“History repeats itself,” says Stéphane Grimaldi, director of the Mémorial de Caen
Eight days after the start of the Russian offensive, fighting continues in Ukraine. On the night of Thursday March 3 to Friday March 4, the largest nuclear power plant in Europe in Zaporozhye (Ukraine) was targeted by Russian bombing, an attack condemned on Friday morning by NATO.
This conflict”looks more and more like a new cold war“, valued Stéphane Grimaldi, director of the Caen Memorial. He was the guest of the morning show of France Bleu Normandie on Friday March 4.
France Blue Normandy: Stéphane Grimaldi, peace in Europe has not been guaranteed for more than a week now, since Russia decided to attack Ukraine. Do you think history is repeating itself today?
Stephane Grimaldi: I think yes. For me, it’s even the story that continues, that continues. I believe that we cannot understand what is happening in Ukraine if we do not know what happened in the 20th century. Vladimir Putin is an autocrat, he has a vision of Ukraine that dates back to before 1991: for him, it is as if there had been no creation of this state, that there was no no free and independent Ukrainian state.
NBF: Precisely, how does Putin perceive Ukrainians and Ukrainians today?
OS: Vladimir Putin does not differentiate between the Russian people and the Ukrainian people. He considers the Black Sea, which borders southern Ukraine, to be a Russian sea. This is an old issue, dating back centuries. Whether under the Tsars or the Soviet Union, Ukraine has always been perceived by Putin as being Russian. It fell the collapse of the USSR in 1989 so that two years later the Ukrainian state exists.
We are already in a new cold war and we are currently witnessing the recomposition of a world.
NBF: You are therefore saying that it is in a way the History of the 20th century which repeats itself, which continues. Can we speak of a new cold war today?
OS: It really is. Because today, Russia is under the ban of nations. China’s attitude towards this war is also very important, I don’t know if Chinese neutrality is really benevolent towards the Russians…
NBF: China, which is an ally of Russia, precisely…
OS: Yes, but these two countries have a very complicated history. It’s a bit like “I love you, me neither”, it’s never been a very simple relationship. So yes, in my opinion, we are already in a cold war and we are currently witnessing the recomposition of a world, before our eyes.
NBF: Some observers have expected parallels between Vladimir Putin and Adolf Hitler: in 1919, Hitler experienced the Treaty of Versailles as a humiliation. Vladimir Poutine, him, does not digest the dislocation of the USSR. Can we use these parallels, or is it a bit far-fetched?
OS: Personally, I find that completely stupid. Putin is not Hitler. But it’s true that one could look for a parallel between Vladimir Putin and Joseph Stalin. Stalin, like Putin, was an autocrat and he also considered Ukraine part of his territory. But we must remember that when the Germans arrived in Ukraine in 1941, they started by massacring Ukrainians and Russians. And I add one thing, which should not be forgotten, and that is that Putin’s parents are sort of heroes of the Soviet Union. His mother almost died during the siege of Leningrad, his father almost lost a leg during World War II. This great, patriotic war is something that matters to the Russian president. So comparing Putin to Hitler doesn’t hold up in my opinion.
NBF: Vladimir Putin appears more and more today as a very threatening personality, in his remarks.
OS: That’s it, we have the feeling that he has lost all form of rationality. It’s very simple, he wants to conquer Ukraine and he wants Ukraine to become a Russian country again, for Russia to go to the Black Sea. But it is not clear how this can happen today, knowing that in one week, he has put his country under the ban of nations. However, Russia has been transformed in 20-30 years, whether economically, socially or politically. There, there is a backtracking which is terrible.
NBF: Stéphane Grimaldi, this Sunday, March 6, you are going to hoist the flag of Ukraine on the esplanade of the Mémorial de Caen and a rally will be organized at 3 p.m. Was it important for you to do this, in a city like Caen and in particular in front of the Memorial?
OS: Yes, I think that with this Caen Memorial, it has become clear that peace and the defense of this peace are essential subjects in Normandy. There should be a lot of people for this gathering, many elected officials have also called to meet. Raising the Ukrainian flag is a sign of solidarity with this people who are living through a real tragedy.