Football against the Nazis: The Death Match of Kyiv 1942, presented by Keith Smith
In this presentation, Group Leader Keith showed how the “story” of 11 young Soviet footballers being shot by the Germans immediately after the match, still wearing their football shirts, became a powerful myth. It provided the Soviet government with an ideal opportunity to use the legend for ideological purposes. More recently, the Russian government has continued to use the myth in attempts to influence both international and domestic perceptions of Ukraine.
But in reality, it never happened, or not like that. Many football matches were played between occupying teams and Ukrainians, over 100 in fact. 4 players who played in the game were later executed by the Nazis but this was amongst several hundred thousand who met the same fate.
A common theme running through both the presentation and the discussion afterwards was the importance of considering the source material when researching anything, whether it is history or current affairs.
Both history and modern politics are full of people and organisations seeking to promote their own agendas, and in many cases the truth can be difficult to discern. After the current Russian invasion of Ukraine and ongoing conflict social media has been weaponised by both sides. Often when we ask people where they got some information from the answers is they read it somewhere on social media. It seems to be the modern day equivalent of being told by “a man in a pub”. Perhaps traditional media, with professional journalists, provides a safer route, although there is the need to read various shades of opinion for balance.
Perhaps the most important lesson from Tuesday’s presentation was a simple one: always ask where the story comes from, who is telling it, and what evidence supports it.
NEXT MONTH on October 13th, 11am at Casa Cultura, Duncan Petrie will treat us to “Robert the Bruce”, and outline of one of Scotland’s famous Kings. Come and join us!