Should Tampere's Lenin Museum be renamed the Victims of Totalitarianism Museum?

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By Jukka Harju
     
      Should the name of the world’s only Lenin Museum, located in Tampere, be changed?
      Yes it should, believe some, as it is time to consider history from the standpoint of the victims of the system created by V. I. Lenin.
     
The idea for a radical change of name was proposed at a seminar in Tampere a week ago, the organisers of which were the independent citizens' movement ProKarelia and the Artillery Guild of the Tampere Region.
      ProKarelia aims at returning into Finnish and EU hands the ceded areas of Finnish Karelia, Petsamo, and Salla as well as some islands in the Gulf of Finland, which were handed to the Soviet Union as a result of the Second World War.
It was also suggested that the museum in Tampere should be renamed the "Museum of the Victims of Totalitarianism".
      According to the proposed plan, the museum should study the crimes of the totalitarian Soviet regime, while looking back on its victims with the help of virtual technology, setting up a memorial room, and promoting the rights of victims.
     
”The name Lenin itself is by no means disturbing, but one must not forget that the myth of a benevolent and sympathetic Lenin is still nurtured. And yet he was an individual who created a totalitarian tyranny. All one needs to do is to read how Lenin ordered the wealthier kulaks be killed, and one gets the correct picture of his real nature”, says Veikko Saksi of ProKarelia.
      After the Russian Revolution, the term kulak was often used to label anyone who had more property than was considered "normal".
      ”Lenin created the basis of the tyranny, setting up a system in which people were destroyed. After Lenin, Joseph Stalin continued the same system. It is not fair that an entire museum has been dedicated to such a person”, Saksi continues.
      Aimo Minkkinen, the curator of the Lenin Museum in Tampere, does not reject the proposal entirely, but he is not very enthusiastic about it, either.
      ”We do not have resources to implement such a large-scale extension of the museum. At one point, it was proposed that the museum should be renamed the Lenin-Stalin Museum, but even that idea was abandoned”, says Minkkinen.
     
According to Minkkinen, the museum explicitly takes a critical approach to Lenin’s work, while the main focus is on the relation between Lenin and Finland, and on his role in securing the independence of Finland.
      ”If there is a picture of Lenin on display somewhere, it does not mean that it is the target for worship”, Minkkinen notes.
      ”His greatest mistake was that he could not prevent the rise of Stalin to power”, he adds.
      However, Minkkinen supports the idea of founding a museum for the victims of totalitarianism, while pointing out that they also include left-oriented people.
     
”Such a museum could well be needed. It could be an international project, but the scope of totalitarianism should be wider, with the fates of the victims being focused on”, Minkkinen contemplates.
      According to Minkkinen, the Lenin Museum is granted an annual subsidy of EUR 49,000 by the City of Tampere, discretionary assets amounting to approximately EUR 80,000 by the state, and in addition, a statutory government subsidy for two employees’ salaries.
     
Helsingin Sanomat / First published in print 21.4.2009


Previously in HS International Edition:
  Lenin had important role in securing Finnish independence - 50 years after his death (8.1.2008)
  Aimo Minkkinen, director of world´s only Lenin museum, studied in Moscow (31.1.2006)
  What if Lenin had drowned here? (8.12.2004)

See also:
  No Lenin please, we´re Finnish (15.1.2000)

Links:
  Lenin Museum, Tampere
  Pro Karelia

JUKKA HARJU / Helsingin Sanomat
jukka.harju@hs.fi