. Hollander was a professor of sociology at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, and an associate of the Davis Center for Russian and Eurasian Studies at Harvard University. His most recent book is From Benito Mussolini to Hugo Chavez: Intellectuals and a Century of Political Hero Worship.

Featured Tags

IT HAS been customary in our times to make reference to the Holocaust whenever we wish to allude to some unrivaled evil. The Holocaust became the undisputed reference point for self-evident evil, and for good reason. By the same token, words like “Nazi,” “Auschwitz,” “Storm Troopers,” and “Gestapo” are reflexively appended to political or social phenomena we wish to discredit conclusively.

It rarely happens that self-evident evil is denoted by reference to the mass murders committed in the Soviet Union under Stalin. Words like “Soviet,” “Soviet Communist,” “Kolyma,” or “KGB” are rarely used to discredit political movements and practices. It is doubtful that one in a thousand Americans knows what Kolyma was, or would recognize the name of a single Soviet concentration camp. It is just as unlikely that one in a thousand Americans has heard the names of Beria, Serov, Yagoda, or Yezhov, who used to be in charge of the Soviet mass murders.

About the Author

Paul Hollander

Mr. Hollander was a professor of sociology at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, and an associate of the Davis Center for Russian and Eurasian Studies at Harvard University. His most recent book is From Benito Mussolini to Hugo Chavez: Intellectuals and a Century of Political Hero Worship.