Research ethics in Soviet memory studies

LTReikšminiai žodžiai: Sovietinė patirtis; Apklausa; Normalization of Soviet experiences; Interviewees’ solidarity with the interviewer; Shared Soviet past experience; Time-restricted language code.

ENIn the twenty-five years that have passed since the collapse of communism across Eastern Europe, an increasing number of historians have realised the value of personal testimony. Although communist propaganda frequently claimed that crime rates in Czechoslovakia, Hungary and Poland were negligible. The evidence suggests that during the latter decades of communist rule increasing numbers of citizens were turning to the informal economy where they were engaging in a range of petty illegalities including petty theft, underground market trading, bribery and corruption. In fact communist-era political, law enforcement and media reports tended deliberately to downplay the extent of the informal economy. Portelli suggests that three main modes of narrative exist within oral history: Institutional, Communal and Personal. As Passerini argues, admissions of conformity or passive acceptance by those who lives under coercive ideologies such as communism may not sit comfortably with their present sense of self. [From the publication]