Putin's emphasis on history

Vladimir Putin declared in 2013 that Russia's main resource and future depend on its historical memory. This statement is referenced at the beginning of historian Nicolas Werth's book Putin, Chief Historian, published in 2022, shortly after Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

Werth's personal and professional background

Nicolas Werth is a specialist in the Soviet Union and the research director at the CNRS, a French public research organization. He is also president of Mémorial France, a group that received the Nobel Peace Prize in 2022. In 2023, he experienced a deep depression and considered suicide but was prevented by the memory of his father's suicide.

The legacy of Alexander Werth

Nicolas Werth's father, Alexander Werth, committed suicide in 1969, leaving his son orphaned. Alexander Werth wrote a letter titled Orphaned Memoirs, which begins his book Goodbye My Russia. The letter sets the tone for a narrative where personal and historical stories intersect.

Alexander Werth's life and work

Alexander Werth was a historian, journalist, and war correspondent for the BBC and the Guardian during World War II. He was a convinced anti-fascist and one of the greatest historians of his time, covering the Russian front. His work focused on the present and the immediate historical context.

Nicolas Werth's focus on Stalinist history

Nicolas Werth is one of the leading experts on the darker aspects of Stalinist Soviet Union, including the Moscow trials and the Great Terror. He describes this period with a powerful formula: "A state against its people."

The father's influence and the Prague Spring

Alexander Werth had placed his hopes in the Russian Revolution of 1917 and the sacrifices of Soviet peoples against Nazism, which cost 26 million lives. He committed suicide in 1968 after the Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia crushed the Prague Spring, an event he had not anticipated.

Nicolas Werth's reflection on the Ukraine invasion

In 2023, as Nicolas Werth considered suicide, he was overwhelmed by the unexpected invasion of Ukraine. He reflects on how his failure to predict the invasion reminds him of his father's failure to foresee the Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia in 1968. Both were wrong despite their deep knowledge of Russia.

The message of Goodbye My Russia

Goodbye My Russia is described as both a survival manual and a hymn to resistance. It highlights the continuity of Russian imperialism, linking tsarism, Stalinism, and Putinism, and stands as a human and clear critique of authoritarian power.