At school, Lenin's portrait was everywhere, and the idea was instilled in us that Lenin cared for workers and peasants and built the first socialist state in the world. These are the memories of writer Nicolae Negru, shared during the public debate on the topic “Three Fundamental Myths Sustaining the URSS” organized by the IPN news agency. As a child, Negru was deported with his family to Siberia, and his memories of this period are captured in his novel “A Progeny of the Enemy”.
In his novel, Nicolae Negru recounts the dramatic experiences of deportation to Siberia. The book details the ideological influence present in Siberian schools, where the cult of Lenin's personality was omnipresent.
"In Siberia, at school, Lenin's portrait hung on the wall. Lenin was like a god. At the time, I didn't understand who Lenin really was, and when I went home, my father called him a bandit. I was surprised because the school revered him, while my father said he was a bandit. That's when the duality began. At school, I believed what they taught me; at home, I listened to my father and didn’t argue with him. But at some point, I started to argue, saying Lenin cared for workers and peasants and built the first socialist state in the world. It was hard to resist this mythology", said Nicolae Negru.
The writer explained that Soviet propaganda made considerable efforts to reshape perceptions of World War II, portraying the Soviet Union as both a victim of Nazi aggression and a liberator of Europe. According to Negru, this narrative conceals key episodes that reveal the collusion between the URSS and Nazi Germany.
"They want to hide or forget the collaboration between Stalin and Hitler. The Soviet Union contributed to the start of World War II. Together with Hitler, it occupied and divided Poland. The population of Bessarabia was caught between a rock and a hard place. International conventions state that the population of an occupied territory should not be conscripted for war. But we see that the Soviet Union didn’t respect this principle. They conscripted my 17-year-old uncle, sent him to the front lines in Germany, where he was gravely wounded", Negru added.
He also expressed outrage at Russia's forced mobilization of the population from occupied Ukrainian territories. Negru condemned this as a violation of international law and an abuse of citizens coerced to fight against their compatriots.
"History is repeating itself. Now Putin's army occupies Ukrainian territories and forces Ukrainians to fight against their own people. It is a crime to mobilize people from Kherson, Crimea, and make them fight against the Ukrainian army. This is inconceivable both morally and legally", Nicolae Negru emphasized.
The public debate on the topic “Three Fundamental Myths Sustaining the USSR” is part of the series “Developing Political Culture Through Public Debates” organized by IPN, with support from the German Hanns Seidel Foundation.
