"The only evidence we have for the famous "You must understand..." quote allegedly uttered by Nobel Prize winner Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, is in the form of the good word of Dr. David Duke, former Grand Wizard of the Ku Klux Klan, who in the introduction to his 2013 book "The Secret Behind Communism," claimed to have had a private chit-chat with Solzhenitsyn where the famous Russian author is said to have whispered these words into his ear, only for him to hear."
“You must understand. The leading Bolsheviks who took over Russia were not Russians. They hated Russians. They Hated Christians. Driven by ethnic hatred they tortured and slaughtered millions of Russians without a shred of human remorse. The October Revolution was not what you call in America the 'Russian Revolution.' It was an invasion and conquest over the Russian people. More of my countrymen suffered horrific crimes at their bloodstained hands than any people or nation ever suffered in the entirety of human history. It cannot be overstated. Bolshevism committed the greatest human slaughter of all time. The fact that most of the world is ignorant and uncaring about this enormous crime is proof that the global media is in the hands of its perpetrators.”
[editor's note: Duke's alleged quote not only contradicts Solzhenitsyn's own works, but also his personal relations and views on "the Jews":]
"My personal relations have been wonderful, and with many different people. I felt a subtlety, sensitivity, and responsiveness in the Jewish character. This was a good fit for me; it enabled understanding on a high level. With Lev Kopelev, our relations soured only at the end, but were very warm and good before that. Milya (Emil) Mazin was my best friend at university, and we are friends still. Milya continues to teach even today. Even at our age, he is the best mathematics teacher in Rostov. More generally, I never took offense to the hyper-suspicion that met my works. I was above that. I know that is what some have ascribed to me. I am puzzled, amazed that some suspect it. Still, this never aroused in me an impulse to respond, and never entered the personal plane."
—Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn ("First interview with Viktor Loshak, Moscow News," June 20, 2001)
https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5432c9c0e4b0d4b6148b3def/t/5c28e5f0aa4a995f08a91e92/1546184177299/2001.06.20+moscow+news+1st+Loshak+interview.pdf
[note: Solzhenitsyn on the KGB's "successful" smear—aimed to falsely misrepresent him and his works as being, "anti-Semitic;" in his last interview in the United States before he returned to Russia in 1994.]
"Anti-Semitism is a prejudiced and unjust attitude toward the Jewish people as a whole. My own work has no such attitude. The press has said, ‘Please make such a statement.’ But there exists in this country the presumption of innocence. Why should I suddenly come forward with a statement that I am not an anti-Semite? It would be as if I were to make the statement that I am not a thief, that I have not stolen anything. If I am accused of actually stealing from someone, then I would come forward and deny it. So, if somebody were to show where, specifically, I exhibit an unjust or prejudiced attitude toward the Jewish people, if they would show me one such quotation in my work, I would gladly defend myself. But nobody has ever pointed out such a passage, and yet I am still asked to make the statement that I am not an anti-Semite."
— Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn (The New Yorker, "The Exile Returns" February 14, 1994 Issue)
https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/1994/02/14/the-exile-returns
"Solzhenitsyn emphatically denies (in Chapters 9 and 14) that the Russian revolutions of 1905 and 1917 were the result of a "Jewish conspiracy" (just as he had earlier forcefully criticized the extreme nationalists who were and are obsessed with Freemasons and Jews—see, e.g., Russia in Collapse, Chapter 25, “The Maladies of Russian Nationalism”)." [...] Meanwhile, readers need to be forewarned that any and all English versions [of 'Two Hundred Years Together'] available on the Internet... are illegal, pirated, and/or entirely unauthorized; often poorly and loosely translated; and redact passages, and indeed whole chapters, that apparently do not support the prejudices of those behind these illegal editions."
https://www.solzhenitsyncenter.org/his-writings/large-works-and-novels/two-hundred-years-together
[editor's note: Some further facts, and issues raised:]
1. David Duke did not publish his quote until 2013, in his book "The Secret Behind Communism" 5 years after Solzhenitsyn's passing. Google's own search history shows that this quotation only became in usage since Duke's book was first published. Duke provided a self reference which claims he had previously published his quote in The Duke Report, "A Life-Changing Conversation in Moscow" (2002) newsletter.
No such publication has ever been found.
2. The earliest posting on Duke's website, (DavidDuke.com) regarding Solzhenitsyn comes from a 2005 article, entitled: "Solzhenitsyn on the Jewish Role in the Bolshevik Terror"— Again, neither does he include his "most important" and alleged quotation—while Solzhenitsyn was still alive.
2.5. David Duke in 2005 alleges that Solzhenitsyn does not understand that "the Jews" were allegedly behind the Cheka (first Soviet secret police, a former of the NKVD)—contradicting his own "You Must Understand..." quotation—3 years after it had allegedly been inferred to him?
"But, of course, there is only so much that one man, even a man of his stature, can say and still get published, and Solzhenitsyn has to be aware of that. But in fact, if you are being even somewhat critical you cannot say that two thirds of the Cheka murderers were Jews. In fact, even with his mitigating statements, his book cannot be found in English!"
— David Duke, "Solzhenitsyn on the Jewish Role in the Bolshevik Terror" (2005, November 13_ Retrieved: davidduke.com)
3. Why did David Duke not publish his quote while Solzhenitsyn was alive? For example in his book, entitled: "Jewish Supremacism" (2002) and later in his revised "updated edition" from 2007? In "Jewish Supremacism" Solzhenitsyn is quoted—yet not his most important, "You Must Understand..." quotation.
By 2007, a year before Solzhenitsyn's passing the evidence so far points to this alleged "quotation" as having not yet been invented.
Duke then alludes a conspiracy theory about Solzhenitsyn's book "Two Hundred Years Together" not being available in English. According to Solzhenitsyn: "Two Hundred Years Together" was not to be published into English (even though it had sold over 3 million copies in both the Russian/French editions) it was not to be translated until his main study, being his 6.000-page tome "The Red Wheel" was complete. Duke's alleged "quotation" and sensationalism which contradicts Solzhenitsyn's own work is largely why some people believe his international best-seller, has somehow secretly been "banned" as usual, by "the Jews."
"...Could it be this book ["Two Hundred Years Together"] simply says what we are forbidden to know?" — David Duke, "Solzhenitsyn on the Jewish Role in the Bolshevik Terror" (2005, November 13)
No, Solzhenitsyn just considered it less important you simpleton.
"In The Red Wheel Solzhenitsyn had shown the Revolution in full complexity; and indeed—to avoid boiling down that complexity or skewing it via the narrow prism of Russian-Jewish relations—he gave The Red Wheel priority of publication in every major language, ahead of Two Hundred Years Together. And so likewise in English, an authorized translation of Two Hundred Years Together will follow The Red Wheel."
https://www.solzhenitsyncenter.org/his-writings/large-works-and-novels/two-hundred-years-together
4. To reiterate: David Duke has contradicted himself and his alleged "quotation" throughout the time that Solzhenitsyn was still alive—while there exists no evidence of Duke referring to his quote, prior to his book "The Secret Behind Communism" (2013) being launched. David Duke alleges Solzhenitsyn told him: "You Must Understand..." his most revealing quotation in a private discussion in 2002, while Solzhenitsyn himself struggled to speak English, and there is no evidence I can source in either lecture or written form that David Duke is remotely fluent in the Russian language. Neither is there any evidence of the two ever meeting.
Debunked:
http://archive.org/details/holodomor-famine-fraudulent-photos
http://archive.org/details/stalins-torch-men-order-0428-debunked
http://archive.org/details/bloody-sunday-bromberg-blutsonntag-debunked
“You must understand. The leading Bolsheviks who took over Russia were not Russians. They hated Russians. They Hated Christians. Driven by ethnic hatred they tortured and slaughtered millions of Russians without a shred of human remorse. The October Revolution was not what you call in America the 'Russian Revolution.' It was an invasion and conquest over the Russian people. More of my countrymen suffered horrific crimes at their bloodstained hands than any people or nation ever suffered in the entirety of human history. It cannot be overstated. Bolshevism committed the greatest human slaughter of all time. The fact that most of the world is ignorant and uncaring about this enormous crime is proof that the global media is in the hands of its perpetrators.”
[editor's note: Duke's alleged quote not only contradicts Solzhenitsyn's own works, but also his personal relations and views on "the Jews":]
"My personal relations have been wonderful, and with many different people. I felt a subtlety, sensitivity, and responsiveness in the Jewish character. This was a good fit for me; it enabled understanding on a high level. With Lev Kopelev, our relations soured only at the end, but were very warm and good before that. Milya (Emil) Mazin was my best friend at university, and we are friends still. Milya continues to teach even today. Even at our age, he is the best mathematics teacher in Rostov. More generally, I never took offense to the hyper-suspicion that met my works. I was above that. I know that is what some have ascribed to me. I am puzzled, amazed that some suspect it. Still, this never aroused in me an impulse to respond, and never entered the personal plane."
—Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn ("First interview with Viktor Loshak, Moscow News," June 20, 2001)
https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5432c9c0e4b0d4b6148b3def/t/5c28e5f0aa4a995f08a91e92/1546184177299/2001.06.20+moscow+news+1st+Loshak+interview.pdf
[note: Solzhenitsyn on the KGB's "successful" smear—aimed to falsely misrepresent him and his works as being, "anti-Semitic;" in his last interview in the United States before he returned to Russia in 1994.]
"Anti-Semitism is a prejudiced and unjust attitude toward the Jewish people as a whole. My own work has no such attitude. The press has said, ‘Please make such a statement.’ But there exists in this country the presumption of innocence. Why should I suddenly come forward with a statement that I am not an anti-Semite? It would be as if I were to make the statement that I am not a thief, that I have not stolen anything. If I am accused of actually stealing from someone, then I would come forward and deny it. So, if somebody were to show where, specifically, I exhibit an unjust or prejudiced attitude toward the Jewish people, if they would show me one such quotation in my work, I would gladly defend myself. But nobody has ever pointed out such a passage, and yet I am still asked to make the statement that I am not an anti-Semite."
— Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn (The New Yorker, "The Exile Returns" February 14, 1994 Issue)
https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/1994/02/14/the-exile-returns
"Solzhenitsyn emphatically denies (in Chapters 9 and 14) that the Russian revolutions of 1905 and 1917 were the result of a "Jewish conspiracy" (just as he had earlier forcefully criticized the extreme nationalists who were and are obsessed with Freemasons and Jews—see, e.g., Russia in Collapse, Chapter 25, “The Maladies of Russian Nationalism”)." [...] Meanwhile, readers need to be forewarned that any and all English versions [of 'Two Hundred Years Together'] available on the Internet... are illegal, pirated, and/or entirely unauthorized; often poorly and loosely translated; and redact passages, and indeed whole chapters, that apparently do not support the prejudices of those behind these illegal editions."
https://www.solzhenitsyncenter.org/his-writings/large-works-and-novels/two-hundred-years-together
[editor's note: Some further facts, and issues raised:]
1. David Duke did not publish his quote until 2013, in his book "The Secret Behind Communism" 5 years after Solzhenitsyn's passing. Google's own search history shows that this quotation only became in usage since Duke's book was first published. Duke provided a self reference which claims he had previously published his quote in The Duke Report, "A Life-Changing Conversation in Moscow" (2002) newsletter.
No such publication has ever been found.
2. The earliest posting on Duke's website, (DavidDuke.com) regarding Solzhenitsyn comes from a 2005 article, entitled: "Solzhenitsyn on the Jewish Role in the Bolshevik Terror"— Again, neither does he include his "most important" and alleged quotation—while Solzhenitsyn was still alive.
2.5. David Duke in 2005 alleges that Solzhenitsyn does not understand that "the Jews" were allegedly behind the Cheka (first Soviet secret police, a former of the NKVD)—contradicting his own "You Must Understand..." quotation—3 years after it had allegedly been inferred to him?
"But, of course, there is only so much that one man, even a man of his stature, can say and still get published, and Solzhenitsyn has to be aware of that. But in fact, if you are being even somewhat critical you cannot say that two thirds of the Cheka murderers were Jews. In fact, even with his mitigating statements, his book cannot be found in English!"
— David Duke, "Solzhenitsyn on the Jewish Role in the Bolshevik Terror" (2005, November 13_ Retrieved: davidduke.com)
3. Why did David Duke not publish his quote while Solzhenitsyn was alive? For example in his book, entitled: "Jewish Supremacism" (2002) and later in his revised "updated edition" from 2007? In "Jewish Supremacism" Solzhenitsyn is quoted—yet not his most important, "You Must Understand..." quotation.
By 2007, a year before Solzhenitsyn's passing the evidence so far points to this alleged "quotation" as having not yet been invented.
Duke then alludes a conspiracy theory about Solzhenitsyn's book "Two Hundred Years Together" not being available in English. According to Solzhenitsyn: "Two Hundred Years Together" was not to be published into English (even though it had sold over 3 million copies in both the Russian/French editions) it was not to be translated until his main study, being his 6.000-page tome "The Red Wheel" was complete. Duke's alleged "quotation" and sensationalism which contradicts Solzhenitsyn's own work is largely why some people believe his international best-seller, has somehow secretly been "banned" as usual, by "the Jews."
"...Could it be this book ["Two Hundred Years Together"] simply says what we are forbidden to know?" — David Duke, "Solzhenitsyn on the Jewish Role in the Bolshevik Terror" (2005, November 13)
No, Solzhenitsyn just considered it less important you simpleton.
"In The Red Wheel Solzhenitsyn had shown the Revolution in full complexity; and indeed—to avoid boiling down that complexity or skewing it via the narrow prism of Russian-Jewish relations—he gave The Red Wheel priority of publication in every major language, ahead of Two Hundred Years Together. And so likewise in English, an authorized translation of Two Hundred Years Together will follow The Red Wheel."
https://www.solzhenitsyncenter.org/his-writings/large-works-and-novels/two-hundred-years-together
4. To reiterate: David Duke has contradicted himself and his alleged "quotation" throughout the time that Solzhenitsyn was still alive—while there exists no evidence of Duke referring to his quote, prior to his book "The Secret Behind Communism" (2013) being launched. David Duke alleges Solzhenitsyn told him: "You Must Understand..." his most revealing quotation in a private discussion in 2002, while Solzhenitsyn himself struggled to speak English, and there is no evidence I can source in either lecture or written form that David Duke is remotely fluent in the Russian language. Neither is there any evidence of the two ever meeting.
Debunked:
http://archive.org/details/holodomor-famine-fraudulent-photos
http://archive.org/details/stalins-torch-men-order-0428-debunked
http://archive.org/details/bloody-sunday-bromberg-blutsonntag-debunked
Reviews
Reviewer:
archivesone
-
-
September 17, 2020
Subject: re:
Subject: re:
[carlomostacci]:
"It appears that you and The Guardian have painted Solzhenitsyn and Duke with the same brush:"
Until you can cite and quote where this blanket statement remains baseless.
"It appears that you and The Guardian have painted Solzhenitsyn and Duke with the same brush:"
Until you can cite and quote where this blanket statement remains baseless.
Reviewer:
carlomostacci
-
-
September 16, 2020
Subject: Solzhenitsyn & Duke Under Fire
Subject: Solzhenitsyn & Duke Under Fire
It appears that you and The Guardian have painted Solzhenitsyn and Duke with the same brush: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2003/jan/25/russia.books
