On the pedagogical and socio-political activities of the teachers of Donbas as recorded in civil and criminal cases of the state archives of the Sumy region

Abstract

The study aims to examine the fate of repressed teachers whose archival and criminal files contain information about their activities in Donbas. The main source base is archival, criminal, and personal files stored in the State Archives of Sumy Oblast. The article attempts to reveal not only the pedagogical activities of students and teachers, but also their participation in political campaigns of the time (collectivization, dekulakization). The materials from archival and criminal cases reveal the attitude of repressed teachers to these political events. The methodological basis for the study is the principles of historicism, objectivism, a combination of systemic and regional approaches aimed at scientific and critical analysis of a set of historical sources.
The scientific novelty is that for the first time the author used archival and criminal cases from the State Archives of Sumy region to study the history of Donbas during the reign of Stalinist totalitarianism. Also, the author for the first time highlights the fate of several teachers repressed in the Sumy region, whose criminal cases have not previously been the subject of a separate study. Thus, the available archival and criminal cases allow us to trace the activities of repressed teachers in the political campaigns of those years and their political sentiments in the early 1930s. The analysis of the interrogation protocols of the prosecution indicates the pattern and often complete absurdity of the accusations. The available cases also contain information about improper methods of investigation. Personal and archival criminal files complement the available biographical information and can be used for further research and special genealogical studies.