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Abstract
This article discusses the veneration of Metropolitan Petr of Kyiv and all Rus’ in 14th–16th century Moscow. It focuses on the shifting roles attributed to his tomb in the Dormition Cathedral, from locally developed veneration, to a source of ecclesiastical legitimacy. In the first section, I trace the cult’s development from the earliest hagiographical writings to posthumous miracles included in chronicle writing and artistic representations of Petr’s activity as an icon painter. The second section examines a possible attempt at ritual building for local appointments of metropolitans, after 1448, revolving around Petr’s tomb. I argue that Petr’s saintly image was purposely shaped over two centuries from a wonderworking saint to also a military protector of the city and a prototype of the legitimate metropolitan of all Rus’. Although his tomb did not receive a permanent place in enthronement ceremonies, in the 16th century it became synonymous with the seat of the metropolitan, and played a major role in the subsequent veneration of a correct line of ecclesiastical successors buried in its proximity.
Abstract
After the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact was signed, a new historical phase began for the whole of Europe, marked by a sharp escalation of international conflict and the imminent outbreak of World War II. For Soviet citizens, these events were particularly traumatic because they also meant a sudden turn toward peace with Germany. The news of the signing of the Soviet-German Non-Aggression pact was received by Soviet citizens with mixed feelings. Many of them did not understand why yesterday’s Enemy No. 1 was suddenly turned into Ally No. 1, and what to expect from this partnership. In searching for the rationale for this agreement, the Soviet people were inclined to take a positive view of the pact, and then a negative one. A detailed analysis of the transformation of the public mood makes it possible to identify the internal problems of Soviet society, which manifested themselves expressively in the first weeks of World War II. This study also draws attention to the problem of Soviet people’s trust in official sources of information; to the impact of war scares of the interwar period on Soviet society; and to the influence of the ideas of the world proletarian revolution on the perception of the events of late August and early September 1939. The study is based on the accounts of the predominantly Russian population of the Soviet Union and presents the perspective of this ethnic group.
Abstract
While historians of homosexuality in the post-Stalin era have mainly focused on developments such as discussions about the decriminalization of homosexuality and the establishment of sexology, our understanding of conservative perspectives on homosexuality remains limited. This article introduces and analyses a previously classified medical doctoral thesis (habilitation) on homosexuality prepared and defended in the 1970s. This is currently the only accessible in-depth scholarly investigation of male homosexuality in this period. The article seeks to contribute to the thriving field of the history of homosexuality under late socialism by shedding some light on the rationale for continuing to criminalize consensual homosexual activity, from the perspective of a contemporary forensic expert. Secondly, the thesis, which was based on the criminal files of those convicted of consensual homosexuality in Leningrad (1961–1968) – a total of 107 men were convicted – provides additional data on the previously rather obscure realm of interaction between homosexuals and law enforcement agencies.
Abstract
This article examines the memorialisation of victims of political repressions as part of a transitional justice policy. By drawing on insights from memory studies, it reveals how such memorialisation practices can become a dynamic transitional justice mechanism developed by grassroots movements. The case study in focus is the arrangement of memorials to the victims of Stalinist repressions in Kurapaty near Minsk, Belarus, identifying societal actors participating in memorialisation practices and exploring their values. This study provides a more complex understanding of questions concerning transitional justice, memorialisation, and material traces of traumatic memory embodied in the memorials.
Abstract
This article examines how noncombatants who lived in the Central Black Earth Region of the Soviet Union during the Soviet-German War (1941–45) remembered their experience of combat and Axis occupation seventy years after the last shots were fired. Based on interviews with over a dozen individuals who were children and adolescents during the war, this study finds that despite an overwhelming and annually celebrated official narrative of the war, the interviewees discuss the war from only their own horizon of observation. With a focus on themes common to all the interviewees (family, childhood, and labor), this essay stresses the fact that while modern warfare is a national (or international) phenomenon, it is always experienced locally by combatants and noncombatants alike. Such an examination highlights the complexity of the experience of warfare and how this complexity is demonstrated in how personal memory of the event diverges from official memory.
Abstract
In 1949, Stalin and his comrades-in-arms were rocked by allegations of voter fraud at a recent Leningrad party conference. Investigations soon revealed the conference’s electoral commission to have zeroed-out all the votes cast against the leaders of the Leningrad party organization. Outrage within the all-union party leadership in Moscow quickly transformed this scandal into one of the major catalysts for the last major political purge of the Stalin era, the Leningrad Affair. Aside from informing the start of this purge, the scandal also sheds light on the role that elections played in Stalin-era governance.