Book Assessment of Catherine Merridale's "Night of Stone: Death and Memory in Twentieth-century Russ
Book Assessment of Catherine Merridale's "Night of Stone: Death and Memory in Twentieth-century Russia"
By: Nathan Peter-Grzeszczak Buhr
Dealing with death in the present day United States is very organized, documented, and predictable. Even when the cause of death is unexpected, gratuitous, or violent the family and friends come together to organize a funeral and morn their loss. Millions of citizens of Russia during the twentieth-century were never allowed this closure. Often the true cause of death was concealed from the family and they rarely had a chance to receive and bury remains. Wherever Russians were killed, be it in work camp or on the battlefield the surviving families were forced to ignore and repress the memories of loved ones because of brutal policies of the Russian government. In the book Night of Stone the author Cathrine Merridale looks at the bloody past of Russia and how its citizens have dealt with the death and atrocities that were present in their country throughout the twentieth-century. By telling the stories of victims of labor camps, famine, meaningless killings, and other atrocities that the Russian government has denied or downplayed, Merridale shows the psychology of Russia is deeply affected by these acts, which are hidden beneath the surface in Russian culture to this day.
Russia is a vast land, which spans multiple time zones, ethnic groups, and cultures. During times of war people suffered at the hands of foreign forces but much of the atrocities and bloodshed was caused by the Soviet regimes of Lenin and Stalin. The Soviet Government used brutality, terrorism, and violence throughout the twentieth-century to intimidate and control its population. Merridale collects stories through interviews with survivors about the darkest times, which are rarely discussed. The Russian state officially denied most all of the acts committed against its own citizens making it very hard to doubt or question the leadership. Because of the Russian government policies of not admitting to past wrongs, even in the face of evidence collected by archeologists, historians, and sociologists, many Russian citizens are left without answers to their questions.
Natural disasters and harsh climates in the Soviet Union contributed to the suffering of its people, but the Soviet government did not use its power to organize aid and protect its citizens. There were a number of famines that occurred during the twentieth-century in and around Russia and Ukraine, the most notable being the famine of 1921. During times of famine the Soviet government maintained strict regulation over grain exports to the cities often leaving farmers and rural citizens with less than needed to sustain life. The reactions to lack of food in the countryside did not seem to alarm the central Soviet government and actions to relieve the suffering of its people were rarely taken. Peasants caught hording grain were often severely punished, killed, or sent to work camps. When food was scarce due to famine or war the Russian people resorted to eating whatever they could find including any and all animals, bark, leaves, dirt, and in the most extreme case other people. Accounts of cannibalism were numerous and so wide spread that there was more than one word in the Russian language for the act: “trupoyedstvo, the eating of flesh from a human corpse as opposed to lyudoyedstvo, which is the killing and eating of living human beings” (Merridale 2000, 163).
In a time when talking out against the Communist regime would cost you your life, many thoughts, beliefs, and opinions were heavily guarded and not likely shared. Any citizen could have been easily labeled as a criminal, poet, intellectual, or enemy of the state and sent to the work camps or killed. This fear of the government meant that most citizens went out of their way to show patriotism and devotion to the Soviet Union. In an attempt to appear loyal and be in good standings with the government people would display their nationalism whenever possible. However in private and in the company of trusted friends and family most citizens shared their dislike and distrust for the government. Due to this fear of the government most Soviet citizens kept a low profile to avoid being targeted by the state.
In chapter ten Merridale shows the continuation of the war myth as it was passed down to by the older generations to the younger ones. Merridale states, “For them, as for everybody else in the Soviet Union, heroism and combat were synonymous with the Great Patriotic War (WWII). Children were raised on their grandparents' stories”(Merridale 2000, 285). These stories inspired the youth to take up arms for the glory of Soviet Russia. In the words of one young veteran of the Soviet war in Afghanistan “I wanted to do the things that my grandfather always talked about”(Merridale 2000, 285). By sharing these stories which glorify, immortalize, and justify the war experience but also were likely to omit the horrible reality and atrocities of war, the older generation has done a great disservice to the youth of Russia. The grandparents sold the idea that war was something to be experienced and accomplished leading this veteran among others to believe “this was different, and it was going to be exciting, fighting on the frontier, in a romantic place”(Merridale 2000, 285). It was a common belief that the all-powerful Soviet army would have no problem pacifying the anti-communists in Afghanistan, which were seen by the Soviets as barbaric, backward, and Muslim extremists. This prevailing thought made most young Soviets believe in the fallacy that they would be protected by their superior equipment, culture, and beliefs. The young veteran goes on to say, “you never thought that they were going to kill you”(Merridale 2000, 285). Many young Soviets lost their lives because the older generation failed to pass on the haunting memories, lessons they had learned and the true brutal nature of armed conflict.
The multitude of stories of tragedy and human suffering contained in Night of Stone are astonishing. Famine, war, civil war, and expropriation, the hazards of living in Russia during the twentieth-century were numerous and it is amazing that any Soviet citizen survived when the odds were so often against them. Those that survived were not left unaffected and were likely burdened and haunted by their memories. Talking about the past without fear of persecution is something that is often taken for granted in Western cultures. Being able to openly share and process memories of atrocities may not change the past but it will hopefully offer some amount of peace. Modern Russia has lots of issues from its imperial past that it can continue to hide and ignore but hopefully the government will allow the truth to come out. One can hope that Gorbachev's policy of glasnost, which proposes more openness by the Russian government will be honored and true transparency can be embraced. Only then will the horrors of the past begin to be faced and dealt with so that Russia will be free to improve upon its future.
Merridale, Catherine. Night of Stone: Death and Memory in Twentieth-century Russia. Great Britain: Granta Books, 2000.
