Letter from Karl Renner to Joseph Stalin (april 1945): scientific justification of the fact of document falsification as a way of justifying the soviet occupation of Austria and its influence on modern Russian-Austrian relations

Study of Renner's correspondence with J. Stalin, determine the originality of the letter, prove the fact of its falsification. Analysis of ideological lexicon, identification of false data. Review of historical facts from the Soviet politics in Austria.

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National university «Kyiv-Mohyla» academy

Letter from Karl Renner to Joseph Stalin (april 1945): scientific justification of the fact of document falsification as a way of justifying the soviet occupation of Austria and its influence on modern Russian-Austrian relations

Volodymyr Lytvyn, Student,

Kyiv, Ukraine

Abstract

In the article comprehensively analyzes the letter of Karl Renner to Joseph Stalin dated April 15, 1945 and proves the fact of its falsification.

The aim is to study how one falsified letter actually fits into the general concept of the Soviet occupation of Austria and affects modern russian-Austrian relations. Research methods. General scientific methods such as synthesis, analysis, induction, deduction, problem-chronological, and historical-retrospective methods are applied.

Scientific novelty. For the first time in world historiography, made an attempt to question the originality of Karl Renner's letter and to determine the impact of this falsification not only on the concept of the Soviet occupation of Austria, but also on modern Russian-Austrian relations. In particular, the author makes an attempt to analyze the modern pro-Russian narratives promoted in Austria in order to impose a certain empathy towards the Soviet Union, whose heir modern russia considers itself. Conclusions.

As a result of the conducted research, the fact offalsification of Karl Renner's letter was logically proven. A number of such signs, such as the presence of ideologically colored Soviet vocabulary and the presentation of false and untrue facts aimed at a special distortion of reality, only confirmed well-founded doubts about the originality of this letter.

At the same time, modern russian propaganda uses such a "friendly" correspondence between Karl Renner and Joseph Stalin in order to promote narratives about "russkiy mir" and comprehensively influence Austria's position as a neutral country.

There have been proven cases of systematic distortion of historical facts from the history of the Soviet occupation of Austria by the russian side in order to create a false impression about the greatly exaggerated role of the Red Army in the post-war reconstruction of this country. At the same time, the article presented those facts from the history of the occupation policy of the Soviet Union in Austria, which are mostly ignored by russian researchers, and allow one to form an objective impression of the true role of the occupation authorities.

Keywords: Karl Renner, Joseph Stalin, Austria, occupation, falsification, propaganda, "russkiy mir".

In bright memory of my tragically deceased supervisor Mykhailo Kirsenko and his wife Tetyana Balabushevych

The problems of the Soviet occupation of Austria cannot be considered as under-researched.

There is a rather powerful layer of publications, monographs, collections of documents and scientific investigations that attempt to comprehensively consider this issue. At the same time, despite the rather good state of scientific development of the topic of the Soviet occupation of Austria, on its conventional "body" can be found so-called "white spots" -- certain important aspects that require separate research.

The importance of a careful study of such "white spots" was proven once again during the study of the late war and early postwar period of the existence of the occupation regime of the Soviet Union on the territory of Austria Lytvyn V Y. Regarding the question of the Soviet occupation of Austria. The main directions of the activities of the Red Army's occupation policy in the late war and early post-war period (April-July 1945). Pages of Military History of Ukraine. 2023. № 26. P. 160-176..

In particular, the author of this article studied a document known to historical science for a long time -- Karl Renner's letter to Joseph Stalin dated April 15, 1945.

Despite its fame among the community of world historians, signs of obvious falsification of this letter were found by the author Ibid, p. 166..

The thematic direction of the previous article did not allow the author to fully highlight all the signs of falsification of the letter, so it seems quite logical that in the context of this research, all attention will be entirely devoted to this document.

It is worth starting with the publication of the text of Karl Renner's letter itself, because, as practice shows, it is quite difficult to find it freely available.

To his Excellency Marshal Stalin, Moscow

Dear comrade !

In the early period of the movement I had close personal connections with many Russian advanced revolutionary fighters. However, I have not yet been able to meet you personally, dear comrade. I met Lenin at the Stockholm Socialist Peace Conference in 1917; I had constant contacts with Trotsky during his years in Vienna; I worked together with Ryazanov in the Vienna Workers ' Newspaper; many comrades who fled as a result of persecution by tsarism lived or at least spent the night in my apartment while traveling to Switzerland, many were provided with passports by me.

The twisted play of history has led to the fact that, at an age when I considered my social activities completed, I am addressing you personally in such an unusual and meaningful form.

The Red Army found me and my family during its advance on my place of residence Glognitz (near Wiener Neustadt), where I, together with my party comrades, full of trust, awaited its arrival. The local command treated me with deep respect, immediately took me under their protection and again gave me complete freedom of action, which I was forced to give up with pain in my soul during the dominance of fascism by Dollfuss and Hitler. For all this, on my own behalf and on behalf of the working class of Austria, I most sincerely and humbly thank the Red Army and you, its glory-covered Supreme Commanderin-Chief.

Fate wished that I would be the first member of the Central Committee of the Social Democratic Party remaining in the country to receive freedom of action again. Moreover, there is the happy circumstance that I, as the last president of the former free People's Representation, can consider myself entitled to speak on behalf of the Austrian people. Another advantage of mine is that, as the first Chancellor of the Austrian Republic, I was invested with confidence in the transformation of the state foundations, as well as in the organization of public administration, and therefore I can be trusted to take up and initiate the work of a new awakening of Austria.

Fate wished that I would be the first member of the Central Committee of the Social Democratic Party remaining in the country to receive freedom of action again. Moreover, there is the happy circumstance that I, as the last president of the former free People's Representation, can consider myself entitled to speak on behalf of the Austrian people. Another advantage of mine is that, as the first Chancellor of the Austrian Republic, I was invested with confidence in the transformation of the state foundations, as well as in the organization of public administration, and therefore I can be trusted to take up and initiate the work of a new awakening of Austria.

Therefore, I considered it my absolute duty to place myself entirely and completely in the service of this cause. The relevant authorities of Tolbukhin 's troops have already expressed to me their readiness to provide me with the necessary assistance. This was necessary, since I had no the necessary writing materials to write the first appeals, no railways, no post office, no cars to distribute them. Without the help of the Red Army, not a single step would have been possible. And therefore, not only me, but also a future Second Republic of Austria and its working class will be obliged to thank you for many years, Mr. Marshall, and your victorious army.

The Hitler regime has doomed us here to absolute helplessness; helpless we will stand at the gates of the great powers when the transformation of Europe is realized. Already today I ask for your favorable attention to Austria in the Council of the Greats and, since tragic circumstances allow it, I ask you to take us under your powerful protection.

We are currently threatened by famine and epidemic, and we are threatened by loss of territory in negotiations with neighbors. In our rocky Alps we already have very little arable land; it provides us with only meager daily food. If we lose another part of the territory, we will not be able to live. The victors cannot have the intention of condemning us to a helpless existence. The West, however, as 1919 showed, does not know our conditions well and does not show enough interest to ensure we have the prerequisites for independence.

However, dear comrade, I do not want to bother you prematurely with later questions. But to the extent possible, I ask you to take the following into account now.

Thanks to the amazing flowering of Russia's power, our people have fully unraveled the deceit of twenty years of National Socialist propaganda and are filled with amazement at the tremendous successes of the Soviets! In particular, the trust of the Austrian working class in the Soviet Republic became unlimited. The Austrian Social Democrats will reach a brotherly agreement with the Communist Party and will work together for equal rights in the reestablishment of the republic. That the future of the country belongs to socialism is indisputable and does not require special emphasis.

Devoted to you

Dr. Karl Renner Текст документу подано згідно з оригіналом листа, фотографії якого було опуб-ліковано у збірнику документів музею Карла Реннера. Варто також відмітити той факт, що у своєму листі австрійський політик вживає прикметник «російський» замість «ра-дянський». Див.: Karner S., Ruggenthaler P Die Renner-Stalin Briefe. Dr. Karl Renner- Museum, Gloggnitz, 2015. P. 4-7.

As it may seem after a superficial analysis of this document, the researcher is dealing with an ordinary letter written in a sycophantic style, the purpose of which is quite clear -- Karl Renner, already an old and experienced politician, is trying to stay in power in any way possible. He offers his services to Joseph Stalin, hinting that if Renner's candidacy is chosen for the post of head of government, the Soviet Union will receive rather large preferences from Austria. What is worth the hint that without the help of the Red Army the Austrian government will not be able to take any action on the reconstruction of the country or the direct promise that the future of Austria belongs to socialism.

Nevertheless, despite the fact that, at first glance, the essence of the letter may seem quite unambiguous and obvious, when attempting a deeper analysis of this document, one can come to a completely logical conclusion that many facts in the letter are not simply stated inaccurately, but also are openly falsified. The justification of the very fact of falsification will be explained below.

The first thesis that can be disputed is the mention of Karl Renner's meeting with Vladimir Lenin at the Stockholm Peace Conference in 1917. This event is known for the fact that the main topic for discussion at it was the idea of concluding peace and ending the Great War The 1917 Stockholm Peace Conference. Social History Portal. URL: https://socialhisto- ryportal.org/stockholm1917 (дата звернення: 29.09.2023).. However, a completely natural question arises regarding Vladimir Lenin's participation in it. In the complete collection of the Bolshevik leader's works, you can find a separate section entirely devoted to the Stockholm Conference. On its pages you can find information that "The First World War is imperialistic, and those socialists who are trying to stop it are guided exclusively by the interests of the governments of their countries. Therefore, the Bolsheviks consider it expedient to break with the socialists (or, as "Illich" calls them, social chauvinists) and concentrate on the work of creating a proletarian revolution Ленин В. И. Полное собрание сочинений / Ред. В. Я. Зевин. Т 34. «О Стокгольм-ской конференции». Москва: Издательство политической литературы, 1969. С. 99-102.. Therefore, after such radical statements of Vladimir Lenin, the fact that he did not take part in the work of the conference will not be unexpected. It was also not possible to find information from other sources about any stay of the Bolshevik leader or at least his representatives at this event.

Thus, it is safe to say that Karl Renner's mention of meeting Vladimir Lenin at the Stockholm Conference is not true.

The circumstances of Renner's entry into the headquarters of Marshal Fyodor Tolbukhin, who at that time commanded the troops of the Third Ukrainian Front fighting in Austria, also cause great doubt. According to the official version, the Austrian politician specially waited for the arrival of Soviet troops to his native city, and then contacted them with the aim of forming a new government. Moreover, the Soviet leadership treated him with great respect and immediately took him under their "wing". The reality was rather more prosaic. The well-known researcher of the history of Austria Karl Vocelka, analyzing the early stage of Renner's acquaintance with the Soviet military, presents a slightly different version of events. The Austrian politician was really forced to come into contact with the Soviet military leadership, but the reason that pushed him to this step was that the Red Army men committed atrocities in his native city and he could not tolerate it and expressed his protest Воцелка К. История Австрии. Культура, общество, политика. Москва: Весь мир, 2007. С. 402.

Як мінімум дивним видається той факт, що Реннер не згадує постать Курта фон Шушніга, який перебував на посаді прем'єр-міністра Австрії впродовж 1934-1938 років. Можливо це можна пояснити тим, що доктор Шушніг виступав в рішучій опозиції до Аншлюсу, а отже погано підходив на роль посібника нацистів.. It is obvious that Renner gave his name and explained his role in the political life of Austria, because it seems unlikely that representatives of the lower officer ranks of the Red Army knew him by face. After all, the very fact that an Austrian politician ended up in Tolbukhin's headquarters suggests that the Soviet military knew that they were dealing with no ordinary Austrian citizen.

Statements about Karl Renner's complete freedom of movement, which he was deprived of during the years of Engelbert Dollfuss's (1932-1934) and later Adolf Hitler's (1938-1945) rule , can be considered untrue. A letter that was sent to Moscow shortly before Renner's dispatch can help to recognize lies. The author of this letter was Marshal Tolbukhin himself. In it, he unequivocally stated that the Austrian politician would be detained until Stalin personally sent his instructions on further actions Шифротелеграмма командующего войсками 3-го Украинского фронта Ф. И. Тол-бухина и члена Военного совета фронта А. С. Желтова И. В. Сталину о встрече Командо-вания 9-й гвардейской армии с К. Реннером. Центральный Архив Министерства Обо-роны, ф. 243, оп. 2912, д. 146.. Thus, Renner simply could not thank the Soviet marshal for returning freedom of movement, if only because he himself was in custody and, obviously, all his conditional "freedom" consisted, at best, in the ability to move around Tolbukhin's headquarters.

From the correspondence of the same Tolbukhin, we also learn his vision of the circumstances of his acquaintance with Karl Renner. As you can guess, the version of the Soviet marshal differs from what the Austrian politician wrote about. According to the marshal's vision, Renner contacted representatives of the command of the 9th Guards Army and immediately announced his intention to serve post-war Austria as the new head of government Там же.

Автору статті відомо про пропагандистський характер книги, на яку він поси-лається. Однак, оскільки це видання редагувалося професійними військовими, то такі факти як назви підрозділів та хід проведення військових операцій там подані доволі чітко, а всі ідеологічні штампи не бралися автором до уваги і не викривляли хід дослідження.. The fact that Renner came into contact with this army is quite understandable, because according to the data of the Soviet command , it was this military formation that led the offensive on Vienna, on the way to which lay WinnerNeustadt and Renner's native town of Glognitz, which were captured by the Red Army by the army on April 3, 1945 Grechko A. Liberation mission of the Soviet Armed Forces in the Second World War. Moscow: Progress Publishing, 1975. P 285-286..

Also surprising is the fact with which the Austrian politician reclassifies the entire population of Austria into the "working class" in his letter. Austria in the 1940s could by no means boast of a developed industry and the majority of the population of this country was not involved in plants or factories, so it was hardly objective for Renner to make such statements Для порівняння: 44 відсотки жителів Австрії було задіяно в сільському госпо-дарстві. See.: Mathis F The Austrian economy: Basic Features and Trends. Austria in the twentieth century. New Brunswick, NJ: Transaction Publishers, 2002. P 212-215; 228-229..

According to professor Mykhailo Kirsenko, which was expressed by him to the author during a private conversation, Renner's letter is characterized by sycophancy and ignorance of the addressee's psyche. In support of the last thesis, we can cite at least the fact that in his letter to Stalin, Karl Renner tries to brag about his acquaintance and cooperation with Leon Trotsky, whose figure can hardly be considered sympathetic to Stalin, because, after all, Trotsky was killed precisely on the order of the Soviet generalissimo. However, the letter itself obviously made an impression: Stalin expressed confidence in Renner, which in fact paved the way for him as the head of the post-war government, although earlier (like Lenin) he called the social democrats, including Renner, as social fascists. correspondence stalin historical soviet austria

Moreover, while analyzing the content of the letter, Professor Kirsenko drew attention to the fact that the Austrian politician addresses Stalin as "comrade" as a communist and "Excellency" as the head of the state. That is, in this case, we can conclude that in his correspondence with Stalin, Karl Renner tries to project inter-party and personal emotions onto interstate relations.

In general, it can be said that Renner's letter has a large number of points that suggest that this letter could have been written by him banally under someone's dictation: Soviet stamps, references to people he did not meet, misjudgments that depict the Soviet power as a messiah for the people of Austria. Apparently, such signs of falsification appeared in the letter for a reason. This document was to be used by the Soviet authorities to justify their actions during the occupation of Austria.

Ultimately, as was explored in the context of the article on the occupation regime in Austria, the composition of the post-war government was approved in close consultation with Moscow Lytvyn V. Y. Regarding the question of the Soviet occupation of Austria. The main directions of the activities of the Red Army's occupation policy in the late war and early post-war period (April-July 1945). Pages of Military History of Ukraine. 2023. № 26. P. 166-167. https://doi.org/10.15407/sviu.2023.26.160. At the same time, the other allies of the anti-Hitler coalition, who were also supposed to control their zones in Austria, were banally put in front of the very fact of the existence of a government that sympathized with Moscow.

For example, in early June, Winston Churchill and Harry Truman had a telephone conversation, during which the British prime minister emphasized that "Here is the capital of Austria which by agreement is to be divided, like the country itself into four zones: but no one have any powers there except the russians and not even ordinary diplomatic rights are allowed. If we give way in this matter, we must regard Austria as in Sovietized half of Europe" Carafano J. Waltzing into the Cold War: the struggle for occupied Austria. Texas: College Station, Texas A & M University Press, 2002. P. 46..

Since Vienna was the political center of the country, its complete control by the Soviet troops gave Moscow considerable advantages in determining the post-war future of the country and direct influence on its government.

Thus, the analysis of the role of Karl Renner's letter in the context of the global concept of the Soviet occupation of Austria clearly demonstrated the fact that the Soviet government attached great importance to its influence on post-war Austria. That is why great political efforts were directed to the creation of a provisional government that could boast of its friendly attitude towards the Soviet Union. It is obvious that Austria was only one of the components of the process of creating regimes friendly to the Soviet government in the occupied countries. So, for example, similar loyal governments were created in Poland, Romania, Bulgaria and Hungary in order to spread the influence of the Soviet Union on the structure of the post-war world Piotrowski H. The Soviet Union and the Renner Government of Austria, April- November 1945. Central European History. 1987. Vol. 20, № 3/4. P. 246. https://doi.org/10. 1017/S0008938900012097.

However, the fact that the content of Karl Renner's letter and the very occupation of the country by the Soviet Union is currently being actively used by the russian federation to promote the narratives of the "russkiy mir" may cause the researcher the greatest disgust.

For example, in April 2015, during the transfer of the original letters of Karl Renner to Joseph Stalin from the russian archival fund to the Austrian research institute Ludwig Boltzmann Gesellschaft, the russian side organized a pompous exhibition. During it, everyone was told about the long history connecting Austria and the modern russian federation. During his speech at this event, the Director of the russian State Archives Andrey Sorokin stated that: "This is one of the first such exhibitions. We want to show these documents because history is too often used as a weapon to divide people. However, we want to convey the knowledge that cultures [meaning russian and Austrian] belong to each other"4 Die originalen Briefe von Renner und Stalin. Noe.ORF.at. URL: https://noe.orf.at/v2/ news/stories/2704749/ (дата звернення: 30.09.2023).. Of course, the russian propagandist in no way mentioned the falsifications in Renner's very first letter, his protest against the atrocities of the Soviet soldiers and his detention in Marshal Tolbukhin's headquarters. Also, the attention of Austrian society did not show the fact that in the person of Renner, Stalin hoped to find not a political ally, but, above all, a puppet that could be easily manipulated Anzelmo M. The provisional government of Austria 27 April to 13 December 1945: Candidate's thesis: May 1968. Texas, 1968. P 5.. Also, Stalin's reaction to the news of Karl Renner's release is quite eloquent: "What, the old traitor is still alive? He is exactly the person we need" Ibid.. Representatives of the russian federation prefer to turn a blind eye to such details.

Just as modern russian researchers turn a blind eye to the fact that Renner's requests, which were stated in the letter, were ignored by Stalin. The Austrian politician wrote about the terrible state of industrial enterprises and the significant impoverishment of the country's population. What did the Soviet regime do in relation to Austria? According to a declassified report by the US Central Intelligence Agency, during the initial phase of the occupation of Austria, the Soviet Union dismantled and removed from the country oil refineries, fuel, and lubricant warehouses (which were important given the closeness of the planting season), as well as a large amount of factory equipment and machine tools. So, for example, only drilling machines were exported with a total weight of 1,000 tons, and pipes with a total weight of 15,000 tons Soviet occupation economy in Austria. Central Intelligence Agency. Identifier: CIA- RDP80T00246A050300590001-8. 1959. P. 45-48.. A large amount of other equipment was also exported to the Soviet Union: electric and diesel motors, cables, pumps, steam boilers, tools and fittings Ibid..

The removal of all this equipment from the country on the territory of which hostilities were conducted and which is in a situation of financial hardship actually meant the impossibility of the work of large enterprises and, as a result, the rapid recovery of industry after the war. Moreover, we cannot overlook the fact that the resumption of factories would provide Austrians with jobs, the availability of which in the conditions of post-war devastation is difficult to overestimate. However, it is also difficult to overestimate the level of cynicism of russian propagandists who make statements about a large layer of historically formed friendly relations between russia and Austria.

Also, despite the fact that the population of Austria was impoverished as a result of hostilities on its territory, the Soviet authorities released NKVD detachments in order to collect reparations from the civilian population. Vojin Majstorovic, an American scientist of Serbian origin, aptly named these squads "teams of professional looters to extract reparations through requisitions" Majstorovic V The Soviet Occupation of Austria. How Soviet occupation policy in Austria took shape warrants more attention, 2021. URL: https://www.nationalww 2museum.org/war/articles/soviet-occupation-of-austria (дата звернення: 30.09.2023).. The attitude of Soviet soldiers towards the population of Austria was so "friendly" that the Austrian authorities launched an initiative to create local law enforcement agencies whose task would be to monitor the behavior of Red Army soldiers on the territory of their country Куцька О. Взаємовідносини червоноармійців з місцевим населенням в ході бойо-вих дій Радянських військ в Австрії наприкінці Другої світової війни. Етнічна історія народів Європи. 2017. № 51. С. 81..

Of course, it is difficult to ignore the big celebration dedicated to the seventieth anniversary of the Soviet "liberation" of the country. According to the information service of the "russkiy mir" foundation, the name of which speaks for itself, during this holiday all visitors will be able to "see photos of public meetings that took place in 1945 after the liberation of Vienna, photos of restoration works on the bridges over the Danube and Danube channel" Vienna celebrates liberation from fascist. Russkiy mir foundation. 2015. URL: https://russkiymir.ru/en/news/188548/ (дата звернення: 30.09.2023).. As you can see, this large-scale propaganda campaign is aimed at creating the image of a friendly occupation of Austria by Soviet troops, which was aimed exclusively at helping this country in the course of post-war reconstruction. Soviet soldiers appear as liberators, heroes and friends of the Austrian people, to whom modern Austria should feel grateful. However, the propagandists of the "russkiy mir" specifically do not mention the 240,000 Austrian women and girls who were raped by Soviet soldiers Гінда В. Фрави, ком: сексуальні безчинства солдатів Червоної армії на території Райху. UKRLine. 2022. URL: https://ukrline.info/2022/07/18/fravy-komseksualm-bezchynstva-soldativ-chervonoi-armii-na-terytorii-raykhu/ (дата звернення: 30.09.2023). and how the representatives of the so-called "cultural nation", as russia positions itself, smear the houses of ordinary residents of Vienna with their own feces Суть подібної забавки радянських солдатів російської національності у Відні полягала в наступному: посеред помешкання австрійця майструвалася імпровізована гойдалка, на один край якої «навалювалися» продукти життєдіяльності людини, а на протилежний стрибав радянський солдат. Завдяки цій нехитрій маніпуляції фекалії опи-нялися прямо на стелі помешкання. Більше про «забавки» та поведінку російських

солдатів у Відні див.: Филь О. Зворотня сторона медалі «За взяття Відня»... UKRLine. 2022. URL: https://ukrline.info/2022/05/02/zvorotnia-storona-medali-za-vziattia-vi/ (дата звернення: 30.09.2023).. The russian propaganda machine is also silent about the fact that when American military units passed by Austrian cities and towns, their residents ran up to the jeeps and asked whether their native place would remain under US control or would go to the Soviet occupation zone. There were cases when Austrians directly spoke about the fact that they lived more comfortably under the Nazi occupation than under the Soviet government Boghardt T. Covert Legions. U.S. Army Intelligence in Germany 1944-1949. Washington, D.C.: Center of Military History, United States Army, 2022. P. 414. https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110988550.

In general, the true attitude of the Austrian population to the Soviet government and the Communist Party can be eloquently testified by the fact that the Communist Party won 5.42 percent of the vote in the parliamentary elections and, as a result, received a small number of seats compared to other parties Mueller V. Stalin and Austria: New Evidence on Soviet Policy in a Secondary Theatre of the Cold War, 1938-53/55. Cold War History. 2006. № 6(1). P 68. https://doi.org/10. 1080/14682740500395444.

However, the propaganda of the "russkiy mir" prefers to remain silent about all these inconvenient facts and, in its usual manner, inherited from its president, distorts historical facts, trying to use them for its own benefit.

Thus, the following conclusions were drawn during the writing of this article. Given the number of features listed in the article, Karl Renner's letter can be considered to have been written under the dictation of someone from the Soviet leadership. Statements of false facts, outright lies and distortions of historical reality contained in the content of the letter only confirm these assumptions.

The modern exploitation by russian propaganda of the "friendly" correspondence between Karl Renner and Joseph Stalin pursues the goal of creating in the people of Austria a complex of sentimental feelings and empathy for the past, which connects it with the Soviet Union, whose heir the russian federation considers itself. Such activity deserves condemnation not only because of its openly propagandistic aspect, but also because of russia's actual appropriation of the merits of all peoples who fought in the Soviet army: Ukrainians, Belarusians, Armenians, Mongolians, Estonians, Latvians, Lithuanians, Georgians, Poles, Kazakhs... Facts systematic distortion of historical reality can be considered as contrary not only to scientific ethics, but also to common sense, which was clearly demonstrated by the example of the analysis of Karl Renner's letter.

According to the well-known Ukrainian writer Bohdan Sushinsky: "a conscientious scientist has no mission more ungrateful than debunking unjust myths and sensations, and, at the same time, he has no mission more noble than reasoned and balanced opposition to these myths and sensations, which are harmful to scientific truth, with his intellect, knowledge and public courage" Сушинський Б. Міфи та містифікації (Таємниці історії). Київ: Арій, 2020. С. 3.. It is hard not to agree with this statement, because the example of Karl Renner's letter and russian propaganda actions in Austria is only one of many similar cases that, unfortunately, take place in many countries of the world. While the Armed Forces of Ukraine are waging the most important battle with the army of the russian federation, Ukrainian researchers and scientists must no less resolutely fight against russian falsifications and lies in the scientific field. Ultimately, this struggle is not as important as a military victory, but, never the less, we have no right to lose it.

References

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Анотація

Лист Карла Ренера Йосипу Сталіну (15 квітня 1945): наукове обґрунтування факту фальсифікації документа як способу виправдання радянської окупації Австрії та її вплив на сучасні російсько-австрійські відносини

Володимир Литвин, студент,

Національний університет «Києво-Могилянська академія» (Київ) Україна,

Світлої пам'яті мого трагічно загиблого наукового керівника Михайла Кірсенка та його супутниці життя Тетяни Балабушевич

У статті піддається всебічному аналізу лист Карла Реннера Йосипу Сталіну від 15 квітня 1945 року та доводиться факт його фальсифікації.

Метою є дослідження того, як фактично один фальсифікований лист вписується в загальну концепцію радянської окупації Австрії та впливає на сучасні російсько-австрійські відносини.

Методи дослідження. Застосовано загальнонаукові методи, такі як синтез, аналіз, індукція, дедукція, проблемнохронологічний, а також історико-ретроспективний.

Наукова новизна. У світовій історіографії вперше робиться спроба піддати сумніву оригінальність листа Карла Реннера та визначити вплив цієї фальсифікації не тільки на концепцію радянської окупації Австрії, але й на сучасні російсько-австрійські відносини. Зокрема, автором здійснюється спроба проаналізувати сучасні проросійські наративи, що просуваються в Австрії задля нав'язування певної емпатії по відношенню до Радянського союзу, спадкоємцем якого себе вважає сучасна Росія.

Висновки. У результаті проведеного дослідження було логічно доведено факт фальсифікації листа Карла Реннера. Цілий ряд таких ознак, як наявність ідеологічно забарвленої радянської лексики та наведення помилкових та неправдивих фактів направлених на спеціальне викривлення дійсності, тільки підтвердили цілком обґрунтовані сумніви в оригінальності цього листа. Водночас, сучасною російською пропагандою подібна «дружня» переписка Карла Реннера та Йосипа Сталіна використовується для того, аби просувати наративи про «рускій мір» та всебічно впливати на позицію Австрії як нейтральної країни.

Доведено випадки систематично викривлення історичних фактів з історії Радянської окупації Австрії російською стороною з метою формування хибного враження про значно завищену роль Червоної армії у повоєнній відбудові цієї країни. Водночас, у статті були наведені ті факти з історії окупаційної політики Радянського союзу в Австрії, які здебільшого ігноруються російськими дослідниками, та дозволяють скласти об'єктивне враження про справжню роль окупаційної влади.

Ключові слова: Карл Реннер, Йосип Сталін, Австрія, окупація, фальсифікація, пропаганда, «рускій мір».

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