Preservation of oral history. A digital archive of the Holodomor and collectivization of the Ukrainian SSR was created
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The first project was released on the platform of “Great Transformations” oral history archives “Oral history of Ukrainian peasant culture of the 1920s-1930s”. He talks about the impact of collectivization on the lives of Ukrainians. In particular, about the consequences of the Holodomor of the 1930s and changes in the cultural sphere through the eyes of the participants of these events.
The collection contains materials collected in the 1995-1995 expeditions by William Knoll and the team of the Center for Oral History and Culture Research. Among them are audio files, transcribed stories, photographs and archival materials.
“Collectivization was not only a significant event from the point of view of political economy with life-threatening consequences, but also a cultural catastrophe of truly enormous proportions. … In the Ukrainian SSR, it was carried out with the help of mass repressions, with the participation of many thousands of activists. For the peasants, this campaign included: violence, hunger, expulsion from their own homes, confiscation of property, murders, long imprisonment and almost unbelievable suffering of a huge number of people”. Noll writes.
The platform works as an open digital archive of oral history and music for researchers in these areas. The following projects are planned to create the collections “Instrumental Rural Music” and “Kobzari and Lyrniki”. They will collect not only photo and video materials, but also recordings of songs and instrumental music.
| Collage from archive photos. Photo: “Great transformations” |
More about the archive
During 1993-1995, the American ethnomusicology researcher, professor at the University of Washington in Seattle, William Knoll, with the participation of Ukrainian scientists, conducted field research using the oral history method. Together, they interviewed more than 400 villagers and collected archival materials of those who survived the Holodomor and the collectivization of the Ukrainian SSR.
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| William Knoll documents the narrative. Photo: “Great Transformations” |
Knoll collected the records of the expeditions in the book “Transformation of civil society. An oral history of Ukrainian peasant culture in the 1920s-30s”, which was published in Ukraine in 1999.
Already in May 2023, the Canadian publishing house McGill-Queen’s University Press published William Knoll’s book in English with the support of the Holodomor Foundation Holodomor Research and Education Consortium – HREC.
“Millions died directly as a result of the implementation of the idea of collectivization of peasant farms. In Ukraine alone, six million died of starvation, while millions of others died due to harsh natural conditions after being expelled from their own homes or in exile, or from abuse, diseases, epidemics, which were the direct consequences of collectivization… There is no doubt that collectivization in the Ukrainian SSR can be classified as one of the greatest crimes against humanity in the 20th century.” – noted William Knoll in the book.
The “Great Transformations” online platform began functioning in the fall of 2023 as a digital archive of audio materials.
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