WJU, the Republic of Georgia and Stalin

It's been a while since anything has been posted on this blog, but as the WJU History Department prepares for its upcoming trip to Berlin in May 2014, we will be adding some new content in the coming weeks, including information on our cooperation with the Holocaust education group Classrooms Without Borders, possible guest speakers on Wheeling Jesuit's campus and some of the activities of our students and faculty. 

We'll start with an update on our alumnus Aaron Simpson, who is currently serving in the Republic of Georgia as a member of the Peace Corps, and his visit to the the Stalin museum and birth house.

With the "Uncle Joe" of American wartime propaganda

Aaron, who graduated in 2011 with a degree in history, arrived in the region this summer. Soon after his arrival, members of his group went to Gori, hometown of Josef Stalin. He shared with us some of his photos of the trip.

Clearly, the city makes no attempt to distance itself from Stalin as indicated by the street signs and by the choice of beverages:

A museum examining Stalin's life has been built right behind his birth house and it contains a

The National Home-Museum of J.V. Stalin

Stalin's Childhood Home

wide selection of materials relating to the Soviet dictator, ranging from his 1894 seminary application

to the kitsch that seemingly accompanies each and every manifestation of the cult of personality.

Aaron notes that "I have never met a group of people that can turn a blind eye on all the horrible things that Stalin did better than the people that run the museum." This approach to history, one that we as a group witnessed to a much lesser degree in Vienna this past May, is one that highlights the difficulties that various nations and groups have in coming to terms with their pasts, especially those from the 1930s and 1940s. It will be interesting to see how WJU students view Berlin's attempts to grapple with its complicated past.