The three-week train ride to get to Central Asia killed a great number. So many died but yet the survivors still feel more positively about Stalin than they do about the State of democracy in Russia. Deportation survivors are fast to defend Stalin. They claim that he did not know about the deportations. Some claim that Stain was forced to sacrifice them to win the ultimate victory over the German fascists.
People prefer to forget their humiliation.
They struggle to create an empowering memory. Karny was amazed that none of those that went through the horrible ordeal taught their children about the deportation. The Soviets developed notions of the Turkic peoples to destroy memory. They claimed the Caucasus peoples were not related to the Mongols. The local intellectuals were in the forefront of manipulating history for political purposes.