Albina S. Zhanbosinova,
Doctor of Historical Sciences, S. Gumilyov Eurasian National University, Nur-Sultan, Republic of Kazakhstan, e-mail: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Kuralay R. Zhirindinova,
Master of History, S. Amanzholov East-Kazakhstan State University, Ust-Kamenogorsk, Republic of Kazakhstan, e-mail: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Saule S. Zhandybaeva,
PhD Doctoral Student, S. Amanzholov East-Kazakhstan State University, Ust-Kamenogorsk, Republic of Kazakhstan, e-mail: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
The Oral Microhistory of the “Great Terror” (Based on Materials from Archival Investigations of the Repressed)
DOI: 10.31518/2618-9100-2020-5-8
The authors consider the oral microhistory of political repression based on the analysis of archival and investigative materials. A unique set of sources, most of which are introduced into scientific circulation for the first time, reflect the repressed everyday life of Soviet people. Given the originality and specificity of the materials used, the authors conducted a narratological analysis of archival and investigative materials in the focus of the created images of the history of political repression. Of particular interest are the oral traditions of the prison life of informants with daily reports of conversations that took place in the cell. The direct participants in the procedural algorithm of the investigation are, on the one hand, the PCIA officer, as the accusing party, and on the other hand, the arrested citizen, as the accused person. Their communication, drawn up in the records of interrogation protocols, demonstrates the perception of Soviet everyday life and the opposition of consciousness to political violence. A special perspective of the oral microhistory from the first person in the status of an arrested, accused, interrogated, etc. reveals the deep processes of interaction of a “little man” with power, repressive everyday life and its relation to current events. Soviet dissent in the form of comments, rumors and anecdotes, ditties and other folklore of the period of repression was evaluated by article 58-10 as “anti-Soviet» humor ridiculed international events, party leaders, five-year plans, made fun of saving the Schmidt expedition, relaxing in Soviet sanatoriums, etc. The research conducted shows that any critical assessment of the daily hardships of Soviet life was perceived by the Soviet government as an opposition. The point of opposition consciousness was directed at criticizing party policies that carried out the country’s economic modernization with the destruction of economic freedom and a decline in the quality of life.
Publishing: 30/10/2020
The article has been received by the editor on 01.07.2020
How to cite: Zhanbosinova А.S., Zhirindinova К.R., Zhandybaeva S.S. The Oral Microhistory of the “Great Terror” (Based on Materials from Archival Investigations of the Repressed) // Historical Courier, 2020, No. 5 (13), pp. 98–108. [Available online:] http://istkurier.ru/data/2020/ISTKURIER-2020-5-08.pdf
Links: Issue 5 2020
Keywords: Oral microhistory; folklore; political repression; archival and investigative materials; anti-Soviet agitation
The article is written in the framework of the project of the Control Committee of the Ministry of Education and Science of the Republic of Kazakhstan IRN: AP05130870 “Memory of the victims of political repression (1920–1950s) and its fixation in the sacral landscape of Kazakhstan (on the example of East Kazakhstan)”