Iryna Ramanava | European Humanities University (original) (raw)

Books by Iryna Ramanava

Ирина Романова. Клеймение Красного Дракона: БССР в 1937-1939, 2001

The title of this book is metaphorical: to imagine the Soviet authorities in the form of the Drag... more The title of this book is metaphorical: to imagine the Soviet authorities in the form of the Dragon, or better yet, the Dragon that is biting its own tail is quite imaginative, especially when we are talking about the events of 1937-1939 in Soviet Union. It is even more figurative to paint this Dragon in red.
However, the idea of giving such a title the book came about in a completely different way.
Many years ago I was very surprised to find in the Party archives a reference to the Red-dragon people, who lived in the 1930-s in Lepel District in Belorussian Soviet Socialist Republic. These people were named as the Red-dragon people or Silentiaries (Silent-keepers). The bureaucratic language usually excludes such figurativeness.
Who were these people?
Why and who called them like that?
All these questions were the starting point of my research. In addition, this semi-fictitious plot was closely intertwined with another – so called “Lepel case”.
It is worth say that researchers on a range of issues of 1937-1938 years come across a story having something to do with the so-called "Lepel case". Among them there were the conduct of the All-Union Population Census of 1937 (and its mass abandonment in the area), the position of the Orthodox Church and believers in the USSR, and, first of all - so called show trials in agriculture 1937-1938, Great Purges, etc. (Roberta Manning, Sheila Fitzpatric, Nicola Werth etc.).
The apotheosis of the Lepel case was the first show trial in agriculture (trial of the perpetrators of violation of revolutionary legality) in March 1937. It is quite possible that any other district of the USSR could have been chosen as the first to be flogged, since what took place in Lepel was a widespread practice everywhere.

My question was – why this particular Belarusian district was the first one?
The designation of “Lepel case” became something of an appellative term. The leaders of the USSR often used it in their speeches and articles during the years of the Great Terror, during the Moscow trials of the right-Trotskyite center. The “Lepel case” became something of a model and cause célèbre across the Soviet Union. The term reemerged in 1958 incriminating evidence against Georgy M. Malenkov who was accused of the organization of mass repressions in Belarus.
In this regard, it seems worth finding out what served as a starting point for a particular region of Belarus to be in the center of attention.
So. Rad Dragon people and first show trial. The same place, the same time. It was obvious to me that two stories must have some connection.
Here is my reconstruction of these events.
... Arrests and convictions in cases similar to Lepel were carried out in the spring and summer of 1937, primarily in border regions. The second stage of trials in agriculture took place in the autumn of 1937 –in the winter of 1938, back then the scenario changed a bit. There were trials all over the USSR.
... Now, during the 1937-1938 agricultural trials, the district leaders were to be held responsible for the violence they used, among other things. However, the focus of all the trials was not the question of the rights and disenfranchisement of the peasants; the facts of their abuse were used to create an image of the wrong or hostile leader and to punish him....

Iryna Ramanava (Irina Romanova): The “Lepel Case” and Regional Show Trials in the Belarusian Soviet Socialist Republic (BSSR) in 1937, 2019

free download in pdf: Political and Transitional Justice in Germany, Poland and the Soviet Union ... more free download in pdf: Political and Transitional Justice in Germany, Poland and the Soviet Union from the 1930s to the 1950s, edited by Magnus Brechtken, Władysław Bułhak und Jürgen Zarusky, Göttingen: Wallstein Verlag, 2019, 336 pp.
The book contains chapters by
Yuri Shapoval: The »Union for the Liberation of Ukraine« (»SVU«) trial: fabrication, mechanisms, consequences
Iryna Ramanava (Irina Romanova): The “Lepel Case” and Regional Show Trials in the Belarusian Soviet Socialist Republic (BSSR) in 1937
Ingo Müller: Judicial and Extrajudicial Political Persecution under the National Socialist Dictatorship - Structures, Logic, and Developments
Wladyslaw Bulhak: In Search of Political Justice, 1939-2000. From the Main Commission for the Investigation of German Crimes in Poland to the Institute of National Remembrance
Joanna Lubecka: German Crimes Tried in Poland: A political and legal analysis on the example of Supreme National Tribunal Trials in Southern Poland
Adam Dziurok: The specific character of prosecuting Nazi crimes in the borderlands
Lukasz Jasinski: Polish and Czechoslovak Retribution against Germany, 1945-1949: A Comparison.

Минский Мужик. Что я видел в Советской России? Из моих личных наблюдений / Предисл.и коммент. И.Романовой. Москва: Common place, 2018. 356 c., 2018

Денис Горбацевич в 1913 году уехал из Слуцкого уезда в США на заработки, впервые в БССР он вернул... more Денис Горбацевич в 1913 году уехал из Слуцкого уезда в США на заработки, впервые в БССР он вернулся в 1934 г. и по результатам поездки написал и издал книгу.

Мір: гісторыя мястэчка, што рассказалі яго жыхары. Вильня, 2009. 248 с. , 2009

The History of town Mir (now Belarus) in XX century as told by its inhabitants

“Where Has Everything Gone?”: Remembering Perestroika in Belarusian Provinces IN Reclaiming the Personal: Oral History in Post-Socialist Scholarship.- Toronto Press, 2015. – Ch.12, р. 256-285. , 2015

Remembering Perestroika in Belarusian Provinces

The Amnesty and Rahabilitation of Victims of Stalinist Repression in Belarus in Destalinising Eastern Europe. The Rehabilitation of Stalin’s Victims after 1953, Ed. Kevin McDermott and Matthew Stibbe, US-UK: Palgrave and Macmillan, 2015, Ch.12, p.221-236, 2015

The Amnesty and Rahabilitation of Victims of Stalinist Repression in Belarus in Destalinising Eas... more The Amnesty and Rahabilitation of Victims of Stalinist Repression in Belarus in Destalinising Eastern Europe.

Улада і грамадства: БССР у 1929-1939 годы (у дакументах Сакрэтнага аддзела/ Асобага сектара ЦК КП(б)Б, 2019

Власть и общество: БССР в 1929-1939 годы в документах Секретного отдела/ Особого сектора ЦК КП(б)... more Власть и общество: БССР в 1929-1939 годы в документах Секретного отдела/ Особого сектора ЦК КП(б)Б /Составитель, автор предисловия И.Романова. Вильнюс: Логвінаў, 2019. 1240 с.
К началу 1930-х годов сведения о текущем состоянии в сельском хозяйстве, промышленности, медицине, культуре и т. д. исчезли из открытых источников. Параллельно формировалась закрытая система распространения информации и документооборота, в том числе - в партийных архивах ВКП (б) -КП (б) Б. Практически все такие документы имели гриф «Секретно», «Совершенно секретно», «Лично секретарю ЦК».
Хронологические рамки сборника - 1929-1939 гг. - период, который историки называют «сталинской революцией сверху». Каждый из «переломов» этого периода - наступление на НЭП в 1928-1929 годах, насильственная коллективизация и массовая депортация крестьян в 1930-1931 годах, голод 1932-1933 годов, усиление репрессий и их пик в 1937 году - 1938 г. - вызвали новый массовый поток таких документов.
Перед нами уникальные документы, которые представляют панораму событий на местном уровне. Документы свидетельствуют об информированности руководства страны о ситуации на местах, об отношении к ним и их власти, а также раскрывают многие другие «скрытые» стороны советской жизни, «скрытые» - т.е. не существующие в официальном дискурсе. Корпус этих документов показывает нам не только ЧТО руководители страны видели, но и КАК они это видели.

Power and society: the BSSR in 1929-1939 in the documents of the Secret Department / Special Sector of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Belarus / Compiled, author of the foreword I. Ramanava. Vilnius: Logvinau, 2019.1240 p

By the early 1930s, the information about the current state of agriculture, industry, medicine, culture, etc. had disappeared from open sources. At the same time, a closed system of information dissemination and document circulation was formed. Almost all such documents were labeled “Secret”, “Top secret”, “Personally to the Secretary of the Central Committee”.
The chronological framework of the collection is 1929-1939. - the period that historians call "the Stalinist revolution from above." Each of the "turning points" of this period - the attack on the NEP in 1928-1929, the forcible collectivization and mass deportation of peasants in 1930-1931, the famine of 1932-1933, the intensification of repressions and their peak in 1937 - 1938 - caused a new massive flow of such documents.
We have before us unique documents that provide a panorama of events at the local level. The documents testify to the awareness of the country's leadership about the situation on the ground, about the attitude towards them and their authorities, and also reveal many other "hidden" aspects of Soviet life, "hidden" - that is, not existing in official discourse. The corpus of these documents shows us not only WHAT the leaders of the country saw, but also HOW they saw it.

Papers by Iryna Ramanava

Песня мужыка, 2000

In 1937, a Belarusian schoolboy Yegor Kolbee wrote a poem about the life of the village and sent ... more In 1937, a Belarusian schoolboy Yegor Kolbee wrote a poem about the life of the village and sent it to the "Zvezda" newspaper. Yegor's neighbors and father were arrested for this poem...

Жыццё ва ўмовах савецкага пагранічча. Беларускае пагранічча па савецкі бок дзяржаўнай мяжы ў 1930-я гг. , 2007

The fact that the Belorussian SSR, the Ukranine SSR and the Leningrad region were the border betw... more The fact that the Belorussian SSR, the Ukranine SSR and the Leningrad region were the border between two "hostile systems" - socialist and capitalist - left an imprint on all aspects of society in these regions. In parallel with the general so-called socialist transformations (industrialization, violent collectivization, defeat of oppositions, repressions) a set of measures was implemented here to ensure the reliability of the western borders of the USSR.

De-Stalinising Eastern Europe, 2015

Ирина Романова, Ида Шендерович. История синагог после синагог // Tsaytshrift / Casopis 2019. Т. 6 (11), с. 22-45., 2019

The history of old Belorussian synagogues marked its milestone with the fall of the Iron Curtain.... more The history of old Belorussian synagogues marked its milestone with the fall of the Iron Curtain. The late- and post-Soviet authorities acknowledged chosen old synagogues as significant architectural monuments and expanded the legal protection over their historical structure and design. In independent Belarus, the reform of economics and made the Soviet-expropriated synagogue buildings tradable. The emigration from Belarus greatly depopulated the Jewish communities and orphaned Jewish architectural legacy in many places. At the same time, the existing Belorussian Jewish communities wove ramified relationships with the emigrants and Jewish organizations in the Diaspora abroad and Israel and largely anchored their activities in international support. The local Jewish practices of imbuing the old synagogues with new life range from the liturgical use through the community’s social, charitable, educational, and cultural activities to cross-cultural events. The article surveys the strategies of perception and preservation of the surviving historic synagogues in the independent Republic of Belarus.

6. “Вынаходжанне штодзённасці: як і што мы даследуем // Беларускі гістарычны агляд, Т. 24, 2017, p.175-190., 2017

Выхад у свет рэцэнзаванай кнігі Ірыны Кашталян – з’ява знакавая па шэрагу прычын: гэта першае ман... more Выхад у свет рэцэнзаванай кнігі Ірыны Кашталян –
з’ява знакавая па шэрагу прычын: гэта першае манаграфічнае даследаванне па названых тэме і перыядзе; выканана яна ў даволі новым для беларускай гістарыяграфіі
кірунку – гісторыя штодзённасці; базу крыніц склалі матэрыялы вуснагістарычных інтэрв’ю; урэшце, кніга выйшла
ў Германіі на англійскай мове. Не меншую цікавасць для
гістарычнай навукі, чым сама кніга, уяўляе сабой гісторыя яе напісання.

Кляйменне Чырвонага дракона. Усесаюзны перапіс насельніцтва 1937 года і яго трактоўка ў сялянскім дыскурсе. Arche. 2012. №3. C. 246- 262, 2012

6 студзеня 1937 г. на ўсёй тэрыторыі СССР праводзіўся Усесаюзны перапіс насельніцтва. Яго вынікі,... more 6 студзеня 1937 г. на ўсёй тэрыторыі СССР праводзіўся Усесаюзны перапіс насельніцтва. Яго вынікі, як вядома, не задаволілі савецкага дыктатара Іосіфа Сталіна практычна па ўсіх параметрах: неадпаведная агульная колькасць насельніцтва, нізкія паказчыкі пісьменнасці і адукацыі, недастаткова высокія тэмпы прыросту гарадскога насельніцтва і г. д. У выніку атрыманыя дадзеныя былі аб’яўленыя вынікам «шкодніцкага правядзення перапісу» і засакрэчаныя, арганізатары ж мерапрыемства былі абвінавачаныя ў наўмысным недаўліку насельніцтва, абвешчаныя ворагамі народа і рэпрэсаваныя.
Сам перапіс праводзіўся як аднадзённы, але ў снежні 1936 г. — пачатку студзеня 1937 г. праходзіла яго рэпетыцыя, т. зв. папярэдні перапіс. Яшчэ падчас яго ўлады нечакана для сябе сутыкнуліся з даволі моцным супрацьстаяннем мерапрыемству: людзі адмаўляліся не толькі ад адказаў на пытанні перапіснога ліста, але ўвогуле ад любых кантактаў з прадстаўнікамі ўладаў. Пры гэтым ні ўгаворы, ні пагрозы, ні рэпрэсіі не маглі іх зламаць.

. Рэабілітацыя ахвяр палітычных рэпрэсій у канцы 1980-х пачатку 1990-х гадоў: асноўныя тэндэнцыі / / Беларускі гістарычны часопіс. 2014. №6. С.10-20, 2014

Rehabilitation of victims of political repression in Belarus in the late 1980s early 1990s: mil... more Rehabilitation of victims of political repression in Belarus
in the late 1980s early 1990s: milestones

Рэабілітацыя ахвяр палітычных рэпрэсій ў 1950-я гады: асноўныя тэндэнцыі і этапы. / / Беларускі гістарычны часопіс. 2014. №3. С. 15-23., 2014

Rehabilitation of Victims of Political Repression in the 1950s in BSSR: Major Trends and Stages

І. Раманава. Голад 1932—1934 гг. і Беларусь / / Спадчына. 2003. №1—2. – С. 80—90., 2003

Faminе 1932-1934 in BSSR

Пасляваенны яўрэйски Бабруйск / / БГА. 2016. Т. ХХІІІ. С. 105-132., 2016

The study of Jewish life under the scheme: the return from the evacuation-antisemitism-emigration... more The study of Jewish life under the scheme: the return from the evacuation-antisemitism-emigration, as it noted Anna Cichopek-Gajraj, greatly reduces the diversity and complexity of the Jewish experience after the war. Of course, the analysis of the post-war anti-Semitism and violence is of paramount importance and the study of the last three decades recaptured these. But also important study how occurred the return of the Jews from evacuation (which, in fact, was a refugee) and their adaptation to the conditions after the Holocaust, how the Jews tried to return to "normality" or adapt to new conditions; what factors acted as an integrating factor for the Jewish community in the post-war years, what it means to be a Jew at that time. The study of these issues requires to attract the individual experience of witnesses. For this purpose, oral history expedition in Bobruisk was held in September 2014.
Jews returned to the city after the others, the preserved house and available jobs were already taken. The restitution issues provoked surge in anti-Semitic sentiment, these moods can be described like this: "They were hiding in the evacuation, and we now have to return them homes?" An integral part of the post-war anti-Semitism was the interpretation of the evacuation, as "fat job" away from the war, which was reflected in the post-war joke that the Jews were on "Tashkent front". It made worse already tense communication between those who stayed during the war here and those who came back.
After returning, each family will inevitably faced with the situation post-Holocaust. However, as highlighted by our interlocutors, who after the war were children, awareness of the scale of the Holocaust was not, it was the perception of the tragedy at the level of bereaved relatives, relatives, acquaintances. As a rule, the details they were never told, never in the family did not talk about it. Of course, it is understood that it was not talking with the children, the desire of parents to protect children is understandable.
In the towns, where used to be "our", Jews, as a rule, no one left, all were killed. Staying there meant to live in the cemetery. Bobruisk became a place of attraction for the surviving Jews from neighboring towns.
In the early postwar years, the authorities noted the growth of religious sentiment among Jews, that the conduct of religious rites to take a more significant size, than it was earlier, that the ranks of believers greatly supplemented by those who before the war was an atheist.
Bobruisk synagogue, in the short period of its activity, had not become a place that would unite all religious Jews of the city (including due to differences with the leadership of the synagogue). At the same time in the city functioned unregistered synagogue. Secret synagogues were not only places of religious rituals, but an important element in the formation of the secret structure of Jewish life. A large number of people did not attend them, but rendered to them all assistance (including material). At the same time, the unity and the formation of a wide secret (and the other was impossible) community life was not conducive to the fear of denunciation.
Soviet limitation of public expression of religious faith moved the religious rituals in the domestic sphere, where they continued to function as a family business, the tradition remained behind closed doors, which, of course, even in the face of secularization and ateisation had an impact on children. Many continued to associate their Jewish identity with specific food traditions. Sometimes children could not subject to reflection Jewish tradition which took place at home and perceived it as obvious.

Сацыяльна-эканамічныя практыкі жыхароў беларускай вёскі ў гады нэпа // Беларускі гістраычны агляд. снежань 2020, том 27, сш.1-2 (52-53). с 91-141, 2020

Socio-economic practices of Belarusian villagers during the NEP years

“Ленин то умер, ему хорошо, а что он нам оставил…» // Беларускі гістраычны агляд. снежань 2020, том 27, сш.1-2 (52-53). С. 199-206., 2020

Дакументы 1923-1924 г. аб мерапрыемствах бальшавікоў і настроях насельніцтва з нагоды хваробы, а ... more Дакументы 1923-1924 г. аб мерапрыемствах бальшавікоў і настроях насельніцтва з нагоды хваробы, а пасля смерці Леніна, даюць нам вельмі цікавы матэрыял аб узаемаадносінах улады і грамадства на тым этапе, калі сцэнар улады (Р.Уотрман) яшчэ фарміруецца і ўлады не ўпэнены ў тым, што на мове таго часу называлася “ўсенароднай падтрымкай”.

Ирина Романова. Клеймение Красного Дракона: БССР в 1937-1939, 2001

Iryna Ramanava (Irina Romanova): The “Lepel Case” and Regional Show Trials in the Belarusian Soviet Socialist Republic (BSSR) in 1937, 2019

Мір: гісторыя мястэчка, што рассказалі яго жыхары. Вильня, 2009. 248 с. , 2009

The History of town Mir (now Belarus) in XX century as told by its inhabitants

Remembering Perestroika in Belarusian Provinces

Улада і грамадства: БССР у 1929-1939 годы (у дакументах Сакрэтнага аддзела/ Асобага сектара ЦК КП(б)Б, 2019

Песня мужыка, 2000

Жыццё ва ўмовах савецкага пагранічча. Беларускае пагранічча па савецкі бок дзяржаўнай мяжы ў 1930-я гг. , 2007

De-Stalinising Eastern Europe, 2015

Ирина Романова, Ида Шендерович. История синагог после синагог // Tsaytshrift / Casopis 2019. Т. 6 (11), с. 22-45., 2019

6. “Вынаходжанне штодзённасці: як і што мы даследуем // Беларускі гістарычны агляд, Т. 24, 2017, p.175-190., 2017

Rehabilitation of Victims of Political Repression in the 1950s in BSSR: Major Trends and Stages

І. Раманава. Голад 1932—1934 гг. і Беларусь / / Спадчына. 2003. №1—2. – С. 80—90., 2003

Faminе 1932-1934 in BSSR

Пасляваенны яўрэйски Бабруйск / / БГА. 2016. Т. ХХІІІ. С. 105-132., 2016

Socio-economic practices of Belarusian villagers during the NEP years

“Лепельская справа: 1937 год у Беларусі / / БГА, 2015. Т.22. сш. 1-2, с. с. 179-209, 2015

Regional show trials of 1937 in the Soviet Union are the subject of a number of foreign resear... more Regional show trials of 1937 in the Soviet Union are the subject of a number of foreign researchers. However, the first of them took place in the Byelorussian SSR in the Lepel district. The so-called "Lepelskoe delo" served as a model for the organization of hundreds of similar processes around the Soviet Union and acted as a starting point for stripping at all levels of government. However, an explanation of the causes and scope of Union scale of the company only Stalin’s attempt to find scapegoats for failures in business and play on the companies if peculiar peasants naively monarchist sentiment is somewhat simplistic. It is not quite right to see it only as part of the repression 1937-1938. It seems that the company has also been an attempt to appease the limitless violence that engulfed the village in the 1930s, to establish control over the local authorities. And, obviously, the peasantry was still a powerful force, which in 1937 in large part remained unconquered, forcing authorities to seek new forms of interaction.

“Жанчына вааружылісь коллямі і ідуць на нас у наступленне…”. “Бабскія бунты” ў БССР у пачатку 1930-х гадоў / / Arche. 2011. №12. , 2011

Rebellions against collectivization and the closure of churches in the BSSR in 1930-1932.

Война миров: знаки, символы, места памяти (Беларусь 2020) // Ab Imperio. 2020. No. 3. , 2020

War of the worlds: signs, symbols, places of memory (Belarus 2020) // Ab Imperio. 2020. No. 3. ... more War of the worlds: signs, symbols, places of memory (Belarus 2020) // Ab
Imperio. 2020. No. 3.

The article is about actualization of memory places during the events Belarus 2020. The new Belarusian politics of memory differed from that of peresroika-era Belarusian Popular Front and the nationalist political parties that evolved from it.

The Famine of 1932-1934

The Famine of 1932-1934 in the Belorasiian Soviet Socialist Republic.