The symbol of NPF Pamyat with the "Russian swastika"

Pamyat (Russian language: Память, English translation: Memory) is a Russian ultra-nationalist organization identifying itself as the "People's National-patriotic Orthodox Christian movement".

History

In the end of 1970s, a historical association Vityaz (Витязь), sponsored by the Soviet Society for the Protection of Historical and Cultural Monuments, established a "non-formal" historical, cultural and educational organization uniting activists-bibliophiles and amateur historians. One of the purposes was to prepare the celebration of the 600th anniversary of the Battle of Kulikovo. Some notable Vityaz activists in Moscow were Ilya Glazunov (an artist), S. Malyshev (a historian), and A. Lebedev (Colonel of the MVD). Similar groups appeared in other regions of the Soviet Union. Later, loosely associated "non-formal" groups were consolidated under the name Pamyat.

At October 4, 1985 meeting, Pamyat broke up into several factions, many of them attempted to retain the same name as the true Pamyat. One of them, the so-called Vasilyev's group, headed by Dmitry Vasilyev (a former worker in the Glazunov's studio), A. Andreyev and A. Gladkov, focused its activities on the media. They recorded and distributed tapes of their meetings and lectures containing anti-Semitic materials.

On May 6, 1987 Pamyat conducted an unsanctioned demonstration in the center of Moscow. They demanded to cease the construction of the officially sanctioned memorial project at the Poklonnaya hill. It resulted in a two-hour meeting with then the First Secretary of Moscow City Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union Boris Yeltsin.

In the fall of 1987, the National-Patriotc Front (NPF) Pamyat emerged, with the aim of the "renaissance" to "lead Russian people to the spiritual and national revival" on the basis of "three traditional Russian values": orthodoxy, national character and spirituality. After several splits and the imminent Dissolution of the Soviet Union, the organization adopted monarchist position.

The ABC of a Russian Nationalist book by A.P. Barkashov

In August 1990, a permanent NPF council member A. Barkashov (the author of the book The ABC of a Russian Nationalist) caused another split after his announcement of being "tired to be preoccupied by recollections. It is time to act". His new group was dubbed "Russian National Unity Alliance". Barkashov promoted the cult of swastika, a symbol which "acts on subconsciousness of theomachists. It paralyses, weakens and demoralizes them."

In 1991 the newspaper of NPF "Pamyat" (print run of 100,000) and a radio station (both officially registered) were launched.

By the end of the 1990s, the original Pamyat practically disappeared from the public scene. Dmitry Vasilyev died on July 17, 2003.

Ideology

The recurring motive of the groups's ideology were the alleged "Ziono-Masonic plot" against Russia as "the main source of the misfortunes of Russian people, disintegration of the economy, denationalization of Russian culture, alcoholism, ecological crisis." The "Zionists" were also blamed for causing revolutions, for death of millions in the course of Russian Civil War and Stalin's personality cult. The contemporary Soviet government apparatus was alleged to be penetrated by "Zionists and freemasons" with the purpose to subordinate it to the "Jewish capital". The "Zionist Occupied Government" accusation was often used.

Officially the organization emphasized that its ideology was merely anti-Zionist and not anti-Semitic. This was also the official Soviet stance. The hate speech and fostering ethnic conflict is punishable under Russian law. It was punishable also under the Soviet law, but this article has never been enforced. See also fraternity of peoples.

In 1993, a District Court in Moscow formally ruled that The Protocols of the Elders of Zion were a fake, and dismissed a libel suit by Pamyat. The organization was criticized for using the document in their publications. [1] (http://www.nizkor.org/ftp.cgi?documents/protocols/protocols.001).

One of the Pamyat's founders, Valeriy Yemelyanov, attempted to merge religious neo-Paganism with Russian ethnic neo-Nazism. He is also the author of infamous book "Dezionization".

Quote

From the Open letter of the NPF "Pamyat" leader D. Vasilyev to the President of the Russian Federation Boris Yeltsin (http://www.pamyat.ru/opinions.html):

"... Your Jewish entourage... have already made good use of You and don't need You anymore. You will share the destiny of Napoleon, Hitler, etc. who were zionist-maintained dictators... The aim of international zionism is to seize power worldwide. For this reason zionists struggle against national and religious traditions of other nations, and for this purpose they devised the Freemasonic concept of cosmopolitanism."

See also

• Anti-Semitism
• Anti-Zionism
• Autocracy, Orthodoxy, and National Character
• History of the Jews in Russia and the Soviet Union
• Anti-Zionist committee of the Soviet public
• Zionology

External links

• The NPF Pamyat official website (English) (http://www.pamyat.ru/engl.html)
• Russian Antisemitism, Pamyat, and the Demonology of Zionism (http://sicsa.huji.ac.il/studies2.html) by William Korey
• Russia's "Red-Brown" Hawks (http://www.thebulletin.org/issues/1993/j93/j93Goldanski.html) by Vitalii Goldanskii
• Pamyat: Call to Russian People (in Russian) (http://www.nasledie.ru/oborg/2_18/0010/01.htm)
• Nationalism and Xenophobia in Russia (in Russian) (http://xeno.sova-center.ru/1ED6E3B/216049A)