Cool, rainy weather and the dusk changed the plans to hold the meeting in the Botanical garden: the lecture was held at Vyatka State University. Alexander Pechyonkin told about the reasons of the largest military conflict in history, and what can be done with historical information about World War II by means of modern – information - war.
Everyone should know the historical truth – it is hardly disputable. It seems easy to obtain this knowledge, especially nowadays with the Internet, TV and other media availability...
For those who get used to gain information in traditional way (from books) there are also enough written sources about the Second World War, and new books are available on the book shops’ shelves.
However, it is not so simple. Together with the number of information sources the misinformation is also increased.
Pseudo-historical movies, juggling of the facts in journalistic articles or even speculation in "documentary" literature – they are more than enough today.
Professor began his lecture answering the question "What is the view of events on the Second World War from the XXI century?"
It turned out that the world community has no consensus on this matter: their opinions vary depending on the country, the ruling government and ideology.
It seems that 77 years after the war all the i's should be dotted and all the t's should be crossed: the causes of the conflict had been set long ago, the roles of the participants are clear. However, according to Prof.Pechyonkin, today it all reversed. The facts are distorted according to political interests of the countries-participants of the Second World War and "ideologically correct" but not scientifically justified position is formed now.
«Historical science and politics cannot be combined, you need to filter the sources of information», summed up Alexander Pechyonkin.
VyatSU Professor arranged a historic literacy campaign for the participants: he talked about the causes of key events of the Second World War from scientific, not ideological point of view. Did Stalin know the Germany plans to attack the Soviet Union? Why were senior military ofсers so poorly prepared? Why Churchill called Poland "hyena of Europe"? And much more.
One of the main questions the humanity still has to answer and which was announced at lecture by Alexander Pechyonkin: "Was World War II inevitable?" The answer is no, it could have been prevented, but it would demand considerable efforts from the international community.
Now, since this disaster happened, we have to learn lessons from this event. In this sense the most important thing is to follow historic truth, to prevent the interpretation of events in favor of any political interests.
