“My Heat Sank Within Me and It Was with a Heavy Heart that I Lived in the War …” From the Memoirs of an Enthomologist K.F. Sedykh
| 15 November 2020
Posted in
Publication of archival documents
Filippova T.P., Lisevich N.G.,
Syktyvkar, Russian Federation
“My Heat Sank Within Me and It Was with a Heavy Heart that I Lived in the War …” From the Memoirs of an Enthomologist K.F. Sedykh
Abstract
The article and the memoirs published here contribute to the subject of the participants and eyewitness perception of the tragic events of the Great Patriotic War. Excerpts from the memoirs of a renowned enthomologist Kirill Fedorovich Sedykh (1926–2006), who in his young age witnessed some tragic events over the course of the German occupation of the north-west of the USSR during the Great Patriotic War of 1941–1945, are published for the first time. The young man experienced all toils of the wartime: he suffered the death of his relatives, starved and worked felling timber. After the war K.F. Sedykh was repressed. Among other deportees he was exiled to a northern town Ukhta (Republic of Komi), where he spent six years. Documents capture the wartime impressions of an ordinary man, who witnessed the war. Introduction of these materials into scientific use enables researchers to sense the period more fully and study it more deeply, focusing on a new aspects of the historical events. The Great Patriotic War of 1941–1945 seems to be one of the most significant events in the living memory. The authors conclude that the history of the Great Patriotic War still attracts its researchers. Knowledge and conceptualization of the war, assessment of its main events and results, the notion of it as a historical landmark is an integral part of the spiritual life of the society. Modern historical science turns to studying the people history, examining such issues as role of an individual in history, assessing the influence of national history on a person and their perception of the historical events. Accordingly there is more interest to such sources as diaries and memoirs, including the wartime ones. Memoirs are a unique source, which enable to broaden the subject of the wartime history by introducing the eyewitness interpretations and changing the focus from factual to personal.
Keywords
Archive, archival document, the Great Patriotic War of 1941–1945, K.F. Sedykh, memoirs, wartime every day life history, occupation, the Leningrad region.
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About author
Lisevich Nina Grigoryevna, of the Department of Scientific Archive and Encyclopedia of the Establishment of the Russian Academy of Sciences Komi Science Centre of the Ural Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences, main archivist, Russian Federation, 8-8212-24-50-14, This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
Filippova Tatyana Petrovna, PhD in history ,of the Department of Scientific Archive and Encyclopedia of the Establishment of the Russian Academy of Sciences Komi Science Centre of the Ural Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences, researcher, Russian Federation, 8-8212-24-50-14, This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it