Unveiling the Past: The Intersection of Truth, History, and Patriotism

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Lilia Shablovskaya
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The Surprising Synchronicity of Stories

 

The synchronicity with which certain texts fall into one's hands never ceases to amaze. Just yesterday, I finished reading Bernhard Schlink's latest novel, The Granddaughter, and today, work led me to explore materials from the State Archive of the Russian Federation (GARF) concerning the atrocities committed by Nazi occupiers in the USSR, specifically the damage they inflicted on the Russian Orthodox Church. Had I not just read Schlink's novel, I might have regarded these archival documents as mere historical facts, dusty relics of a dark past. The horrors of fascism? We know they happened. The suffering of believers? Naturally. And what of it, as the saying goes? We've heard it all before. But now, in light of this newfound textual connection between fiction and archival records, a personal message emerges—a story that I feel compelled to share.

History is a peculiar substance, one that people only cut into when they need to tailor a garment for the present. In the memory of the Almighty, history appears as a single tapestry, but in human memory, it exists in fragments, more or less suitable for shaping worldviews, self-consciousness, and other culturally significant constructs.

Today, despite the overwhelming cultural noise that surrounds us, we possess an invaluable asset—open archival facts, which we can piece together into our own understanding. And when we do, many of the bedtime stories told by interested parties will remain just that—fairy tales from the Vienna Woods. For example, the tale of how corrupt Russian priests betrayed the people before the face of fascism, while the kind-hearted Germans brought banners emblazoned with "God is with us" into godless Soviet Russia. Even the great Russian writer Ivan Shmelev, author of Leto Gospodnya and Puti Nebesnye, believed in this. Something must have prevented him from accepting the obvious.


The Moral Cost of Destruction

 

But what does this really mean? What have we truly understood after all these years? It’s time to revisit and comprehend the immense moral losses inflicted upon us by the Nazis' criminal actions against faith and its sanctities. The destruction of ancient churches and monasteries wasn't just an attack on buildings; it was an assault on the soul of the Russian people, on the very school in which their culture, courage, and spiritual unity were nurtured for centuries.

The theme of national guilt remains a sensitive and pressing issue in post-war German culture and public life. This is evident in Bernhard Schlink's relatively recent novel, The Granddaughter, published in 2021. Yet, the realities described in it show that this topic is far from closed. A society burdened with such a heavy sense of guilt struggles to grow spiritually and often seeks to rid itself of this burden by resurrecting nationalist ideologies in various forms. How does one become a patriot in such circumstances? This is a burning question not only for Germany but for any nation.

For any patriot, the truth is paramount. This is the essence of the novel's protagonist, Kaspar Wettner, who quietly fights for the soul of his newfound young relative, Sigrun, raised among nationalists and fed lies about the supposed innocence of the German people. And there is no doubt that Kaspar is a patriot. He expresses it simply: "I love my country, I am glad that I speak its language, understand its people, and know it painfully well. I don't need to be proud of being German; it's enough for me to be glad about it."

This kind of patriotism, combined with a commitment to truth, is sorely lacking in the broader context of global culture.

If we read good literature and do not shy away from our archival heritage, we can learn what it means to be a true patriot—one who embraces the truth without empty, destructive pride or a crushing sense of guilt for the crimes of the past.

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