Here is Part III of the Russia trip Ernst Zundel took in 1994, where he met many of the movers and shakers of the Russian nationalist movement and had discussions with important dignitaries:
"Another man I met was a good-looking, highly intelligent former KGB general named Alexander Sterligov who seemed to be in his late 50s. He had been the internal security advisor to former vice-president Aleksandr Rutskoi. He was sacked by the Yeltsin government because he advised Rutskoi that the Gorbachev-era reforms as well as the western-style policies adopted by Rutskoi and Yeltsin were unconstitutional and dishonorably betrayed Russian national interests. So Rutskoi and Yeltsin gave Sterligov a choice-either leave quietly with full honors, or be sacked with less than full honors and a cut in pension and privileges. He decided to leave quietly.
Sterligov still had some residual benefits from his KGB position. When I met him, he was surrounded by uniformed police or soldiers, he was protected with bulletproof glass, and his office was behind doors that electrically opened like bank vaults. Blue-eyed, well groomed and well mannered, Sterligov impressed me as extremely well-organized, no nonsense and businesslike. I am sure that he and capable men like him will be a force in whatever regime finally comes to power in Russia.
In addition to Zhirinovsky's almost mainstream patty, there are many small and more radical political parties and groups. You can find their activists outside the Moscow subway entrances, selling their newspapers. And Russians buy these papers. They say that for each newspaper that's sold, ten persons will read the issue. They even buy and sell secondhand newspapers, which are often sent to Siberia and other distant places. Imagine that! You will always see Russians reading. Russia is one of the world's most literate nations. For a Russian a book is still a treasure.
I met another man named Ivanov, a very pro-German fellow who has written 25 books and booklets. As a result of Stalinist-type political prosecution, he was sent to a mental health facility in 1961, and then, in 1981, he was exiled to the Ural mountains region for three years. And yet, in spite of all that, he remained completely undaunted. I was very impressed.
Another very nationalistic Russian I met had been a diplomat with the United Nations who was still with the Russian foreign service, working in the Foreign Ministry in Moscow. Neither he, nor anyone else I spoke with, had any apology for the fact that they had been, at one time, part of the Soviet state apparatus of the Communist Party. I saw none of the disgusting groveling that Germans have been engaging in for the last 50 years-trying to apologize for or explain away employment in Hitler's government, membership in National Socialist Party formations or the SS, or even military service in the Wehrmacht.
Patriotic Pride
Not a single Russian I met dishonors or defiles himself or his country. Veterans of the Red Army, for example, could and did accept criticism of the Soviet military. While hating Communism, and loathing the Jewish role in the Soviet regime, every one is proud of his service as a Red Army officer or soldier, and is loyal to his unit. Make no mistake about it: the Russian spirit of patriotism and nationalism is alive and very strong.
Eventually, I did find swastika-emblazoned newspapers in Moscow. I saw newspapers with front-page photographs of Dr. Goebbels speaking, with quotes from him coming from his mouth (in text bubbles), as well as well as quotations from Hitler, Alfred Rosenberg, Walter Darré and other Third Reich personalities.
In my numerous discussions with Russian intellectuals and journalists about the Second World War and National Socialism, I was astonished by their knowledge. You really have to know your stuff, because they certainly do. I challenge any postwar, "modern" German Wirtschaftswunderling to visit Russia and take on the Russians about German history, because they would be defeated roundly. And no one should visit Russia expecting to meet Russians who will dump all over their own history. They don't and won't. Mindful of the contrast with today's Germans, I found this trait refreshing!
Tomorrow: Part IV of Zundel Visit to Russia