Russkii Arkhiv

130-135

Authors: Ekaterina A. Bobrik

The publication contains several documents that make it possible to trace the chain of bureaucratic changes in the legislative regulation of the life of highlanders prisoners of war during the Caucasian War.The issue that has been most acutely raised in the article has risen in recent years of the war, despite the tens of thousands of prisoners of war across the country. All the documents are part of a large-scale project to change the legal basis of the ability of mountain natives to return to their homeland. According to the sources, the main stumbling block was religious and ethnic affiliation. For the first time, these sources reveal new details about how the Russian government addressed one of the most important issues of the Great Caucasus War.

148-159

Authors: Igor O. Tumentsev, Alexander L. Kleitman

This publication is a continuation of the testing of the source in the framework of the project of preparing the entire text of the memoirs of the constructor I.A. Makhanov for scientific publication. As a Bolshevik-Leninist, faced in 1940 with the order that reigned in the Gulag, the memoirist was deeply shocked by what he saw. He came to the conclusion that the Leninist penitentiary system, based on the re-education of people who committed crimes by working in labor camps and communes, was transformed by the Stalinists into Gulag concentration camps similar to the fascist ones. These camps were based on the very real slave labor of prisoners and aimed to destroy political opponents-Leninists through their disposal “in the Stalin’s dump”. The criminals held in the camps were considered by the camp administration as lumpens – an element that was socially close to the proletariat and were used for secret reprisals of political prisoners. Makhanov showed how the Stalinist regime turned normal people into criminals and found that, despite everything, many of them remain human and in other circumstances could have become full-fledged members of socialist society. The memoirs contain new information about the death of V.E. Meerhold's wife, actress Z. Reich.

185-199

Authors: Nicholas W. Mitiukov, Anatoly N. Loshkarev, Olga A. Nelzina

In this work, the publications of the newspaper of the city of Votkinsk “Leninsky Put’” of 1950-1960, dedicated to the river transport of the city, were selected. This is the decade of the heyday of the work of the Office of Small Rivers under the Council of Ministers of the Udmurt ASSR, which is practically not reflected in archival documents. Thanks to the newspaper, it becomes possible to clarify a number of facts about the biography of the Votkinsk courts that are absent in other sources. So the steamboats of the Votkinsk timber industry enterprise “Azin” and “Oktiabr’”, according to newspaper information, were reliably operated until 1960. Perhaps, “Oktiabr’” in 1959 was taken to the reserve for technical reasons and was not used more actively. The boat “Volna” of the Votkinsk operational office in 1960 was transferred to the disposal of the Votkinsk club of young sailors. This fact was also not reflected in office's documents. During the indicated period, three farms of the Votkinsk pond had their own fleet: plant No. 235, Votkinsk timber industry enterprise and Votkinsk operational office. There is practically no information about the fleet of the defense plant No. 235 in the newspaper's publications. The timber industry fleet is mainly mentioned in the light of the fulfillment of the logging plan, with both critical and approving assessments. But in publications about the Votkinsk operational office, critical notes prevail. The appearance of new ships of the office, as a rule, on the pages of the newspaper remains unreported, which may indicate the low popularity of this type of transport among the town dwellers. But the appearance in 1957 of the large (by the standards of Votkinsk) motor ship “Pobeda” leads to a significant increase in the popularity of the office. The boat becomes the object of literary sketches and photo sketches. In general, the newspaper “Leninsky Put’” is a valuable source on the water transport of Votkinsk, which makes it possible to significantly supplement and expand the understanding of the work of Votkinsk river workers.

19-33

Authors: Vladimir I. Afanasenko

The influence of abnormal natural factors on the results of the Sivash offensive operation in November-December 1943 is not enough studied issue. The natural features of the theater of the operation is unique. Sivash is the largest (130 km) Bay of the sea of Azov, with a swampy, muddy bottom and low depths. Surging winds abruptly and suddenly change the depth, and waves of up to 10 points and have a huge destructive force. The German command did not take into account the experience of the Red Army when crossing the “rotten sea”, which was a name of the Sivash, at the final stage of the Russian Civil War, in November 1920, and did not organize a defensive position on the Crimean coast of the Sivash Bay. Crossing the salt lake in harsh winter conditions under the influence of enemy aircraft and artillery led to significant losses of Soviet troops in manpower and military equipment. The scale of damage caused by abnormal natural factors on the results of the Sivash offensive operation in November-December 1943 requires further detailed investigation.

46-53

Authors: Nikita S. Shubin

Recording the memories of the participants and eyewitnesses of the Great Patriotic War is one of the most important ways to preserve a historical memory. These materials are valuable historical sources that allow us to analyze the perception of war by Russian society. These issues are not reflected in official documents, which historians traditionally refer to. However, the possibilities of recording memories of the war are steadily declining. The last generation of direct witnesses of the war are people who survived it in childhood. But they are becoming less and less. The author of the memoirs, Valentin Matveevich Shubin, was born in 1937. At the age of 5, he became an eyewitness to the Nazi occupation of the city of Salsk, Rostov Region. Obviously, the basis of his story about the war and occupation is not only his own memories, but the information received in the family from his parents. Before the interview, was set the goal to find out how the city itself changed during the occupation and the living conditions of the people living in it. During the interview with the respondent, questions were raised about the everyday life of the population, relations within the family between relatives and with representatives of the occupying forces, and the various fates of people who found themselves in the war.

75-83

Authors: Nicholas W. Mitiukov

In the collections of the archive of the museum of the Votkinsk machine building plant there is a “Vorotov folder” containing drawings, photographs, letters and other documents, that are a valuable source on the history of Votkinsk’s shipbuilding. The article deals with the introduction into scientific circulation and analysis of one of the documents from the “Vorotov folder” – the “Vorotov list”, which is an inventory of the products of the shipbuilding department of the Votkinsk plant, apparently written in the 1970s. After analysis, the author made a conjecture that the “Vorotov list” was composed of at least three original lists. One of them probably represents the lost paperwork, another has unintentional errors from obviously oral sources. Thus, the use of the “Vorotov list” as a source on the history of Votkinsk shipbuilding should be accompanied by serious criticism.

104-113

Authors: Olga M. Morozova

Historical and revolutionary memories have always been at the forefront of political and scientific criticism. Their use is associated with the need to overcome not only the subjectivity of the author, but also inaccuracies and gaps in the narrative. At the same time, this type of historical sources has great potential for understanding the past, since it can go beyond the usual set of facts, official discourse, and traditional interpretations. Storchakov’s speech at the evening of memoirs of the participants of the Civil War at the Club of Political Convicts on October 11, 1931 in Dnepropetrovsk became the subject of research and interpretation with the involvement of other sources – participants in events, synchronous documents, as well as reference materials.