International events: Conference focused on history of Stalinism kicked off in Paris

“Memory and warning”, thus was entitled the scientific conference, dedicated to the history of Stalinism, which was mounted at the Paris Book Fair. The conference was organized by the International Memorial (society), the “Boris Yeltsin Presidential Center” foundation, and the “Russian political encyclopedia” publishing house.

Sergei Mironenko, Director of the State Archive of the Russian Federation, Doctor of Historical Sciences, said that the “round table” marked the appearance of the multivolume work “History of Stalinism”, which had recently come out in Russia. "This is an unprecedented scientific and publishing project, – emphasized the scientist. – Hundred of volumes of the series includes works both by Russian researchers and leading foreign scholars, among them the prominent French historian, Hélène Carrère d'Encausse, permanent secretary of the Académie Française".

A number of materials turn spotlight of the “Case of military" – Stalin’s repressions against the high commandment of the Red Army right on the threshold of the World War II. First fifty books of the project, based on archival documents, will be presented to the Turgenev Library in Paris, announced Mr Mironenko.

Marie Pierre Rey, Professor at the Sorbonne University, stressed a keen interest, aroused by the Russian publishing project as well as by the “round table”, which was mounted in Paris. "Stalinism has been still attracting close attention on the part of French researchers, – explained the historian. – It is essential to return to those scary pages of the past. Never should we forget about casualties of Stalin’s regime, violence towards peasants, the camp system “Gulag” and other signs of totalitarianism, which must be never ever brought back".

The “round table", which brought together Russian and French historians, became one of the most important International meetings within the framework of the Paris Book Fair. During the Year of Russia in France and the Year of France in Russia the researchers of both countries are maintaining a broad dialogue, highlighted Marie Pierre Rey. Thus in May the Russian Historical exhibition, dedicated to the Great Patriotic War 1941-1945 is announced to kick off in Normandy. According to the historian, it will help the French community to better understand the whole importance of the turning point on the Eastern Front for the liberation of France. "With the end of the Cold War much more opportunities have emerged to promote an unbiased analysis of historical events”, – remarked Marie Pierre Rey.