Historian Viktor Suvorov: The Writing of the Great Patriotic War History Is 'Terrible'
In an interview with Delfi, former GRU officer and historian Viktor Suvorov (real name Vladimir Rezun) criticizes the Soviet-era historiography of the Great Patriotic War and claims that the Russian people do not remember the war correctly.
Writer and historian Vladimir Rezun, better known under the pseudonym Viktor Suvorov, has given an interview to Delfi. Suvorov is a former officer of the Main Intelligence Directorate (GRU) of the General Staff of the USSR Armed Forces and worked as a spy in Switzerland. In 1978, he defected to the United Kingdom and has since lived and worked in London.
In the interview, Suvorov noted that he has visited the Baltic states several times and has always been warmly received there. Speaking about the Great Patriotic War, he expressed that the Russian people have a special attitude toward it. According to him, all nations remember wars, but the Russian people do not. Suvorov also questions the history of the Great Patriotic War written in Russia.
He recalled that during Stalin's time, writing about the war was forbidden, while under Khrushchev, the 'History of the Great Patriotic War' was published in six volumes. 'Open it—it's terrible,' Suvorov said.
