force.”nThe contempt of Russian officialsntoward us, the starry-eyed and mono-nHngual American tourists, was verynmuch in evidence. (I could detect nonsuch contempt among the non-nRussian Soviets I met during the journey.)nWe were treated as suckers innrestaurants and hotels, in concert hallsn(where shoddy performances werenscheduled for several hundred foreignntourists at a time), and at airports.nRude comments about us were exchangednin Russian by Intourist personnel.nWhen I asked the receptionistnat a Moscow hotel for help with lostnluggage, our Intourist guide interruptednme and told the receptionist not tonbother because I could take care of thenmatter myself by going to the airport.nAt meals, we were repeatedly refusednthe second cup of coffee or tea “becausenwe paid for 100 grams of eachnonly.” Requests for bottled or boilednwater invariably met with, “Who willnpay for it?” Our American guide wasnmore than generous in paying extra forneverything, but even so we were consistentlynshortchanged on both servicenand food.nFra Carpini: “They are mean andngreedy, and if the}’ want something,nthey will not stop begging and askingnfor it, until the’ hae got it. The’ncling fierceh’ to what they hae andnin making gifts they are extremelynmiserh.”nAccording to official figures, Russiansncomprise slightly less than half ofnthe present population of the SovietnUnion (137 out of 275 million). Yet anvisitor is shielded from any contactsnwith the non-Russians except throughnfolklore or handicrafts whose originnand meaning are explained bynRussian-speaking guides. One gets annimpression that a major PR campaignnhas been launched in the SovietnUnion to wipe out national culturesnand replace them by folk dances,nsongs, and crafts of a particular ethnicnregion. From Mongolia to Moscow,nwe were treated to an endless display ofnfolk music and art from various republics,nhandicrafts displayed in ethnographicalnmuseums, and the like.nAmidst the dazzling display of colorsnand costumes, it was easy to forget thatnnational cultures rely little on suchnparaphernalia and quite a bit on thenlife of the mind.nOnly Russian culture is exemptnfrom the monopoly of the lowest commonndenominator. Contacts with thenWest can take place only through Russians.nIn Mongolia, we met a visitingnMoldavian folk ensemble. Our effortsnto establish independent contact endednwith the Russian head of the ensemblenstepping forward and professing to representnthe Moldavian youngsters. Thensuppression includes a ban on translationsnof any foreign work into anynlanguage spoken in the Soviet Union ifnno Russian translation of this workn1 Announcing…n A Major Work on in: Genocide & Terrorism innI Ukraine:nexists. It is little wonder that the equationnof the Russians and the Soviets isnevident even in Mongolia. An educatednMongolian told me: “We don’t likenthose people from the north, but whatncan we do? We are afraid of them.”nFra Carpini: “It is their intention tonoverthrow the whole world and reducenit to slavery.”nIn the I9th century, the Russiannphilosopher Vladimir Soloviev wrotenironically: “Panmongolism! The wordnis wild, but I like the way it sounds.”nIn 1918, the Russian poet AleksandrnHUMANnLIFE INnRUSSIAn” Ewald Ammende’s Human Life in Russia is the long unavailable history :n1 of the “Hidden Holocaust” and the cover-up which prevented news of the jn: starvation of nearly 7,000,000 Ukrainians from being reported in the West •n• during 1931-1934. Ammende, a professional humanitarian whose career is :nI markedly similar to that of Raoul Wallenberg a decade later, gathered eye- jn: witness testimony on the Famine as a means of exposing the awful truth of •n• the genocide and terrorism then occurring in Ukraine. InI As such, his work is one of the earliest histories of the Gulag, wherein the jnI Archipelago consisted of an entire nation to be punished for its opposition •n• to totalitarianism. Human Life in Russia has long been unobtainable; we jn• make it available with the hope that the lesson of the Ukrainian Famine will jn: not be lost on our times. The book, 330 pages in a cloth binding and striking |n• jacket, is well illustrated and documented; it belongs in every collection of jnI books on the U.S.S.R. and Ukraine. jnI CLIP AND MAIL TO:n• John T. Zubal, Inc. — PublishersnI 2969 West 25th Street – Cleveland, OH 4 »113nI Phone: 216-241-7640 – – Telex: 298256 ZUB AL URn• Plea.se send cnpv/copie.s n fn• Human Life in Russia to:n! NAMF:nI .STREET ADDRESS:nCITY/STATE/ZIP!n• Mv check in ihe amnunr nf (til “J”! ppr cnpv>n• plus $1.85 postage per copy is enclosed.nI NOTE: Ohio residents must add .91 sales lax per copy.nI ORDERS SHIPPED THROUGHOUT THE U.S. BY U.P.S.nI SAME DAY PAYMENT IS RECEIVEDn; ORDERS TO OTHER COUNTRIES SENT BY POSTnnnFEBRUARY 1986 / 43n