‘Georgia for Georgians’
In response to Ronald Grigor Suny’s column “Georgia for Georgians Is Suddenly Not So Soviet,” Op-Ed Page, April 17:
Suny states that Georgians did not experience the “Russification” like the Ukrainian, Belorussian or Baltic republics. As far as the Ukrainians are concerned, it’s rather difficult to throw off the Russian yoke when over 7 million of its population was starved to death as result of a man-made famine instituted by the powers-that-be in Moscow in the 1930s.
For centuries, Russians have attempted to destroy Ukrainians. To rob them of their historic heritage, Russians managed to see to that that fires “of unknown origin” destroyed archives in museums and libraries. In spite of this continuous Russification, the Ukrainians still fought back. This is the reason that the most common language heard in the slave labor camps is Ukrainian.
The Georgian populace was not treated as harshly. One reason may be that Georgian natural resources are not as valuable as the ones in the Ukraine and the Georgian area is more remote geographically. The Ukraine and Belorussia are the two most critical republics within the Soviet Union. The food crops which feed Russia are grown almost exclusively in these two republics.
Nonetheless, I applaud the brave people of the Georgian Republic in their relentless pursuit of their much-deserved freedom from Moscow.
ANNA TURCZYN
Los Angeles
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