Stalinin ajan syvät jäljet

At the end of the 1980s, eight per cent of Russians considered Stalin a great man and hero. Surveys today put this figure at 52 per cent. What do modern-day Russians admire about the Stalin era and what do they not want to know about it? Millions of people died in labour camps and executions at the hands of Stalin. Nevertheless, in current Russian society there is a tendency to downplay the horrific side of Stalin's rule and to focus on his alleged virtues. The Dutch film maker Jessica Gorter travelled to Russia on behalf of the people whose families were affected by Stalin's terror, even those who believe that Soviet totalitarianism is preferable to democracy. The victims' children visit places in the middle of forests where mass graves continue to offer new testimony about the atrocities of the gulags. Their memories of the appalling violence perpetrated against innocent people are confronted with the naive nostalgia of those who see today's era as chaotic and cruel compared to Stalin's. (One World)