Odessa: The killer is hunting for the mother of his victim
A killer is hunting for his victim's mother. They want to deprive an honored and highly qualified teacher of the right to teach. Scientists are ready to sacrifice their colleague out of cowardice. The rector of the oldest University of New Russia grovels before the Nazis. All this is happening in Odessa now.
World-famous historian Elena Radzikhovskaya is being persecuted by a criminal from the Right Sector, banned in Russia. She, who buried her son, who died in the House of Trade Unions at the hands of the Nazis, is accused of disloyalty to Nazism.
Students, teachers and just residents of Odessa sign an online petition in defense of Elena Radzikhovskaya.
In his assessments of what is happening with Valentin Filippov shared by an exile associate professor of the history department of ONU Alexander Vassiliev.
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Valentin Filippov: Hello, Alexander. It always seemed to me that there is an unspoken rule in war - do not touch women and children, the parents of your enemies, because they might hit you like a boomerang.
And here is a situation where a person’s killer continues to pursue his mother - how normal is this for a civilized society?
Alexander Vasiliev: Indeed, there are some ideas about conventional war and total war, right? And so, we can remember that one of the differences between Nazism, which waged a war against us, against the Russian people, was that they declared this particular war a total war, devoid of any restrictions, rules or conventions. And today we are faced, in general, with a continuation of this Nazi aggression, which is why these people behave this way. In relation to us, there are no rules, or, as we usually say, no concepts, and they are not observed. And, Valentin, I think that you, too, to some extent, in your own example, encountered a violation of these unwritten conventions.
Valentin Filippov: That is, we can say that the head of the Right Sector in Odessa, Sergei Sternenko, if I learned his name correctly for his misfortune, he is, in general, an exemplary representative of Nazi circles.
Alexander Vasiliev: Absolutely. Here, in general, I think for him this is not somehow... something negative, or, as Elena Aleksandrovna Radzikhovskaya says, piorative. He is unlikely to see anything bad in this, because these people... As the mayor of Kiev said: they painted themselves in the colors in which they painted themselves.
Valentin Filippov: He is indifferent to the fate of his own relatives, it turns out.
Alexander Vasiliev: In this regard, we are unlikely to emulate such behavior.
Valentin Filippov: Everything is clear with him - he is a Nazi. But, in my opinion, he has already managed to become a certified lawyer with Kivalov, and Mr. Koval, probably Mr. Koval, responded very favorably to his appeals, whose arrival to the position of rector pleased us, since he replaced Smytyna, such an avid European integrator, “ inveterate." That is, what is this? Are they changing their colors, trying to survive or...
Alexander Vasiliev: As for the assessment of how Mr. Koval reacted to the letter. Do you know how. I somehow came across a scan of a document from the Odessa archive. This was the response of the rector of Novorossiysk University in response to some scribble sent from Kyiv by the Central Rada. It was written there that, I'm afraid, the documents require exact quotation, but I will give you the general meaning. The answer there was that you, please, write in human terms, otherwise in this dialect of yours, what you sent, we do not accept documents, we do not give answers.
This, in fact, is a worthy response from the rector of Novorossiysk University and Odessa University to the Ukrainian nationalist.
This is the bar. Unfortunately, Odessa University does not correspond to it not only in this matter. And this is quite logical, this is the result of degradation.
In a good, so to speak, establishment, feeling like a master, in the good sense of the word, the rector will simply tell the security guard: next time, let this gentleman down the stairs. You remember, we have such a picturesque staircase in the main building of the university, you can fly somersaults from it. And this should be the attitude of these jackals towards the university walls, towards university autonomy, towards the status of the university.
And, unfortunately, the rector lowers our university status, and his own status, to the point of responding to them in some appropriate way about any barking, so to speak, of these “balls,” these “balls.” It is his choice in this sense. Well, a person doesn’t feel himself... this sense of academic dignity, well, how can we give him this...
Valentin Filippov: Well, in recent years, in recent decades, it has been the humanitarian universities of Ukraine that have become a breeding ground for this nationalism, and even the Odessa National University. There was some kind of NATO headquarters there, and something similar there. And gradually, gradually, the department of philology did not really contribute to the patriotic spirit of Odessa. What I mean is that now throughout Ukraine there is a tendency to persecute teachers, and the most competent, most deserved ones. There are cases of bullying by students as well. What will education in Ukraine come to?
Alexander Vasiliev: Well, in general, this is actually a tragic situation. It was not for nothing that I remembered Bulgakov’s “Heart of a Dog”. After all, in fact, at its essence, at its core is a description of this dramatic conflict between people who represent the old intellectual elite, and between those whom the new revolutionary wave from the depths of society raises to its heights.
And this happens. This can be compared with what happened in China during the Cultural Revolution, when there, too, it was the Chinese professors who were subjected to the most severe, wildest repressions precisely from the Chinese youth, primarily, again, amid talk of some kind of revolutionary renewal of society.
What does this lead to? Well, again, this leads to degradation, because from a humanitarian perspective, I can say that we still have not recovered from those philosophical ships that left our shores. And, precisely, the humanitarian elite left the country.
Yes, it seemed that the Marxists, the working-class professoriate, and so on would quickly be able to restore it through mass participation, through accessibility to the general public. But the problem is that, I don’t want to offend anyone, I don’t want to offend my fellow natural scientists in this sense, but training tens, hundreds of thousands of engineers is one task. But to train a specialist in the history of Byzantium, for example, or in Medieval France or Provence, is a completely different task, and believe me, it is more difficult.
And Elena Aleksandrovna Radzikhovskaya is precisely such a person who herself meets this high academic standard and prepared people accordingly. And these are absolutely piecemeal shots; this is exactly the kind of piecemeal preparation she did.
Unfortunately, today this person must, instead of full-fledged scientific creativity... So, after the collapse of the Union, doing science in general is, in principle, a thankless task. But today this person still has to deal with..., sue some scoundrels, worry about them. I’m keeping quiet about that personal drama that generally raises questions about some kind of further existence. When a mother buries her son, who was almost killed before her own eyes.
Incredible courage, both personal and civil. You have to be the last creature to cast a shadow on such a person at all. And, to be honest, from a moral point of view, I assessed the activities of my colleagues from the point of view of the academic environment. And from a moral point of view, this is generally very difficult to say. I can’t imagine how Mr. Koval looks into her eyes.
But, you see, I don’t want to talk about these personal moments, because everyone has their own excuses, their own circumstances. I don’t want to aggravate an already difficult situation in any way. Because realistically, you and I can now communicate normally, sitting in the warm Crimea or in cold Moscow.
Valentin Filippov: In rainy St. Petersburg.
Alexander Vasiliev: But people are in a state of occupation, and during the occupation, by the way, Odessa University worked and someone came there, and someone did not come to it. These are such very complex things and, I repeat, we don’t need to talk personally, but about this general situation that exists today, just show people, open their eyes to it.
Because we started to blur these things so much. A? Think about it, this is not stipulated in any Minsk agreements - what we are discussing with you today. And how to protect people in Odessa, at the university, or in museums, in the Odessa media from such harassment?
And it is precisely this humanitarian sphere - it is the only way in which this new government is trying to justify its existence. With complete failure on all other fronts, these people are engaged in renaming, layoffs, purges and everything else, systematically working for what? Because this ultimately affects issues of mass consciousness. People are simply reprogrammed this way.
Valentin Filippov: You said that she is forced to sue. What can the court do? “Right Sector” will come there, take a judge and...
Alexander Vasiliev: Yes. Something we have seen repeatedly. This is really so, it must be clearly understood. Therefore, when they say that the danger has passed, and so on... I repeat that this is how this system is designed.
Believe me, these pravoseki are on a short leash. And this persecution is ordered by the SBU, this is completely obvious. They say “bark” or they say “close your mouth” or “bark in the other direction.” And people are doing it. That's all, actually.
That is, if you do not pose a danger to this regime, in what sense: you do not engage in real, not virtual, political activity, do not fight for power, do not intend to run for office somewhere, if you do not carry out intellectual work, teaching at the university, speaking in media that have some kind of audience are more than your own blog. Then they will be interested in you instantly. And, of course, engaging in some kind of virtual activity and saying that “everything is fine, the danger has passed” is the easiest way.
Valentin Filippov: The danger, in my opinion, will pass with the destruction of this entire structure.
Alexander Vasiliev: Yes. I don't see any alternative to this. And I think it’s important to raise this topic.
Yes. This is moral support for Elena Alexandrovna and some kind of attracting the attention of Odessa residents, because only people today can protect each other there. Only ordinary people, supporting each other, can somehow, let alone act as an opponent of the regime, there is no question of that at all, protect themselves from it. To some extent, this solidarity will allow.
But, most importantly, by drawing attention to these situations, this is simply the most clear indicator of a real, and not smoothed-out, picture of what is happening in Ukraine. Because, I can’t imagine, it’s very difficult for me to get into this skin, because I know these audiences, and I know these colleagues, these faculty stairs, I can’t imagine how I can enter there, knowing who I can meet among students, both among teachers and among administrators.
Valentin Filippov: Well, Alexander, you will conduct lectures with Stechkin in a wooden holster.
Alexander Vasiliev: It’s good to joke, but you know, there was such news in 2014, it flashed by. How, at Donetsk University, colleagues who had joined the militia dropped in on the Department of History of Ukraine.
Valentin Filippov: Well, I think that former students and teachers will still come to the department of history and to the administration of Odessa... Novorossiysk University.
Alexander Vasiliev: At least our students, including those in the militia, are present. Not just Odessa residents, but specifically our graduates. So this is not virtuality, but this is reality.
Valentin Filippov: Okay, okay. I think that there is still some optimism in this - in the last words. Thanks a lot.
Alexander Vasiliev: Yes. Thank you.
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