Knowing history is vital for students

I bemoan the lack of interest in the field of history by America's school age kids. Ask any 10th grader about the Third Reich, and he or she might say, “Oh yeah. I think I saw their last concert.” History is a treasure house of interesting stories, like this one:

In his memoirs, former Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev writes of a young man who had a close call during the Stalin purges of 1936 to 1938.

One Alexander Medved was sitting at a Communist Party meeting, when suddenly, a woman he did not know, stood up, pointed at him and said, “I don't know that man sitting over there, but I can tell by the look in his eyes that he's an enemy of the people.” Khrushchev punctuated this with “Can you imagine?”

Fortunately, Medved didn't panic. Instead, he stood up, pointed to this other woman and said, “I don't know that woman over there who has just accused me, but I can tell by the look in her eyes that she's a prostitute.” The other people at the meeting exploded with laughter, the woman was told to sit down and be quiet. Medved's fast comeback probably saved his life. Three million other Russians were not so lucky. Can you imagine?

Steven W. Bristow

Cedar Rapids