Grover Carr Furr III (born April 3, 1944) is an American author and professor of Medieval English literature at Montclair State University.[1] He has been criticized for his denial of crimes committed by the Soviet state during the Stalin era.[2] He has claimed that the idea that the Holodomor was a genocide is a hoax invented by the Nazis, that the Katyn massacre was committed by the Schutzstaffel and not the Soviet NKVD,[3] that all defendants in the Moscow Trials were guilty as charged, that "not one specific statement" by Khrushchev in his speech on the consequences of Stalinist repression "turned out to be true", that the purpose of the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact was to preserve Poland and not to attack it, and that the Soviet Union did not invade Poland.
Career
Born in Washington, D.C., Furr graduated in 1965 from McGill University in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, with a BA in English. Since February 1970, he has been on the faculty at Montclair State University in New Jersey, where he specializes in medieval English literature.[1]
Beliefs
Historians John Earl Haynes and Harvey Klehr noted how Furr "lauded the creation of Communist regimes" in Europe and Asia because "billions of workers all over the world are exploited, murdered, tortured, oppressed by capitalism".[4] Furr's books, especially on the Katyn massacre, have been cited in Russia as confirmation that the revisionist views are also "supported by foreign historians."[5] Historian Jarosław Szarek, president of the Polish Institute of National Remembrance, condemned Furr's work as denying Soviet war crimes, comparing it to "the scandalous manifestations of Holocaust denial".[2] Historian Gerald Meyer of Hostos Community College noted in reply to Furr's critique of a review he wrote that "Furr defends the Soviet state’s expulsion of the Volga Germans, Tartars, Chechens, and other ethnic minorities from their homelands", "objects to my contention that collectivization of agriculture resulted in widespread resistance and famine", and "spends most of his energy attempting to refute the truism that Stalin was aware of and approved of huge numbers of political executions."[6]
During a public debate at a university campus in 2012, Furr said that "I have yet to find one crime — yet to find one crime — that Stalin committed. [...] I know they all say he killed 20, 30, 40 million people — it is bullshit. […] Goebbels said that the Big Lie is successful and this is the Big Lie: that the Communists — that Stalin killed millions of people and that socialism is no good." Washington Examiner and American Conservative wrote that Furr referred to Nazi propaganda because a mediator of the discussion suggested that Furr was using tactics invented by Joseph Goebbels.[7][8] Historian Ronald Radosh accused Furr of academic malpractice by making these claims to students.[9]
Holodomor
In a CounterPunch article published in March 2017, Furr argued that "[t]here was a very serious famine in the USSR, including (but not limited to) the Ukrainian SSR, in 1932-33. But there has never been any evidence of a 'Holodomor' or 'deliberate famine,' and there is none today. The 'Holodomor' fiction was invented by Ukrainian Nazi collaborators who found havens in Western Europe, Canada, and the USA after the war."[10][11]
Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact and Soviet invasion of Poland
Furr states that the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact was signed by the sides to preserve an independent Poland rather than planning a partition of Poland as was in fact stipulated in the secret protocols to the Soviet-Nazi agreement.[12]
Regarding the Soviet invasion of Poland in September 1939, Furr claims that the Soviet Union did not actually invade Second Polish Republic because Poland no longer had a government and, according to Furr, was not a state according to international law, further arguing that "at the time it was widely acknowledged that no such invasion occurred". Furr believes Poland no longer existed because the Polish government was interned in Romania, although it continued to be recognized by all Allied powers. According to Furr, the Polish government did not declare war on the Soviet Union and only declared war on Nazi Germany as did Britain and France.[13]
Katyn massacre
Furr has argued, contrary to the view generally accepted by historians and as acknowledged by both the Soviet Union (in 1991) and the Russian Federation (in 2004), that the Katyn massacre was committed by the Nazis rather than by the Soviet NKVD.[14][5]
Khrushchev Lied
Furr's book Khrushchev Lied attacked the speech given by Nikita Khrushchev called "On the Cult of Personality and Its Consequences", more commonly referred to in the West as the "Secret Speech". According to review by Gregory Elich[15] "it would be too much to expect from Furr to live up to his claim that not one specific statement by Khrushschev turned out to be true", that his dislike of Khrushschev in the book was palpable, and that the arguments by Furr about all defendants of Moscow trials being guilty do not survive fact checking. According to another reviewer, the assertions by Furr can be supported by writings by other revisionist historians, such as Yuri Zhukov, J. Arch Getty, Mark Tauger and Stephen Wheatcroft. Among them are assertions by Furr that, contrary to the speech by Khrushchev, the Stalin's personality cult did not exist, that Holodomor was "disproved", that Stalin was not a dictator and fought to make Elections in the Soviet Union truly democratic, and that Trotsky was guilty of plans to assassinate Stalin.[16]
His books
- Furr, Grover (2011). Khrushchev Lied. The Evidence that Every Revelation of Stalin's (and Beria's) Crimes in Nikita Khrushchev's Infamous Secret Speech to the 20th Party Congress of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union on February 25, 1956, Is Provably False. Kettering, Ohio: Erythros Press and Media. ISBN 9780615441054.
- Furr, Grover (2013). The Murder of Sergei Kirov: History, Scholarship and the Anti-Stalin Paradigm. Kettering, Ohio: Erythros Press and Media. ISBN 9780615802015.
- Furr, Grover (2014). Blood Lies: The Evidence that Every Accusation against Joseph Stalin and the Soviet Union in Timothy Snyder's Bloodlands Is False. New York City, New York: Red Star Publishers. ISBN 9780692200995.
- Furr, Grover (2015). Trotsky's Amalgams. Trotsky's Lies, The Moscow Trials as Evidence, The Dewey Commission. Trotsky's Conspiracies of the 1930s, Volume One. Kettering, Ohio: Erythros Press and Media. ISBN 9780692582244.
- Furr, Grover (2016). Yezhov vs. Stalin: The Truth About Mass Repressions and the So-Called Great Terror in the USSR. Kettering, Ohio: Erythros Press and Media. ISBN 9780692810507.
- Furr, Grover (2017). Leon Trotsky's Collaboration with Germany and Japan. Trotsky's Conspiracies of the 1930s, Volume Two. Kettering, Ohio: Erythros Press and Media. ISBN 9780692945735.
- Furr, Grover (2018). The Fraud of the Dewey Commission. New York City, New York: Red Star Publishers. ISBN 9781722702243.
- Furr, Grover (2018). The Moscow Trials as Evidence. New York City, New York: Red Star Publishers. ISBN 9781722842123.
- Furr, Grover (2018). The Mystery of the Katyn Massacre: The Evidence, The Solution. Kettering, Ohio: Erythros Press and Media. ISBN 9780692134252.
- Furr, Grover (2019). Stalin: Waiting for ... the Truth! Exposing the Falsehoods in Stephen Kotkin's Stalin: Waiting for Hitler, 1929–1941. New York City, New York: Red Star Publishers. ISBN 9780578445533.
- Furr, Grover (2019). Trotsky's Lies. Kettering, Ohio: Erythros Press and Media. ISBN 9780578521046.
- Furr, Grover (2020). New Evidence of Trotsky's Conspiracy. Kettering, Ohio: Erythros Press and Media. ISBN 9780578649764.
References
- ^ a b "Grover Furr". Montclair State University. Archived from the original on July 2, 2020. Retrieved July 31, 2020.
- ^ a b Remembrance, Institute of National. "Open letter of the President of the Institute of National Remembrance to prof. Grover Furr and Montclair State University Autohorities". Institute of National Remembrance (in Polish). Retrieved April 28, 2021.
- ^ Babović, Darja (2018). "Anamnesis of Poland's Mnemonic Determinism: Are Historic Narratives Misused to Support Conservative Political Agenda" (PDF). Masters Thesis. Central European University.
- ^ Haynes, John Earl; Klehr, Harvey (2003). In Denial: Historians, Communism and Espionage. San Francisco: Encounter Books. pp. 26–27. ISBN 9781893554726.
- ^ a b Ivanov, Valery (April 2, 2017). "Катынский расстрел: продолжатели дела Геббельса" Katynskiy rasstrel: prodolzhateli dela Gebbel'sa [Katyn Execution: The Successors of the Goebbels Case]. NewsBalt (in Russian). Archived from the original on April 18, 2017. Retrieved April 18, 2017.
- ^ Meyer, Gerald (September 11, 2018). "Grover Furr on "Joseph Stalin: Revisionist Biography": A Response". Science & Society. 82 (4): 576–581. doi:10.1521/siso.2018.82.4.576.
- ^ Gehrke, Joel (November 13, 2012). "Your tax dollars at work: Prof says Stalin did not kill millions of people — that's 'the Big Lie'". Washington Examiner. Archived from the original on June 11, 2020. Retrieved July 31, 2020.
- ^ Dreher, Rod (November 26, 2012). "'They Lied, Nobody Died'". The American Conservative. Archived from the original on June 11, 2020. Retrieved July 31, 2020.
- ^ Radosh, Ronald (November 13, 2012). "Academic Malpractice: The Case of Grover Furr". PJ Media. Archived from the original on June 11, 2020. Retrieved July 31, 2020.
- ^ Furr, Grover (March 3, 2017). "The 'Holodomor' and the Film 'Bitter Harvest' are Fascist Lies". CounterPunch. Archived from the original on August 14, 2020. Retrieved July 31, 2020.
- ^ Young, Cathy (October 31, 2015). "Russia Denies Stalin's Killer Famine". The Daily Beast.
- ^ Furr, Grover (2012). "The Secret Protocols to the M-R Pact Did Not Plan Any Partition of Poland". Montclair State University. Archived from the original on January 17, 2020. Retrieved August 20, 2020.
- ^ Furr, Grover (2009). "Did the Soviet Union Invade Poland in September 1939?". Montclair State University. Archived from the original on August 23, 2020. Retrieved July 31, 2020.
- ^ Furr, Grover (2013). "The 'Official' Version of the Katyn Massacre Disproven?" (PDF). Socialism and Democracy. 27 (2): 96–129. doi:10.1080/08854300.2013.795268. S2CID 141695301. Archived (PDF) from the original on August 18, 2020. Retrieved August 4, 2020.
- ^ Elich, Gregory (2014). "Review of Khrushchev Lied: The Evidence that Every "Revelation" of Stalin's (and Beria's) "Crimes" in Nikita Khrushchev's Infamous "Secret Speech" to the 20th Party Congress of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union on February 25, 1956, Is Probably False". Science & Society. 78 (3): 398–401. ISSN 0036-8237. JSTOR 24583594.
- ^ Holmstrom, Sven-Eric (August 2, 2013). "Grover Furr, Khrushchev Lied (Kettering, Ohio: Erythros Press & Media LLC, 2011". Journal of the Research Group on Socialism and Democracy. Archived from the original on December 16, 2018. Retrieved July 31, 2020.
External links
- Official website