Ghost of War Past

Yevgeniya Berkovich, a Russian poet and theater director, has been arrested for supposed “justification of terrorism” in a play about Russian ladies who married jihadist males and went to Syria. (The play had been working for years, and which had received the Golden Masks nationwide theater award final 12 months.) Many appear to suspect, although, that the arrest had little to do with the play and far to do with Berkovich’s opposition to the battle.

Right here is one poem of hers, which was written not less than a 12 months in the past however which appears to have been extensively shared within the final a number of days, once in a while of her arrest and of the Could 9 Victory Day anniversary of victory in World Warfare II; my apologies for the clumsy translation. Just a few observations, primarily based on my restricted information of recent Russian life: Either side within the battle, and particularly the Russians, routinely invoke the heroism of the “grandfathers,” the era of males who had fought towards the Nazis in World Warfare II. The “immortal regiment” refers to Victory Day parades during which folks carry images of their family who fought on the entrance traces. “The Ninth Wave” is a well-known portray within the Russian Museum. Prishvin is a well-known Russian youngsters’s author. Sergey, I feel, is only a generic Russian Everyman identify; to my information, it would not refer right here to anybody specifically. Seriozha is the usual nickname for Sergey, and Seriozhenka is an ordinary additional diminutive, used affectionately. As you will note, the poem shifts in voice from the narrator to the grandfather to the grandson.

Both he overloaded on the information,
Or it was the wine with dinner,
However at evening Sergey was visited by his grandfather, who had fought.
He sat down on the Ikea stool, blocking together with his again the courtyard
Behind the window. I must have, he says, some phrases with you, Seriozhenka.

Would possibly you, my expensive, beloved grandson,
By no means write something about me in Fb?
Not in any context, not with the letter “Z,” not with out the letter “Z.”
Simply do not do it in any respect, asks his grandfather.
Do not discuss of any victories utilizing my identify,
No victories in any respect.

Additionally, he went on, I’d be glad,
When you would not carry me to the parade,
I ask you, very a lot—and he gestures together with his hand.
I do not need a regiment,
Not an immortal one, not a mortal one, Seriozhenka, not anybody.
Let me go to my peace, Seriozha.
I’ve earned peace.

Sure, I do know, you’re a laborious employee, sensible, liberal,
You did not select any of this,
However I additionally did not select any of this!
We lived our life,
A troublesome one, however our just one.
May we cease
Illustrating battle for you?
Are you able to simply go on by yourselves?
One way or the other from scratch?
We do not want your pleasure
Nor your hidden disgrace.
I ask you, make it in order that
I’ll lastly be forgotten.

However then I’d overlook, how within the Russian Museum
We caught the Ninth Wave,
How I awoke moist,
And also you modified me,
How we learn Prishvin
How we looked for the poles within the atlas,
The way you defined to me, why within the sky
There may be such a white path
Behind each airplane,
The way you gave me as a present
A magnifying glass ….

It is OK, the grandfather answered,
Vanishing.
In any case, that too did not make it easier to.

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