The online oral history archive Transformation of Civil Society in Rural Ukraine 1920-1930 presents testimonies of 126 Ukrainian villagers from across central and eastern Ukraine who, from 1993-1995, spoke about their lives in their communities during the 1920s-30s. These interviews are part of a larger-scale research project on the transformation of civil society in the Ukrainian countryside during the 1920s and 1930s resulting from Soviet forced-collectivization of agricultural communities.
The villagers’ testimonies offer first-hand accounts of village life prior to, during, and after collectivization. The interviews offer personal insights into one of the most dramatic periods of Ukrainian history which also led to the Holodomor, the devastating man-made mass famine. All interviews profiled in this exhibit were digitized, and the pioneering bilingual online archives of the project was built at the PCUH. This project was developed in partnership with Rodovid Publishing House.
To view the full project, please click here.