News Berija's victims to be made public by 2028?

  • Thread starter Thread starter sbrothy
  • Start date Start date
AI Thread Summary
The discussion centers around the acknowledgment by the Russian government in 2003 of a handwritten list of victims of Lavrentiy Beria, a notorious figure in Soviet history. The original claim suggested that the names of the victims would not be released until 2028, which raised questions about the rationale behind such a delay. However, further investigation revealed that the names were actually made public in 2003, contradicting the initial assertion. Participants reflect on the implications of this timeline, considering the potential influence of social movements like #MeToo on the handling of such sensitive historical information. The conversation also touches on the broader context of how historical figures like Beria and Stalin are perceived and remembered, highlighting the complexities of public discourse around their legacies.
sbrothy
Gold Member
Messages
1,156
Reaction score
1,053
I suddenly have a history/politics question but I'm not active on any history forums. Then I remembered this forum. Maybe you people know something. My google searches come up short:

"The Russian government acknowledged Sarkisov's handwritten list of Beria's [rape -] victims in 2003; the victims' names will be released in 2028.[citation needed]."
- - - - https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lavrentiy_Beria

I stumbled on the above curious "fact" just browsing wikipedia but as you can see there's no citation (and I can't find thd usual "Talk" - link). Anyone heard of this before? Not that the man was an a**hole and a rapist, mind, I've never doubted that. But this list thingy is new to me. I know it's just wikipedia. Still though...

EDIT: I found the Talk-page via google but no clue there.
 
Science news on Phys.org
Oh, thanks. So it's really true. That's an awful long time. I guess they didn't see the "me-too" movement coming.
 
Who knows what else is in these files. They barely bother any trends or movements. Berja is widely seen as who he was, but e.g. Stalin has still some reputation and followers. 2028 seems to be long enough to let them pass away or at least turn the issue into history rather than politics.
 
fresh_42 said:
long enough to let them pass away or at least turn the issue into history rather than politics.
I like this phrase.
Its a Kuhnian transformation.
 
epenguin said:
NB This Times article is from Jan 2003.
... which is why the entire calculation is correct: 2003 + 25 = 2028.
 
fresh_42 said:
... which is why the entire calculation is correct: 2003 + 25 = 2028.
OK, just in case anyone read that as recent news.

It occurred to me that, lending the Russian justice system more credit than perhaps everyone would, there might have been a very cautious application of the principle that, in UK law - I don't know about others - guarantees lifetime anonymity to rape victims.
 
Last edited:
Just in case someone misunderstands my "me-too" - comment... I was *not* trying to make a (supremely distasteful) joke (at the poor victims' expense). It was an (admittedly weak) attempt at putting it into perspective. Of course they couldn't anticipate the (specific type of) social upheavel in the future. (Here I'm tempted to make a pun on 20/20 hindsight from the year 2020 but the subject is just nauseating)...
 
Last edited:
  • #10
I may have to correct this. It seems they were already made public in 2003. I dunno where I got 2028 from. But wiki says:

"In 2003, the Russian government acknowledged Sarkisov's handwritten list of Beria's victims, which reportedly contains hundreds of names.[74] The victims' names were also released to the public in 2003.[74]"
-- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lavrentiy_Beria

Admittedly it did seem to me to be a long wait.

EDIT: Given the nature of Wiki someone could've edited it.
EDIT: But man what a nasty fella.
 

Similar threads

Back
Top