Russian Student Triggers Massive Online Bullying Campaign Over Bizarre Incident in German Bundestag
According to his mother, the kids are now bullying her son. Even the teachers are receiving threats. The boy claims that the major part of his essay was dedicated to his veteran-great-grandfather but the story about the Soviet soldier was cut out. Zinaida Kurbatova tried to figure out who did that.
This school in Novy Urengoy became famous overnight. The kids are all hyped-up. Everyone is talking about the speech delivered by the 16-year old Nikolay Desyatnichenko in the Bundestag. Once the speech was posted online, the school began receiving threats with history teachers being obscenely scolded.
Alla Krivoruchko, child and youth counselor: "It's some kind of weird peanut politics. Adult people call us and when you pick up the phone, you hear this spate of humiliations and profanities".
This year the gymnasium took part in "Reconciliation over the Graves" — a pacifist project.
Ekaterina Kashnikova, principal: "Nikolay, a straight-A student, was working in the archives, searching for documents to prepare his speech."Nikolay worked really hard to find the needed historical evidence to process all the documents. Nikolay is a consistent winner of the Academic Olympics in History. He's an excellent student, with a stable mindset and worldview".
The kids are trying to protect their classmate, the teachers are trying to save him from bullying that has already crossed the borders of the Internet.
Nikolay has just returned from Germany and immediately gave us an interview. Yes, they actually traveled to Kopeisk, in order to see the German graves. Then he started writing his essay, half of which was the story of his own great-grandfather who died in the war. Nikolay received information about a certain Wehrmacht soldier from Germany. The young man was captured and died in captivity. He wasn't an ordinary German but a priest and a pacifist, like Pastor Schlag from the famous movie.
Then the essay was edited several times. Only one paragraph dedicated to his grandfather's story remained.
Nikolay Desyatnichenko, highschooler: "The German Council for the Maintenance of Military Graves sent us these biographies and told us everything must be based on them. In the end, I had just 2 passages dedicated to my great-grandfather even though initially he was the hero of the story. In the middle of October, we submitted our essays. The Bundestag approved them. The president of the Council read them and approved them so we started working on our speeches".
The inexperienced highschooler didn’t take alarm at the situation. He didn't see a problem when he discovered that the girls' speeches were already translated into German while his speech wasn't. Not exactly characteristic of German efficiency. He was also asked to read slower because the interpreter couldn't keep up.
- You think it was a provocation?
- It might have been.
The boy's mother didn't expect these consequences either. Nikolay's speech was praised by the Russian delegation at the Bundestag.
Oksana Desyatnichenko, mother: "Upon his return, Nikolay told us there was a Russian delegation of no less than 30 people. It included public figures military officers, and diplomats. They were listening very attentively. They came to him afterward and shook his hand. Nobody could expect it would be such a controversy".
Nikolay doesn't look for excuses. He's having a hard time now. His speech was posted online only partially, with the main fragment being cut out. But it happened and adults are to blame.
Konstantin Zalessky, Third Reich Specialist, explains that Germany has a new way of interpreting WWII.
Konstantin Zalessky, Third Reich Specialist: "Instead of studying the war, they study the fate of the little man in the war. The life of a single person in the war. Their concept is that a war is always a tragedy for the ordinary man as he's not a politician, just a little man. And therefore there's no place for heroism in the war".
However, some people are defending Nikolay.
Eugeny Yambur, Doctor of Pedagogics: "There was nothing anti-patriotic about it. On the day of remembrance, it's our duty to reconcile, no matter where we live. The people, who are bullying the kid on the Internet, are acting dishonorably."
The administration of Novy Urengoy is doing its best to protect Nikolay Desyatnichenko. The school assured us, that regular classes will resume tomorrow.
Zinaida Kurbatova, Zulya Osmanova, Nikolay Zudov Vesti.