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The symbol of NPF Pamyat with the "Russian swastika"

Pamyat (Russian: Память, Russian: Общество «Память», Russian pronunciation: [ˈpamʲɪtʲ]; English translation: "Memory" Society) is a Neo-Nazi, ultranationalist organization that identifies itself as the "People's National-patriotic Orthodox Christian movement." The group's stated focus is preserving Russian culture. Its longtime leader, Dmitri Vasilyev, died in 2003. The organisation is described as Anti-Semitic and chauvinist.[1][2]


At the end of the 1970s, a historical association called Vityaz (Витязь, lit. "Knight"), sponsored by the Soviet Society for the Protection of Historical and Cultural Monuments, established an "informal historical, cultural and educational organization" uniting activists-bibliophiles and amateur historians. One of the purposes of the newly formed organization was to prepare the upcoming celebration of the 600th anniversary of the Battle of Kulikovo.

Some notable Vityaz activists in Moscow were Ilya Glazunov (artist), S. Malyshev (historian), and A. Lebedev (Colonel of the MVD). Similar groups were created in other regions of the Soviet Union. Later, loosely associated "informal" groups were consolidated under the name Pamyat.




After several splits and the imminent dissolution of the Soviet Union, the organization adopted a monarchist position.






Officially the organization claims that its ideology was merely "anti-Zionist" and not anti-Semitic.







From the open letter of the NPF "Pamyat" leader D. Vasilyev to the President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin:

"Mr. President, your initiative to make taxes lower meets our demands. It is a positive step. Unfortunately, modern economy is an economy of national minority, which oppresses the majority. They are real suckers of our money, mineral resources etc.
Banks should not sell money and make it some kind of tradable good. They should serve the production sphere of economy. We are against a multiparty political system. Many parties mean distribution of egoism, blackmail etc. Russia has its own history, which is 1000 years old. It makes no sense to copy the western institutions in toto. They might be positive and efficient in small European countries, but in such a big country like Russia a weak, corrupted parliamentarian system means anarchy and fosters economic and politic separatism."[5]

Further reading[edit]

  • Marlène Laruelle, Le Rouge et le noir. Extrême droite et nationalisme en Russie, Paris, Éditions du CNRS, 2007 ‹See Tfd›(in French)

See also[edit]


  1. ^ Korey, William (1995). Russian Antisemitism, Pamyat, and the Demonology of Zionism. Psychology Press. ISBN 9783718657421.
  2. ^ Altshuler, Stuart (2005). From Exodus to Freedom: A History of the Soviet Jewry Movement. Rowman & Littlefield. ISBN 9780742549364.
  3. ^ The Nizkor Project
  4. ^ "The development of Russian nationalism under Gorbachev (1985-91) Timothy Michael Spence PhD Thesis" (PDF). UCL School of Slavonic and East European Studies.
  5. ^ a b "Letters to Boris Yeltsin and Vladimir Putin".

External links[edit]