Nikita S. Kurganov

Student of the Faculty of History and Law

Tula State Lev Tolstoy Pedagogical University

(Tula, Russia)

DOI: https://doi.org/10.22405/2712-8407-2022-1-55-65

Abstract. The article deals with the features of memories of the filtration of Soviet citizens during the period of 1941 till 1953 as a historical source and a representation of the verification process depending on the time and circumstances of their appearance. The article reveals the main features of memoirs and interviews recorded and published in different periods of Russian history, as well as the characteristics of their authors depending on personal fate, political beliefs and age. The article analyzes the relationship between Soviet citizens who returned from German captivity, depending on the fate during their stay in the territory of the opponents, between themselves, with the employees of the camps, as well as with the ordinary Soviet citizens. The author identifies the most important situations and events that influenced both the lives of repatriates directly during their stay in filtration institutions and in subsequent periods. They include the image of the special services based on the methods of interrogation (which could include psychological and even physical violence, torture) and the rigidity of the detention regime, various rumors, living conditions, leisure (organized both by the contingent during the check and by the representatives of the Soviet administration), forms of work and professions of Soviet citizens during the check, recognition of merits during the Great Patriotic War. The work reveals characteristic mindsets and opinions of both repatriates of various categories, as well as some employees of the special services involved in filtering. The author concludes that memories are an important source of information about the filtering process. They include the important components that make up the daily routine of passing the state screening, but for various reasons, that are missing from the clerical documentation.
Keywords: state screening, the Great Patriotic War, prisoners of war, collaborationism, repatriation.

Full text of the article (PDF)

For citation: Kurganov, NS 2022, ‘“Every night I had to go to three investigators separately…”: memoirs about the filtration of Soviet citizens in 1941 – 1953’, Tula Scientific Bulletin. History. Linguistics, issue 1 (9), pp. 55–65, https://doi.org/10.22405/2712-8407-2022-1-55-65. (in Russ.)

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