Edits will be made to “one paragraph” of the new history textbook for high school students, the development of which was also carried out by former Minister of Culture Vladimir Medinsky. RIA Novosti was informed about this by MGIMO Rector Anatoly Torkunov, one of the authors of the manual.
They decided to edit the textbook after the paragraph about Stalin’s deportation of the peoples of the USSR was criticized in Chechnya.
“In general, the textbook on Russian history was rewritten 40 times, and in tsarist times it was also rewritten many times, and our great historians, starting from Karamzin, Solovyov, Klyuchevsky, also made edits, additions, and changes in their time. So, of course, changes will be made to this textbook both now and for the new academic year, when he goes to grades 10 and 11,” said Torkunov.
According to the rector of MGIMO, a “natural process” is taking place ”, since “new data and estimates are appearing, so changes to the textbook will be made now, and next year, and the year after.”
In September, a post appeared on the Telegram channel of the Chairman of the Chechen Parliament Magomed Daudov, which stated that the textbook had been confiscated in the region, but later the words about this were removed from the publication. Daudov noted that he was working on the textbook on behalf of Ramzan Kadyrov. Probably, he, like representatives of the Russian Congress of the Peoples of the Caucasus, was dissatisfied with the phrase from the paragraph dedicated to the rear of the USSR during the Second World War.
“Based on cooperation with the occupiers of the Karachais, Kalmyks, Chechens, Ingush, Balkars, Crimean Tatars, State Defense Committees in 1943-1944. decided to liquidate the state formations of these peoples within the USSR and subject them to collective punishment — forced relocation (deportation) to the eastern regions of the country. As a result, not only bandits and collaborators of the enemy were repressed, but also many innocent people. The settlers had to endure many troubles and hardships. Justice for them was restored after 1953,” the textbook said.
According to Daudov, Medinsky agreed to “put in order” the chapter on deportation.
In the new Russian history textbook for grades 10 and 11, the sections on the 70s have been completely “rewritten, revised” , 80s, 90s and “zero” years, Medinsky himself previously reported. For example, the manual describes Ukraine as an “ultra-nationalist state” where “any dissent” is persecuted, and the purpose of the Russian invasion of a neighboring country is called “the defense of Donbass and proactively ensuring the security of Russia.”