From: alex@took.enet.dec.com ("A. Allister Shvartsman, EMF, LKG2-2/T2,
              226-5350 12-Apr-1992 1349")
Newsgroups: talk.politics.soviet
Subject: Vizniuk vs. Russkaja Mysl'
Date: 12 Apr 92 17:55:52 GMT
Reply-To: "talk.politics.soviet via ListServ" <TPS-L@indycms.bitnet>


		"Dokole, nevezhdy, budete liubit' nevezhestvo? ...
		 Dokole gluptsy budut nenavidet' znanie? ...
		 uporstvo nevezhd ub'iet ikh,
		 i bespechnost gluptsov pogubit ikh."

					From "Pritchey Solomonovykh", 1.

RE: Latest "criticism" from Sergei Vizniuk:

>> Alex Shvartsman:
>>And here's a joke that I suspect will have its best effect on those who
>>were brought up in the xUSSR and are familiar with WWII legacy:
>>
>>	A huge German bangs on the door of a Russian peasant house.
>>	An old woman fearfully opens the door. The huge German yells:
>>	"Matka! Kurka! Mleko!" The woman replies in tears: "Herr German,
>>       ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
>>	we have no chickens and no milk, we are starving ourselves."
>>	The German replies: "I _brought_ kurka and mleko."
>>

[SV] >  Knowing the "scientific" background of Alex Shvarstman it's not
> surprising that according his version the "huge German" used Ukrainian
> words "matka", etc to address a Russian peasant. More likely though is that
> Alex substituted "Ukrainian peasant" with "Russian peasant" in order to not
> abuse his (Alex's) nationalistic feelings.

Dear Sergei, let me educate you on the subject.

First of all, the German addresses the Russian woman not in Ukrainian
("Mati! Kurka! Moloko!") but in Polish ("Matka! Kurka! Mleko!"). But we
of course already knew that your knowledge of Slavic linguistics amounts
to elementary Soviet redaction of Great Russian.

But let's go on. If you knew anything about the history of WWII (or the
Great Patriotic War in the East European front between 1941-45 in Soviet
historiography), then you would not be surprized that the German knew and
was able to use a few Polish words. It was very common for Germans who
were occupying Poland since 1939 to know few basic Polish words and to
attempt to communicate with the Soviets using Polish. Like you, this
German was ignorant of the differences between the East Slavic languages.

>>And finally a true story:
>>
>>	After the earthquake in Armenia a couple of years ago, many
>>	international resque teams worked on saving the survivors
>>	from the ruins of collapsed buildings. A German team found
>>	a 10 year old girl who survivied with barely a scratch. After
>>	the Germans pulled her out of wreckage, the girl, who speaks
>>	no German, recognized the German speech, became hysterical,
>	raised her hands, and kept repeating: "Hande hoch!"
>
> This "true" (according to Alex) story doesn't bear ANY resemblance to truth
> to those who lived in Sovok. Especially it looks just a product of Alex's
> ill imagination when it concerns Armenia, which was never occupied by
> Germany. I doubt though that such "true" story could be ever (after 50
> years since WWII) possible even in BeloRussia Russia or Ukraine.

Sergei, please address your complaints to the newspaper "Russkaja Mysl'"
(Russian Thought). I'll be happy to provide you with the address of the
Russian weekly. This story was published in an article in the summer of 1991
as a part of a series discussing the 50th anniversary of the German attack
on USSR on June 22, 1991. The point of the article was that the Soviet
education dwells on the events of the past at the expense of looking into
the future. The case of the Armenian girl was an example of the grotesque
results of the Soviet educational system's pre-occupation with WWII --
especially since Armenia was never occupied by Nazi Germany.

I recommend that you watch less TV and read more newspapers. Try books too.

Alex