{"id":51,"date":"2008-10-23T11:26:10","date_gmt":"2008-10-23T15:26:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/russian\/?p=51"},"modified":"2014-07-16T18:41:28","modified_gmt":"2014-07-16T18:41:28","slug":"who-was-sverdlov-and-what%e2%80%99s-with-his-statue-still-standing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/russian\/who-was-sverdlov-and-what%e2%80%99s-with-his-statue-still-standing\/","title":{"rendered":"Who Was Sverdlov? and what\u2019s with his statue still standing?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Seemingly a day like any other, today I was present during a literary seminary at my university dealing with the heroic and historic short novel \u00ab\u0422\u0430<\/span>\u0440\u0430\u0441 \u0411\u0443<\/span>\u043b\u044c\u0431\u0430\u00bb<\/a><\/strong> [“Taras Bulba”<\/a>] by everyone’s favorite \u041d\u0438\u043a\u043e\u043b\u0430<\/span>\u0439 \u0413\u043e<\/span>\u0433\u043e\u043b\u044c<\/a><\/strong> [Nikolay Gogol’<\/a>]. After about thirty minutes of pure literary theoretic discussion, all of the sudden the professor – the sweetest \u043f\u0443<\/span>\u0448\u043a\u0438\u043d\u043e\u0432\u0435\u0434 <\/strong>[scholar of Pushkin] I’ve ever met in Russia – turns to me and asks me: \u00ab\u0414\u0436\u043e\u0437\u0435\u0444\u0438<\/span>\u043d\u0430, \u0432\u044b \u0437\u043d\u0430<\/span>\u0435\u0442\u0435 \u043a\u0442\u043e \u0442\u0430\u043a\u0438<\/span>\u0435 <\/strong>\u043a\u043e\u0437\u0430\u043a\u0438<\/span><\/strong><\/a>?\u00bb <\/strong>(p.s. the spelling here is Gogol’s)<\/em> [Josefina, do know who the Cossacks<\/a> are?] I wasn’t sure, as anyone can be unsure of such things, even though I know my \u00ab\u0422\u0438<\/span>\u0445\u0438\u0439 \u0414\u043e\u043d\u00bb<\/a><\/strong> [“And Quiet Flows the Don”<\/a>] just as well as the next person, therefore I answered: \u00ab\u0421\u043c\u0443<\/span>\u0442\u043d\u043e \u0437\u043d\u0430<\/span>\u044e. \u041e\u0434\u043d\u0430<\/span>\u0436\u0434\u044b \u0432 \u0422\u043e\u0431\u043e<\/span>\u043b\u044c\u0441\u043a\u0435<\/a> \u043d\u0430 \u0443<\/span>\u043b\u0438\u0446\u0435 \u0438\u0445 \u0432\u0438<\/span>\u0434\u0435\u043b\u0430.\u00bb <\/strong>[I vaguely know. Once in Tobolsk<\/a> I saw (some of)<\/em> them on the street.] She was very pleased with my answer, and then explained that nobody knows where the Cossacks come from, how they came to be, but that Gogol’ does have a point (he says they\u00a0were just Russians and Ukrainians\u00a0who got tired of where they were in life and wanted to live another way of life – the Cossack way of life!). After this she pointed out through the window, to the statue of \u0421\u0432\u0435\u0440\u0434\u043b\u043e<\/span>\u0432<\/a><\/strong> [Sverdlov<\/a>] standing on the square between the university and the opera here in the very center of Yekaterinburg and said: “And Sverdlov was the one to sign the decree ordering to kill all Cossacks. Did you know?” Of course I didn’t know. I knew, as well as anyone, that no Bolshevik revolutionary<\/a> with a town named after them could’ve been an all together \u2018good and decent guy’<\/em>,<\/a> but so far I only knew Sverdlov to have the blood of the Tsar and his family on his hands. But as it turns out – he has the strategic and planned murdering of a whole nationality – the Cossacks – on his conscience too. What a guy! The professor commented that many people, especially Western historians, with whom she’s met, are always surprised to find that his statue still stands here, that even though the town isn’t \u0421\u0432\u0435\u0440\u0434\u043b\u043e<\/span>\u0432\u0441\u043a<\/a><\/strong> anymore, there’s still a \u0443<\/span>\u043b\u0438\u0446\u0430 \u0421\u0432\u0435\u0440\u0434\u043b\u043e<\/span>\u0432\u0430<\/strong> [Sverdlov’s Street] and the region is still called \u0421\u0432\u0435\u0440\u0434\u043b\u043e<\/span>\u0432\u0441\u043a\u0430\u044f \u043e<\/span>\u0431\u043b\u0430\u0441\u0442\u044c<\/strong> [Sverdlovsk Oblast’<\/a>]. This was followed by a long silence in the classroom and once again I was convinced of the timeless truth hidden within the depths of Russian Literature<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Seemingly a day like any other, today I was present during a literary seminary at my university dealing with the heroic and historic short novel \u00ab\u0422\u0430\u0440\u0430\u0441 \u0411\u0443\u043b\u044c\u0431\u0430\u00bb [“Taras Bulba”] by everyone’s favorite \u041d\u0438\u043a\u043e\u043b\u0430\u0439 \u0413\u043e\u0433\u043e\u043b\u044c [Nikolay Gogol’]. After about thirty minutes of pure literary theoretic discussion, all of the sudden the professor – the sweetest \u043f\u0443\u0448\u043a\u0438\u043d\u043e\u0432\u0435\u0434…<\/p>\n

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