Introduction

Gulag Letters ◽  
2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Emily D. Johnson
Keyword(s):  
Soviet Union ◽  
Labor Camp ◽  
Nazi Occupation ◽  
The Soviet Union ◽  
History Of ◽  
Extensive Information ◽  
Camp System ◽  
Soviet Invasion ◽  
The City ◽  
The Waves

The introduction provides an overview of the history of the Soviet labor camp system, describes the way the Gulag postal and censorship systems operated, and offers extensive information about Formakov’s biography. It details Formakov’s career as a provincial writer and journalist and discusses the history of Dvinsk/Daugavpils, the city in which he lived and worked before his 1940 arrest and a center of Old Believer culture. It also places the story of Formakov’s arrest and imprisonment in the larger context of Latvian history, noting the purge that took place immediately after the Soviet invasion of Latvia in 1940, the horrors of the Nazi occupation, and the waves of arrests that occurred after the Soviet Union reoccupied the area in 1944. A final section considers Formakov’s relationship with Solzhenitsyn. Formakov served as one of the witnesses who provided testimony about the labor camp system for Solzhenitsyn’s Gulag Archipelago.

Sergei Viktorovich Yarov, 1959–2015

2019 ◽  
Vol 53 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 177-179
Author(s):  
Clayton Black
Keyword(s):  
Soviet Union ◽  
The Soviet Union ◽  
Before And After ◽  
History Of ◽  
The City

Abstract This article offers a brief tribute to the life and career of Sergei Viktorovich Yarov, whose works pioneered new avenues of research in the history of workers, popular mentalities, and the city of Leningrad, especially during the Siege. It provides an assessment of his key works, especially his monographs, and his role in the development of the historical discipline in Russia before and after the fall of the Soviet Union.

From Stalin to Mao

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elidor Mëhilli
Keyword(s):  
Cold War ◽  
Soviet Union ◽  
Small Country ◽  
Political Unity ◽  
Nazi Occupation ◽  
The Soviet Union ◽  
History Of ◽  
East German ◽  
The 1960S ◽  
The Cold War

This book interprets socialism as a form of globalization by telling the unknown history of a small country that found itself entangled in some of the biggest developments of the Cold War. Within two decades, Albania went from fascist Italian rule to Nazi occupation, a brief interlude as a Yugoslav satellite, and then to a heady period of borrowings—government advisers, brand new factories, school textbooks, urban plans, and everything in between— from the Soviet Union in the 1950s. With Soviet backing, Albania’s regime launched a bold experiment: turn illiterate peasants into conscious workers. Ambitious but poor, the country also turned into a contact zone between East German engineers, Czech planners, and Hungarian geologists who came to help build socialism from scratch. Then, the socialist world shattered. During the Sino-Soviet conflict of the 1960s, Albania’s party clique switched allegiance to China, seeing in Mao’s patronage an opportunity to keep Stalinism alive. Combining an analysis of ideology with a keen sense of geopolitics, this book explores this strange connectivity of socialism, showing how socialism created a shared material and mental culture—still evident today across Eurasia—but it failed to generate political unity.

СHILDREN'S LIBRARIES: THE CASE OF TOMSK, 1960–1970

2021 ◽  
pp. 272-282
Author(s):  
Alexsandra I. Ermolova ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Soviet Union ◽  
Public Libraries ◽  
Special Focus ◽  
Cultural Life ◽  
The Soviet Union ◽  
Tomsk Region ◽  
History Of ◽  
The 1960S ◽  
The City

The paper discusses the activities of children's libraries in Tomsk in the 1960s and 70s. The main goal of this study is consider the history of children's libraries in the city and reveal the role of libraries in educational, cultural, political and ideological components of the everyday lives of young Tomsk residents. There are several reasons for addressing this problem. In the USSR, children were always not only in the care of the state, but also part of the political discourse about the happy childhood and the man of the future who was expected to live under communism. In this context, children's libraries were given a special status as places that successfully combined educational, cultural, political and ideological activities for children. The Tomsk Region has always been considered the intellectual center of Siberia. Therefore, it seems obvious that there has always been a special focus on the development of libraries in Tomsk. For example, the number of public libraries in the Tomsk Region increased from 135 in 1945 to 495 in 1964. This study addresses the history of children's libraries in the city. The thematic focus of their collections, and According to the regional archive, in the 1960– 70s, there were four active children's libraries in the city. The main ones were City Children's Library No. 1 located at 167 Lenin Avenue, and Marshak Children's Library No. 2 located at 17a Nikitina Street, The two other were smaller in size: Library No. 3 (81 Michurina) and City Children's Library No. 6 (9 Kolkhoznaya). The statistical reports of libraries demonstrate the increasing interest of young Tomsk residents in library activities: the number of readers, as well as number of visits grew from year to year. The libraries had quite diverse collections, which included not only books, but also periodicals. Some interesting observations can be made about the distribution of genres: socio-political publications are the second most popular genre, after fiction. Libraries were not only a place where children could receive and read books, but also hosted a variety of cultural, educational and leisure events, such as matinees, debates, exhibitions, and poetry evenings. There were Young Readers Clubs which arranged book discussions and meetings with interesting people. All this evidence suggests that children's libraries were an essential part of the city's social and cultural life. They acted as a kind of educational centers where young Tomsk residents could find answers to their questions. They were also places of leisure where children could spend their free time. Moreover, libraries inculcated some ideologically correct attitudes. Meetings, disputes, and quizzes held in libraries always addressed topics related to Lenin, communism, and activities of the Commuunist Party of the Soviet Union.

Początki konspiracji wojskowej i cywilnej na Wileńszczyźnie w latach 1939-1941

2021 ◽  
pp. 213-239
Author(s):  
Aleksander Głogowski
Keyword(s):  
Soviet Union ◽  
Legal Status ◽  
Soviet Occupation ◽  
The Soviet Union ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Republic ◽  
The Government ◽  
Soviet Invasion ◽  
Polish Government ◽  
Resistance Movement

THE BEGINNINGS OF THE MILITARY AND CIVIL UNDERGROUND IN THE VILNIUS REGION IN 1939-1941 The first years of the occupation of the Vilnius Region were an unusual period in terms of the history of the Polish Underground State and the Polish armed resistance movement. This area was occupied after September 17, 1939 by the Soviet Union, but part of it was transferred to the Republic of Lithuania, along with which it was re-incorporated into the Soviet Union. The Lithuanian occupation was a considerable challenge both for the Polish authorities in exile and for the inhabitants of the Vilnius Region. Meeting such a challenge required certain diplomatic talents (not to worsen the situation of Poles living in this area) as well as knowledge of the relations in the area, which was a problem for the Polish authorities in France, and especially in Great Britain. The Polish inhabitants of the Vilnius Region considered the legal status of their land to be illegal occupation, while the Lithuanians claimed that thanks to a new agreement with the USSR, the period of occupation of these lands by Poles ended. These opinions, together with the mutual resentments and stereotypes flourishing for nearly 20 years, made the peaceful coexistence of two nations difficult, or even impossible. The government of the Republic of Poland tried to prevent the attempts to start an anti-Lithuanian uprising, not wanting to provoke the other two occupiers into military intervention. To this stage, it sought an intermediate solution between the abandonment of any conspiracy (which carried the threat of forming armed groups beyond the control of the legal Polish authorities) and its development on a scale known, for example, from the German or Soviet occupation. The Vilnius Region was to become the personnel and organisational base for the latter. The dilemma was resolved without Polish participation at the time of the annexation of the Republic of Lithuania by the Soviets. Then the second period of the Soviet occupation began, characterised by much greater brutality than the first one, with mass arrests, executions and deportations. The policy of repression primarily affected the pre-war military staff and their families, who were the natural base for the resistance movement of the intelligentsia. Fortunately, this process ended at the time of the German aggression against the USSR. Those that survived the period of the “second Soviet invasion” could in the new conditions continue their underground activities and prepare for an armed uprising in the circumstances and in the manner indicated by the Home Army Headquarters and the Polish Government in London.

scholarly journals The activity of police formations in the village during the Nazi occupation of Dnipropetrovsk (1941-1943).

2019 ◽  
pp. 207-216
Author(s):  
І. А. Шахрайчук ◽  
М. С. Шманатов
Keyword(s):  
Soviet Union ◽  
Local Population ◽  
Third Reich ◽  
Local Conditions ◽  
Nazi Occupation ◽  
Local Police ◽  
The Soviet Union ◽  
The Third Reich ◽  
Civil Authority ◽  
The City

With the capture of the partial territory of the Soviet Union by the troops of the Third Reich, and with the movement of the front line to the East, management in the new territories passed into the hands of civil authorities. Since 01. 09. 1941, in accordance with the order of A. Hitler «On the introduction of civil administration in the occupied Eastern territories», a territorial-administrative area Reichscommissariat «Ukraine» was created. Local authorities were inferior ingredients in the administration of that zone. After the occupation of the city of Dnepropetrovsk in August 1941, the local police appeared in the city. It was created by the actions of nationalist forces, marching groups of the OUN. But when the Nazi civil authority was established in the city in the fall, the police structure was incorporated into the occupying structure and reformed it. After that, were created local police schools, units, new police districts. Local police were created throughout Ukraine, including in the Dnipropetrovsk district. It existed in the countryside. The district was divided into districts, in each of which there were local police units led by Nazi organs. The structure of the local police included several components, so the tasks of the policemen were not the same. Depending on the region, location and composition of units, they could perform different tasks and have different powers. Often, the Nazi leadership adapted to local conditions, with consequences for the local population and the Nazi employees. The article analyses the creation of police structure of Dnipropetrovsk region in rural area and also its functions and the nature of the activity during the Nazi occupation (1941-1943). The article examines the reasons for, conditions and results of attraction of Ukrainians to formation of German police in Reichskommissariat Ukraine, their institutional forms, material basis and everyday conditions of work. The author analyses efficiency of the system of additional police, its role in occupation regime functioning, the organization and composition of the local police, examples of assistance to the police in the crimes of the Nazis. The motivation and reasons for the cooperation of the local population with the Nazis are also considered.

scholarly journals Narwa-Iwangorod – dwie dusze tego samego miasta

2020 ◽  
Vol 48 (2) ◽  
pp. 165-175
Author(s):  
Oleksandr Szewczenko
Keyword(s):  
Soviet Union ◽  
Political Life ◽  
Short Introduction ◽  
European Model ◽  
Infrastructural Development ◽  
The Soviet Union ◽  
Two Cities ◽  
History Of ◽  
Political Economic ◽  
The City

From 1612 to 1990, the Estonian Narva and the Russian Ivangorod not only belonged to the same countries (at different times they were Sweden, Russia, Estonia and the Soviet Union), but they also were one city. The situation changed after the collapse of the Soviet Union and today, with each passing year, the differences between Narva and Ivangorod are becoming deeper and deeper. In this article, the author makes a short introduction to the history of Narva and Ivangorod and analyses the current political, economic and cultural situation in both cities. Narva is particularly important for Estonia’s political life because it has the largest Russian-speaking population in the country. Therefore, after Russia’s occupation of Crimea and the beginning of the Russian aggression in Donbas, Narva has been perceived as the city that may be most threatened by Russian infl uence in Estonia. On the other hand, the Russian authorities consider the surprising difference in economic and infrastructural development between the two cities to be the inconvenient propaganda of the European model of liberal democracy. The author describes how both countries cope with this situation and how ordinary residents of the Estonian Narva and Russian Ivangorod cope with these great political games.

Afghanistan

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Barnett R. Rubin
Keyword(s):  
Soviet Union ◽  
Islamic Law ◽  
Global War On Terror ◽  
Major Powers ◽  
The Soviet Union ◽  
History Of ◽  
Osama Bin Laden ◽  
Soviet Invasion ◽  
Global War ◽  
New Phase

Afghanistan, a landlocked country in Central Asia, has improbably been at the center of international geopolitics for four decades. After the Soviet Union invaded in 1980, Afghanistan descended into an unending conflict that featured at various points most of the world's major powers. In the mid-1990s, the country entered a new phase, when the Taliban took power and imposed order based on a harsh, repressive version of Islamic law. Infamously, the sheltered Osama bin Laden, whose attack on 9/11 Towers ushered in the Global War on Terror, drew tens of thousands of American troops to the country, where they remain today. In Afghanistan: What Everyone Needs to Know®, leading scholar Barnett R. Rubin provides an overview of this complicated nation. After providing a concise history of Afghanistan, he explores the various peoples and cultures of the country and its relations with neighbors like Pakistan and Iran. He also provides an authoritative overview of the conflicts that have plagued the country since the Soviet invasion. Both wide-ranging and pithy, this book explains why Afghanistan matters and what its possible future might look like.

scholarly journals The Soviet Military Plan of Tokyo (1966)

2019 ◽  
Vol 1 ◽  
pp. 1-1
Author(s):  
Alexander J. Kent
Keyword(s):  
Cold War ◽  
Soviet Union ◽  
Urban Environments ◽  
Historical Significance ◽  
The Soviet Union ◽  
Red Army ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Cold War ◽  
City Plan ◽  
The City

<p><strong>Abstract.</strong> As part of its secret Cold War mapping programme, the Soviet Union produced detailed plans of over 2,000 towns and cities within foreign territories around the globe. Some of these maps were made available for the first time in 1993 at the 16th International Cartographic Conference in Cologne, Germany, via a Latvian map dealer who discovered them at an abandoned depot outside Riga as the Red Army withdrew. However, Soviet city plans have only recently become the topic of cartographic research, which has provided some insights into aspects of their production, accuracy and purpose, that continue to have relevance for mapping diverse urban environments today.</p><p>This paper focuses on the city plan of Tokyo, which comprises four sheets and was produced by the General Staff of the Soviet Union in 1966. Street names are transcribed to allow phonetic pronunciation and the plan identifies almost 400 important objects (from factories to hospitals), which are described in a numbered list. Although the street-level detail of the plan is produced according to a standard specification and symbology, it adopts an uncommon scale of 1&amp;thinsp;:&amp;thinsp;20,000 (with contours at 5-metre intervals) and incorporates an unusual and transitory cartographic style in the history of the series.</p><p>In addition to highlighting the main features of the plan and exploring some possible sources, this paper interprets the wider context of the Soviet military plans of Japanese towns and cities (over 90 are known to have been mapped during the Cold War). Aside from their historical significance, it suggests how understanding the city plans can reveal how problems of the design and portrayal of detailed topographic information may be overcome through their unfamiliar, yet comprehensive, cartographic language.</p>

scholarly journals Ethnic Structure of St Petersburg – Petrograd – Leningrad in the Period of 1703-1991

2013 ◽  
Vol 31 (1) ◽  
pp. 87-105
Author(s):  
Bartłomiej Garczyk
Keyword(s):  
Soviet Union ◽  
Russian Empire ◽  
Unique Character ◽  
National Minorities ◽  
The Soviet Union ◽  
National Capital ◽  
History Of ◽  
Soviet Russia ◽  
The Russian Empire ◽  
The City

Abstract This article presents a multinational and multireligious character of St. Petersburg since the founding of the city to the collapse of the Soviet Union. An ethnic and cultural mosaic was also an important feature in other centers of Russia, including Moscow and Odessa, as well as forming part of the national capital of the Russian Empire in Warsaw, Riga and Tallinn. St. Petersburg is a city but of a symbolic and unique character. It is the subject of literary impressions and creative inspiration for generations of artists. In addition, St. Petersburg - Petrograd - Leningrad was the capital of a multinational and multireligious Russian Empire, Soviet Russia, and since 1918, it was the second most important city of the Soviet Union. The author’s intention is also to present the history of St. Petersburg - Petrograd - Leningrad, as seen through the prism of the history of national minorities living in it.

The Role of the Mongolian People’s Republic in the Korean War

2018 ◽  
pp. 97-130
Author(s):  
Denzenlkham Ulambayar
Keyword(s):  
Soviet Union ◽  
Korean War ◽  
World Order ◽  
The United States ◽  
Central Intelligence Agency ◽  
Intelligence Agency ◽  
The Soviet Union ◽  
Archival Documents ◽  
The Korean War ◽  
History Of

Since the 1990s, when previously classified and top secret Russian archival documents on the Korean War became open and accessible, it has become clear for post-communist countries that Kim Il Sung, Stalin and Mao Zedong were the primary organizers of the war. It is now equally certain that tensions arising from Soviet and American struggle generated the origins of the Korean War, namely the Soviet Union’s occupation of the northern half of the Korean peninsula and the United States’ occupation of the southern half to the 38th parallel after 1945 as well as the emerging bipolar world order of international relations and Cold War. Newly available Russian archival documents produced much in the way of new energies and opportunities for international study and research into the Korean War.2 However, within this research few documents connected to Mongolia have so far been found, and little specific research has yet been done regarding why and how Mongolia participated in the Korean War. At the same time, it is becoming today more evident that both Soviet guidance and U.S. information reports (evaluated and unevaluated) regarding Mongolia were far different from the situation and developments of that period. New examples of this tendency are documents declassified in the early 2000s and released publicly from the American Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) in December 2016 which contain inaccurate information. The original, uncorrupted sources about why, how and to what degree the Mongolian People’s Republic (MPR) became a participant in the Korean War are in fact in documents held within the Mongolian Central Archives of Foreign Affairs. These archives contain multiple documents in relation to North Korea. Prior to the 1990s Mongolian scholars Dr. B. Lkhamsuren,3 Dr. B. Ligden,4 Dr. Sh. Sandag,5 junior scholar J. Sukhee,6 and A. A. Osipov7 mention briefly in their writings the history of relations between the MPR and the DPRK during the Korean War. Since the 1990s the Korean War has also briefly been touched upon in the writings of B. Lkhamsuren,8 D. Ulambayar (the author of this paper),9 Ts. Batbayar,10 J. Battur,11 K. Demberel,12 Balảzs Szalontai,13 Sergey Radchenko14 and Li Narangoa.15 There have also been significant collections of documents about the two countries and a collection of memoirs published in 200716 and 2008.17 The author intends within this paper to discuss particularly about why, how and to what degree Mongolia participated in the Korean War, the rumors and realities of the war and its consequences for the MPR’s membership in the United Nations. The MPR was the second socialist country following the Soviet Union (the Union of the Soviet Socialist Republics) to recognize the DPRK (Democratic People’s Republic of Korea) and establish diplomatic ties. That was part of the initial stage of socialist system formation comprising the Soviet Union, nations in Eastern Europe, the MPR, the PRC (People’s Republic of China) and the DPRK. Accordingly between the MPR and the DPRK fraternal friendship and a framework of cooperation based on the principles of proletarian and socialist internationalism had been developed.18 In light of and as part of this framework, The Korean War has left its deep traces in the history of the MPR’s external diplomatic environment and state sovereignty

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