“De-Stalinization and its lessons on the eve of deputyization”: historical webinar of “Tkuma” Institute

On January 14, “Tkuma” Institute and the “Orion” Publishing House held a historical webinar on the “De-Stalinization and Its Lessons on the Eve of Deputization.” The event was attended by Dr. Igor Shchupak, Dr. Yehor Vradii, and a special guest from New York, Ukrainian-American historian and archivist Mykhailo Mitsel, who has many years of experience working in archives in various countries.

During the conversation, the participants discussed a wide range of problematic and extremely relevant issues, including:

- Features of “national policy” in the USSR;

- The essence of anti-Zionism in the mid-20th century and its modern transformations;

- perception of Stalin's death by Soviet society;

- access to archival documents in Kyiv, Simferopol and Moscow;

- Comparison of the attitude of the Stalinist regime towards Jews and the policy of the Putin regime towards Ukrainians;

- Common features of Stalinism and Putinism and possible models of deputization.

The conversation was largely based on the books of Mikhail Miceli, published by the publishing house “Spirit and Letter”. Special attention was paid to the 20th Congress of the CPSU, which took place on January 14, 1956, and Nikita Khrushchev's report “On the Cult of Personality”. The webinar participants also spoke about the contradictions of the de-Stalinization process, since its initiators were figures who were themselves part of the repressive system.

The discussion also touched on the methodological aspects of teaching complex topics – how to explain Stalinism, anti-Zionism, racism and deputyization to high school students in new history textbooks in an accessible and professional manner.

The webinar recording is available at the link.