Angelochek, sdelaj radost

During the Second World War various ethnic groups were the targets of mass deportations carried out at horrifying human cost by the Soviet regime. Amongst these were the German minority in Turkmenistan, a group who migrated to the region at the end of the 19th century. Saparov and screenwriter Lyudmila Papilova's sensitively told drama represents a stand against Stalin's policy of ethnic homogenisation: When asked to elaborate upon what drew her to the issue, Papilova responded that “back then they divided territories into republics when there was no apparent necessity. It would have been better to let everybody live in one country, rather than draw distinctions between Turkmen, Russians and Germans. I remember reading a novel about the foundation of a Ministry of Love, created with the intention of destroying love, and this was something similar: a single entity was created in order to wipe out its constituent parts”. SwS