On November 27, 2024, Yurii Pukivskyi will speak at an online seminar on the topic “Understanding Traumatic Experience: Challenges of Documenting the Testimonies of Gulag Victims.” The seminar will take place as part of the presentation of the book The Power of Resistance: Ukrainians in Soviet Camps (Lviv: Local History, 2024).
During 2014-2019, researchers from the Local History project conducted oral history interviews in Galicia with witnesses of World War II, victims of Soviet and Nazi occupations. Among these testimonies, the memories of former prisoners of Soviet camps stood out for their deep emotional intensity and dramatic narratives.
During the documenting process, interviewers encountered numerous challenges and ethical dilemmas. How should we approach the stories of people who were forced into silence for decades? How do extreme experiences, crises, and turning points shape a person’s future and influence their perception of past events? Do the voices of male and female Gulag survivors differ in their narratives? Which aspects of Gulag experiences remain the most silenced and taboo? Can traumatic experiences serve as a resource? Additionally, the discussion will explore how published oral histories evolve once they enter the public domain. What is the contemporary value of testimonies from Ukrainians who endured Soviet labor camps? How do these accounts remain relevant today, particularly in the context of Russia’s ongoing war against Ukraine?
YURII PUKIVSKYI – Candidate of Historical Sciences, Deputy Editor-in-Chief of the Local History project, Head of Projects and Programs at the Center for the Study of the Ukrainian-Polish-Slovak Borderland at the Ukrainian Catholic University (Lviv, Ukraine), and co-editor and co-author of the book The Power of Resistance: Ukrainians in Soviet Camps (Lviv: Local History, 2024).
Event Details
Date: November 27, 2024
Time: 18-00 (Kyiv time)
Language: Ukrainian
Details are here
Watch the seminar