In the park in front of the Russian embassy in Prague, a statue has been placed of a hand making a V-sign. That seems like a civilized protest, because a raised middle or index finger would also have been possible.
The V-sign was devised by the Belgian engineer and Engelsvaarder Victor de Laveleye, who radioed his compatriots to paint a V on walls and fences. The British took up the idea and the BBC started its news broadcasts with the intro to Beethoven’s Fifth, the notes of which correspond to the Morse code for V. Then Churchill’s V-sign became a resounding success. The occupiers, in turn, tried to copy that success with large placards, which read: ‘V = Victory. Germany wins on all fronts.’ But that campaign failed.
I got that from it Explanatory War Dictionary by Gerard van Lennep, who also remarks about the V-sign that you have to make it with the palm forward, because ‘the other way around the gesture is obscene’. That is why the Russians in Prague will still stand in front of the window of their embassy with mixed feelings, because then they look out on the back of the hand that makes the V-sign.
In times of war there is little room for nuance. You are for or against. In Ukraine it is the V against the Z. What the Z stands for is unclear, although ‘za pobedoe’ also seems to mean something like ‘for the victory’. Of course the Russian soldiers know what the V refers to. Lucky they didn’t start it.
There is a debate in Europe about whether Russian tourists should be banned. In an interview with NRC Handelsblad Jan Lipavský, the Czech foreign minister, was very firm about this. No more Russian tourists, it is only the elite who can afford a trip to the West. Also my Czech friend supports the stop on visa. He said: ‘No Russians, we know these guys‘.
There is a European law here: the closer to Russia, the louder the call to keep the Russians out. The Baltic states realize that it is a real war – with deaths, injuries and devastation – and they understand more the urgency of resisting oppression. For the Dutch, the front is far away. If our country continues to allow Russian tourists, then we will actually agree with Putin that this is not a war, but ‘a special operation’. That we should not cut off contact, ‘because most Russians who travel abroad want to broaden their view and be open to the world’, is perhaps a noble, but not a convincing argument.
Suppose, after the Battle of Dunkirk in 1940, Churchill had said: we are fighting against Hitler, the Wehrmacht and the Luftwaffe, but we have nothing against the German people and certainly nothing against German tourists. They are very welcome here. Feel free to come and spend your money here and visit our museums. The Tate is open to you and then maybe you can learn in our theaters how we eccentric English handle democracy and humor. Then he would have been laughed at and had to leave the field quickly. Churchill preferred to fight on the beaches. So if you think Kyiv, Odesa and Kherson are just names in a far-from-my-bed show, where we’re just sending some guns, you can take a bus full of well-stocked Russian tourists to the Rembrandt House, in the hopeful expectation that art and culture will connect friend and foe.
I am not that optimistic in that regard.
De Volkskrant is a newspaper of what Henriette Roland Holst has called ‘the soft forces’. She believed that the soft forces would prevail in the end. She wrote this immediately after the First World War, but well before the Second. I found three pieces in this newspaper, all of which argued against a boycott of Russian tourists. Therefore a different sound. It is war. There is nothing for it but to choose sides and show your solidarity. This is undoubtedly annoying for many Russians who also want the good, but it is no different. Therefore, as far as I’m concerned, no Russian tourists on the floor for the time being. When peace comes, it will be a different story. Then they are welcome again to spend their hard-earned gas rubles in our catering industry.
By the way, you also had the VE-Day, the Victory in Europe Day. The German General Jodl signed the unconditional surrender in Rheims on May 7, 1945. It was ratified a day later by the Russians, for which we are still grateful to them.