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VZCZCXRO4407
PP RUEHDBU
DE RUEHMO #0334/01 0471221
ZNY CCCCC ZZH
P 161221Z FEB 10
FM AMEMBASSY MOSCOW
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 6246
INFO RUCNCIS/CIS COLLECTIVE PRIORITY
RUEHXD/MOSCOW POLITICAL COLLECTIVE PRIORITY
RHEHNSC/NSC WASHDC PRIORITY
C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 04 MOSCOW 000334
SIPDIS
E.O. 12958: DECL: 02/04/2020
TAGS: PREL PGOV PHUM SOCI KNAR KIRF RS
SUBJECT: GOR GREETS HOLOCAUST MUSEUM DIRECTOR BLOOMFIELD
WITH OPEN ARMS
REF: 09 MOSCOW 1349
Classified By: DCM Eric Rubin for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d)
¶1. (C) Summary: During a visit to Moscow from January 29 -
February 4, U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum (USHMM) Director
Sarah Bloomfield received an enthusiastic response from GOR
officials, who noted that the GOR and the USHMM have shared
interests in expanding World War II and Holocaust education.
USHMM representatives hope to announce a series of bilateral
projects as part of Russia's Victory Day celebration in May.
Despite the obvious shared interests in this area, we should
be alert to the possibility that the GOR will attempt to
exploit the issue of Nazi collaborators in Ukraine and the
Baltic countries to push its own geopolitical goals in the
former Soviet space. End Summary.
USHMM proposes closer cooperation to GOR
----------------------------------------
¶2. (SBU) During a visit to Moscow from January 29 - February
4, U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum (USHMM) Director Sarah
Bloomfield met with a wide cross-section of over twenty
academics, NGOs, federal archive agencies, and GOR officials.
The U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum (USHMM) is a federal
agency, funded by Congress, and its Director, Sarah
Bloomfield, is directly appointed by the President in a
manner similar to Cabinet members. Although Russia has a
Holocaust Memorial Synagogue and other Holocaust-related
organizations, it has nothing comparable to the USHMM. The
primary goal of Bloomfield's trip was therefore to bring
bilateral cooperation on Holocaust-related projects to the
government level and out of the NGO realm. The percentage of
Russian participants in the USHMM's work has thus far been
low; out of the 400 scholars who have had fellowships there,
only two have been Russian. Furthermore, the cooling of
U.S.-Russian relations prior to 2009 led GOR agencies,
including archival ones, to cut off cooperation with the
USHMM.
¶3. (C) Information about Nazi crimes on Soviet soil forms a
key part of the USHMM's collection, and includes not only
Jews who were Soviet citizens, but also Slavic forced
laborers and Soviet prisoners-of-war. Bloomfield's deputy
Paul Shapiro noted that, ironically, due to a lingering Cold
War mentality on the part of some GOR officials, the USHMM
has enjoyed a closer cooperative relationship with a former
U.S. adversary, Germany, than with its former ally, Russia.
Common ground on falsification of history
-----------------------------------------
¶4. (C) Bloomfield and Shapiro were quick to point out to GOR
officials that the lack of Russian scholars at the USHMM was
detrimental to Russia's interests. Other former Soviet
countries all participate, and have the opportunity to put
their own spin on events that occurred during World War II,
which differ from the views of Russians. Shapiro told GOR
officials that the USHMM shared Russia's concerns about
"distortion of history" (reftel) and exoneration or even
celebration of Nazi collaborators in places such as Ukraine
and the Baltics. Shapiro also noted that the improved
bilateral atmosphere, which can only be enhanced by
commemorating our World War II alliance against the Nazis,
provides a golden opportunity for collaboration on joint
projects.
¶5. (C) Bloomfield and Shapiro found an extremely enthusiastic
audience among their GOR interlocutors. Deputy Foreign
Minister Sergei Ryabkov agreed that "we have to focus on this
tragic period of our history," and noted that the
commemoration of the Red Army liberation of Auschwitz (a
ceremony which Bloomfield attended, and where Russian
Education Minister Fursenko inaugurated a pavilion devoted to
the liberation) had just taken place on January 27.
Bloomfield pointed out that many Americans are not aware that
it was the Red Army, not the Americans, who liberated
Auschwitz (as well as five other Nazi killing centers), and
that this was emblematic of the need to include Russia more
in Holocaust education. Ryabkov cited the example of
Ambassador Beyrle's father, who fought for both the U.S. and
the Red Army during World War II, as an example of the kind
of story that needs to be shared with the public so that they
can understand the partnership of our two countries during
that time. Ryabkov suggested focusing media attention on any
joint projects, and added, "the more we can do on this
subject, the better," as we should always remember that we
were allies for this event, which "for us, is a cherished
part of our history." He also agreed that it was "obvious"
that a broader partnership of Russian scholars with the USHMM
MOSCOW 00000334 002 OF 004
would enhance the chances of bringing people's understanding
of history as close to the truth as possible.
Archivists ready to cooperate as well
-------------------------------------
¶6. (C) Shapiro asked Ryabkov about the obstructionism among
some GOR officials in recent years regarding the USHMM's
access to archival materials. Ryabkov responded that it
would be necessary to find a way to eliminate bureaucratic
obstacles to address "the very un-bureaucratic issues"
related to the Holocaust. Given that, as Shapiro noted,
archival materials form the backbone of the USHMM's work, no
joint projects with Russia will be able to get off the ground
without approval from GOR archival agencies. These agencies
have had a mixed record of cooperation with the USHMM;
Bloomfield and Shapiro have been in regular contact with
Sergey Mironenko, Director of the State Archives of the
Russian Federation (GARF), while still only sharing a limited
amount of information. Two years ago, the FSB's archival
wing, without explanation, cut off all contact with the
USHMM. To help resolve this question, Bloomfield met
separately with Dr. Andrey Artizov, Director of the Federal
Archival Agency of the Russian Federation, and with
Mironenko. Artizov (whose Agency supervises GARF's work) and
Mironenko both expressed readiness to work with any of
Bloomfield's ideas. Shapiro emphasized these agencies' key
role in any bilateral projects, and added that one of the
most fundamental sources of information on Nazi crimes on
Soviet territory is the documents from the Soviet Union's
Extraordinary Committee.
¶7. (C) After a week of meetings with GOR officials to discuss
modes of collaboration, the head of the FSB's archival
division, Vasiliy Khristoforov, unexpectedly appeared during
a meeting at the MFA with Mikhail Shvydkoy, the Special
Cultural Representative of President Medvedev, and proved to
be affable and amenable to Bloomfield and Shapiro's
suggestions. Nonetheless, in order to re-start the
relationship with the FSB, Ryabkov suggested that the USHMM
begin by sending small list of cases to Ryabkov, who could
then pass them along. They could then gradually add in more
and more cases as trust continued to improve.
The nitty-gritty
----------------
¶8. (C) Bloomfield and Shapiro presented a series of specific
ideas to their GOR interlocutors. Shapiro suggested three
joint bilateral projects in advance of the May Victory Day
commemoration: one archival project; one roundtable of
scholars; and one publishing project. These could concern
both Jewish victims and Soviet forced laborers. Ryabkov
noted that the events in May would involve foreign
delegations, parades, and other commemorations, and agreed
with Bloomfield that jointly signing a memorandum of
understanding on the above projects would make an appropriate
public gesture of cooperation in this context.
¶9. (C) Shapiro proposed, in addition to the above ideas, a
digitization project which would make all Extraordinary
Committee documents available both here and in Washington.
Artizov said that it would not be necessary to move this to
Washington, as they have state of the art materials here.
(Note: This statement has some basis; the Bloomfield group
later toured GARF's new state-of-the-art facilities, which
have just undergone a USD 16.7 million renovation. End
note.). Artizov said that they should discuss how much the
American side could fund, and then look at the budget and
hammer out the details (including which part of the
digitization would take place in-house, and which part would
be outsourced). Bloomfield assured Artizov that this project
would be a priority. Artizov suggested drawing up an
agreement and signing it on the eve of Victory Day. For his
part, Mironenko said that they had a thorough collection from
SVAG (the Soviet Military Administration in Germany), which
they had developed in cooperation with the German
Bundesarchive; however, this project had taken ten years to
complete. Artizov also said he was interested in YIVO and
Yad Vashem documents. Shapiro also suggested having Russia
join the International Task Force on Holocaust Education and
Research.
¶10. (C) During the meetings, Shvydkoy said that he was
planning to designate 2012 as "the year of Russia" in the
U.S., and vice versa in Russia. He added that "our
Presidents require from us evidence and facts of the
'reset.'" Shvydkoy also invited Bloomfield and Shapiro to two
conferences in Moscow in April: one of Russian and American
historians, and one of historians of post-Soviet countries
MOSCOW 00000334 003 OF 004
(which will touch on the Holocaust). Ramzan Koloyev of the
Ministry of Culture, told Bloomfield that his Ministry was
also interested in taking part in bilateral activities in
this sphere. He mentioned the Bilateral Presidential
Commission Working Group on culture, which entails joint
cooperation between museums and libraries in both countries.
Koloyev said that a Russian cultural delegation of 10-12
people plans to visit the U.S. in March as a reciprocal visit
to Undersecretary McHale's visit in December.
¶11. (C) Because of Bloomfield's desire to put the weight of
the GOR behind any joint projects, the trip focused on
establishing, or re-establishing, relationships at the
governmental level. However, she also met with a number of
academics and NGOs, without whose work none of the
symbolically important events could happen. Andrey Roginskiy
showed Bloomfield the impressive archival collection
belonging to his NGO Memorial, although only the portion
relating to Soviet forced laborers during the war (so-called
"ostarbeiters") touched directly upon the USHMM's work.
Bloomfield and Shapiro also spoke with Aaron Zusman of the
Organization of Victims of Fascist Camps and Ghettoes,
himself a survivor of Nazi atrocities who has organized a
number of former victims within Russia.
¶12. (U) Bloomfield and Shapiro also spoke with professor
Arkadiy Kovelman, head of the Department of Jewish studies at
Moscow State University, regarding possible research,
information, and scholar programs for his students at the
USHMM; with Mark Kupovetskiy of the Russian-American Center
for Biblical and Jewish Studies at the Russian State
University of the Humanities (RGGU), regarding collaborative
development of online databases; and Isaac Frumin, Vice
Rector at the Higher School of Economics (HSE), regarding
possible research exchange and fellowship programs. HSE's
and RGGU's field work involving personal interviews of
survivors or witnesses from World War II sparked particular
interest from the USHMM side. They also visited the Moscow
Choral Synagogue, the Solomon Mikhoels Cultural Center, and
the Holocaust Memorial Synagogue. Although GOR contacts will
provide necessary heft to any joint projects, many of these
people will make substantive behind-the-scenes contributions
to any publicized bilateral activities to promote Holocaust
awareness.
Possible pitfalls
-----------------
¶13. (C) Bloomfield and Shapiro were pleased to be on the same
page with their Russian interlocutors. However, their
conversation with Mironenko about some of the political
aspects of this initiative provided a reality check for them
about potential pitfalls, and optics that may not be in USG
interests. When Shapiro asked if the joint digital project
would fit in with Medvedev's Victory Commission, Mironenko
answered that for the 60th anniversary, there was a Central
Committee called "Victory" which still exists on paper, but
he derided the Committee as "pompous" and empty of substance.
The context was "parades and such," with little relation
anything academic or substantive.
¶13. (C) Mironenko also spoke archly of the Anti-Falsification
Commission (of which he and Artizov are technically members,
although Mironenko only prepares information for it) that
Medvedev created in May 2009 (reftel), damning it with faint
praise. He said that it has thus far met twice, but "cannot
decide what direction to take." He said that it was good
that the Commission is stimulating research, and said may be
interested in funding this, but he also made it clear that he
had little respect for the majority of the Commission's
members, who appear to be focusing on scoring political
points, and to have shallow scholarly knowledge. Any funding
that a bilateral project received from the Commission would
thus be tainted with politics. Artizov told Bloomfield: "We
are not trying to politicize the archives; that is not our
mandate. But when fascist collaborators are getting honors,
we can't sit idly by."
Comment
-------
¶14. (C) Artizov's sentiment on fascist collaborators is one
GOR officials commonly express on the subject of World War II
and the Holocaust. Despite our obvious shared history as
allies who defeated the Nazis, the GOR takes a radically
different approach toward the problems and complexities of
twentieth-century history in the USSR's former sphere of
influence. Bloomfield is correct that the USHMM and the GOR
have a shared agenda in ensuring that the full truth of this
collaboration is known, and that such mutually important
MOSCOW 00000334 004 OF 004
topics will add to the warming trend in bilateral relations.
But while the USHMM wishes to air the truth in order to hold
Nazi collaborators to account and in order to help ensure
that nothing like the Holocaust occurs again, the GOR has at
times shown an inclination to politicize this issue in order
to silence critics of Russian actions before, during, and
after World War II. We should encourage the USHMM's
initiative while remaining alert to attempts by the GOR to
manipulate the issue for its own purposes.
Beyrle
Wikileaks: Russia 