Svetlana Alexievich: I Realized Depth Of Our Power’s Descent

The "Shuneviches" feel absolutely safe.

The Nobel Prize winner in literature Svetlana Alexievich commented to Radio Svaboda on the appearance of the restaurant on the site of mass shootings.

"I can’t forget the way Minister Shunevich looked wearing the NKVD uniform. I realized the depth of our power’s descent. I think Shunevich has not read Solzhenitsyn or Shalamov, and he has no idea about it. Secondly, I realized that because only young people stand for our pride, including in Kurapaty, the "Shuneviches" feel absolutely safe," – Svetlana Alexievich says.

"If the restaurant opens, then it is an absolute degeneration of the society, – the Nobel laureate says. – I assume that the high authority has allowed this. As we know, in this country no roof can be repaired without a resolution from above. So there are some shady deals there. And that Administrator (Sviatlana Dubkova, the restaurant manager, she called the protesters "human whatnot" in the comments to the article), is an ignorant woman who said that "those are people who are against the government."

Svetlana Alexievich believes that the whole society is responsible for this.

"You can talk here about our personal responsibility. We have allowed this. Why is the society silent? In any European country, there would be hundreds of thousands on the streets," – Svetlana Alexievich says.

"They want to erect a stone in Kurapaty, – Svetlana Alexievich comments to the initiative of the authorities to set up an official memorial in Kurapaty. – And it seems to them that in this way they will be granted a pardon so that it all to happen again."