Investigative Cases as a Source for Studying Political Repression in the 1930s: Discussions in Post-Soviet Historiography

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Abstract:

The article analyzes the approaches of domestic post-Soviet researchers to the use of the investigative files of the NKVD as a historical source for the reconstruction of the causes, dynamics and consequences of political repressions of the 1930s. The positions of the participants in the discussion on key problematic issues related to the completeness and reliability of the informative potential of investigative cases, the interpretation of the information contained in them, the choice of methodological tools for source criticism are determined. It has been established that at the present stage of the development of historical science, the researcher’s appeal to traditional methods and techniques of analysis of the named type of historical sources is combined with the use of new approaches that allow conducting a “dialogue” with the alleged author of the document, which can act as a person under investigation (author of complaints, letters and others), as well as an employee of investigative bodies (compiler of interrogation protocols, reporting information etc.). In combination with other factors, this practice not only expands the research space of the problem, but also shifts the perspective of its scientific analysis to plots that have not been adequately reflected in the works of historians and, at best, are represented by fragmentary information. Recommendations are proposed to improve the effectiveness of scientific research in this area of historical science. In this regard, the problem of limited access of scientists to a wide range of archival and investigative documentation is actualized. It is shown that the removal or “softening” of the remaining restrictions is an important condition for the formation of a holistic and systemic scientific understanding of such a complex and non-trivial form of a historical source as the investigative cases of the NKVD.

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