Mikhail Nikolajewitsch Suprun

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Mikhail Nikolajewitsch Suprun ( Russian Михаил Николаевич Супрун ; born April 5, 1955 in Molotovsk ) is a Russian historian at the Pomoran State University in Arkhangelsk , who researches the persecution of Russian Germans in the Stalin era and is currently in connection with the publication of his results in Russia is on trial in absentia.

Research work

Suprun is researching, “as the first Russian historian”, on behalf of the German Red Cross on the fate of German-born Soviet citizens and German prisoners of war who were deported to penal camps in the Archangelsk Arctic Region during World War II under Stalin . Suprun's four-volume work, for which he had researched over 5000 individual cases in the archives for years and which he describes as his "life's work", was about to be published.

Raid by the FSB

In autumn 2009, the Russian secret service FSB seized computers, files, documents and books from Suprun's office at the university and from his private apartment in Arkhangelsk. However, copies of the data were sent to the German Red Cross via the police major Alexander Dudarew, head of the regional police information center .

Criminal proceedings

As a result, Suprun and Dudarew were charged in Arkhangelsk with violations of data protection regulations and invasion of privacy. With Dudarew he also concluded a usage contract "on his own power of attorney", in which the public prosecutor sees an overstepping of competencies. The plaintiff is also the family of a Russian German, whose family and private secrets Suprun is alleged to have disclosed without permission. Russian civil rights activists suspect political reasons for the process. In Germany, in addition to the Memorial human rights movement , the former Federal Commissioner for the Stasi files, Marianne Birthler , criticized the treatment of Suprun as "anachronistic" in a letter to Russian President Dmitri Medvedev as early as 2009 . Suprun himself had stated that with the allegations made against him one could - assuming bad will - "drag any journalist, biographer or editor of encyclopedias to the cadre". Originally, the public prosecutor's office even wanted to bring charges of treason, but failed because of the “poor evidence”. Suprun is also supported by the head of the Russian State Archives , Sergei Mironenko , who argues that the documents used by Suprun do not bear a nondisclosure stamp and researchers are allowed to quote from them. Suprunners face two years imprisonment and three years professional ban if convicted. The trial takes place in the absence of the defendant, who works in Poland.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ ntv report: Russian Germans under Stalin: Secret Service stops "Mourning Book" In: ntv.de of October 4, 2009.
  2. ↑ Badische Zeitung report: History of the Russian Germans: Historian is on trial in Russia In: Badische Zeitung of October 19, 2011.
  3. ↑ Anton Bosch in conversation with Jürgen König: "These are concrete heads": Research on victims in Stalin's Gulag meets with resistance in Russia In: dradio.de of October 8, 2009.
personal data
SURNAME Suprun, Mikhail Nikolajewitsch
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Супрун, Михаил Николаевич (Russian spelling)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Russian historian
DATE OF BIRTH April 5th 1955
PLACE OF BIRTH Molotovsk