Deze scriptie onderzoekt de totstandkoming en perceptie van De Eerste Russische Kunsttentoonstelling van 1923 in het Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam. De Nederlandse nieuwsbladen schreven niet enkel...Show moreDeze scriptie onderzoekt de totstandkoming en perceptie van De Eerste Russische Kunsttentoonstelling van 1923 in het Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam. De Nederlandse nieuwsbladen schreven niet enkel negatief, maar ook vol bewondering, verbazing en nieuwsgierigheid over de Russische moderne vormentalen. Tevens wordt de Russische avant-gardekunst gepositioneerd tegenover het Nederlandse kunstwezen van de jaren twintig. Sjeng Scheijen schrijft over het stilvallen van interculturele beïnvloeding tussen Nederlandse en Russische kunstenaars. De literatuur richt zich voornamelijk op De Stijl. In deze scriptie ligt het accent daarom op de Groningse kunstenaarsgroep De Ploeg. Uit de casus Werkman-Lissitzky blijkt namelijk wel degelijk dat er sprake is van artistieke uitwisseling, zoals te zien is in Werkmans kunstenaarsblad The Next Call.Show less
Tijdens de belegering van Leningrad werd de dichteres Olga Berggolts door mensen gezien als een symbool van Leningrad. Haar gedichten gaven mensen hoop en het gevoel dat ze gehoord werden. Dit...Show moreTijdens de belegering van Leningrad werd de dichteres Olga Berggolts door mensen gezien als een symbool van Leningrad. Haar gedichten gaven mensen hoop en het gevoel dat ze gehoord werden. Dit sentiment veranderde al tijdens de oorlog, op het moment dat de overwinning dichterbij leek te komen. Nu de nadruk niet langer werd gelegd op het lijden, maar op de aanstaande overwinning, werd het werk van Berggolts meer gezien als negatief in plaats van realistisch. Waar ze eerst werd gezien als de stem van Leningrad, was dit later niet meer het geval. De publieke opinie over Berggolts en haar gedichten veranderde mee met de manier waarop in de Sovjet-Unie werd gekeken naar de blokkade. In dit paper is gekeken naar de vraag ‘In hoeverre kan de Russische dichteres Olga Berggolts worden gezicht als een stem uit het beleg van Leningrad?’Show less
Een onderzoek naar het beeld dat spotprenten in het satirische Sovjet-tijdschrift Krokodil geven van racisme en discriminatie in de Verenigde Staten van 1954 tot 1965.
The Russian Revolution in 1917 brought vast changes to the inhabitants of Petrograd. However it is questionable whether for most people the political changes themselves were tangible or even...Show moreThe Russian Revolution in 1917 brought vast changes to the inhabitants of Petrograd. However it is questionable whether for most people the political changes themselves were tangible or even relevant. By using contemporary approaches to the history of everyday life, this study investigates the issue of everyday problems and coping mechanisms in Petrograd during the revolution. It switches the perspective to that of people who were not involved in revolutionary politics: the Russian-English novelist and historian Edith Almedingen (1898-1971) and the Russian poet Zinaida Hippius (1869-1945). The thesis shows that Hippius, Almedingen, and the persons they observed used a broad array of strategies. Regardless of the concrete coping mechanisms, everything boiled down to personal and collective survival. The comparison between the two women suggests that ‘objective’ circumstances such as social background and possessions did not fully determine how well people coped with challenges.Show less
The period under Brezhnev has long been considered a period of stagnation, wherein economic growth came to a full stop, the leadership grew old, and the dream of socialism became a disappointment...Show moreThe period under Brezhnev has long been considered a period of stagnation, wherein economic growth came to a full stop, the leadership grew old, and the dream of socialism became a disappointment for many. Films that echoed this disappointment did not seem at odds with anything. However, historians have debated over the idea of stagnation for decades and have increasingly come to the conclusion that it may not have been grounded in reality after all. Life under Brezhnev was ‘normal’ for many with objectively less and less to complain about. So then why did these pessimistic films emerge?Show less
After Khrushchev's secret speech denouncing Stalin in 1956, much changed for the citizens of the Soviet Union. This thesis aims to set out a clear overview of the opinions and viewpoints of young...Show moreAfter Khrushchev's secret speech denouncing Stalin in 1956, much changed for the citizens of the Soviet Union. This thesis aims to set out a clear overview of the opinions and viewpoints of young Soviet citizens in 1956, regarding the secret speech. It aims to do so by first of all discussing the events during that time period and so to illustrate how the process of destalinisation started. Secondly, the viewpoints of young people, taken from the primary source that is the memoires of Marvin Kalb, 25 at the time and working in Moscow for the year 1956, are compared to the popular opinion of that time. Thus a clear distinction can be made between the opinions of young people and the popular opinion of the rest of the Soviet Union.Show less
This research maps the development of Russian sport-fishing from 1847 until it had become a highly popular leisure activity in the Soviet Union in the late 1960s. It first investigates the literary...Show moreThis research maps the development of Russian sport-fishing from 1847 until it had become a highly popular leisure activity in the Soviet Union in the late 1960s. It first investigates the literary and material angling framework established by such writers as Sergey Timofeevich Aksakov (1791 - 1859), Leonid Pavlovich Sabaneev (1844 - 1898) and some of their pre-revolutionary successors such as Pavel Gavrilovich Cherkasov, Anatoliy Dimitrievich Shemansky and Feopempt Paramonovich Kunilov. The second part investigates the ways in which Soviet officials instrumentalized the activity to raise health standards and influence social behaviors. They did so by incorporating the activity into the Soviet policy of Fizkul'tura (Physical Culture and Sports). As such, it became tied to labour unions, the komsomol and various other institutions and enterprises which highly attributed to the popularisation of the activity. This soon caused the regime some notorious issues, most notably in the areas of environmentalism and industrial output, which are extensively treated in the third and final part of this research.Show less
This thesis describes the Dutch account of the August Coup in Moscow, 1991. The study focusses on the image that was created in eight Dutch newspapers. The newspapers were full of praise for the...Show moreThis thesis describes the Dutch account of the August Coup in Moscow, 1991. The study focusses on the image that was created in eight Dutch newspapers. The newspapers were full of praise for the people on the Streets and the new opposition leader Boris Yeltsin. Their fighting spirit was linked to a craving for democracy and further reforms. A few commentators remained sceptical. They pointed to the lack of a democratic tradition in Russia and claimed that the sudden freedom might cripple the Russian population.Show less
During the last half of the nineteenth century, major European colonial powers tended to see society as something that was malleable and that the state should act as a ‘’gardener of society’’...Show moreDuring the last half of the nineteenth century, major European colonial powers tended to see society as something that was malleable and that the state should act as a ‘’gardener of society’’ rooting out ‘’weeds’’ in the ‘’social body’’ wherever they are through the use of military statistics, surveillance, deportation and the use of force among other things. This idea of social engineering became conceptually and practicably possible only with the rising concern through the last half of the nineteenth century for the social realm and the emergence of technologies for acting upon this realm. This thesis is about how the Bolsheviks, inspired by these ideas, used violence as an instrument in applying social engineering and the fashioning of a new (Soviet) social body during the Russian Civil War. The subject of this thesis is the Cheka, the first Bolshevik secret police and security agency, and its leader Feliks Dzerzhinsky, and takes as its starting point that these actors might have played a crucial role in the execution of the so-called ‘’gardening state’’ and the use of violence in achieving a ‘’pure’’ Soviet social body in which ‘’contaminating elements’’ have been excised. I will show to what extent the Cheka conceptualised and operated on society through techniques of violence during the Russian Civil War. I argue that the Cheka and its leader Feliks Dzerzhinsky played a prominent role in the execution of the ‘’gardening state’’ that the Bolsheviks were in the process of shaping. Both their conceptualisation in language as well as their violent performances can be deducted as partly the result of envisioning the Soviet social body to be a supposed utopia, that required the excising of unreliable, unwanted or dangerous elements. These elements were plentiful, and in the end, the classification of what was considered malign could be extended to those individuals considered allies of the Bolsheviks, or even Bolsheviks themselves. However, deviations by both Dzerzhinsky and his chekisty occurred on multiple occasions in relation to cleansing society of elements. It is these deviations that call into question to what extent the Cheka thought the ‘’gardening state’’ should go, in its efforts to mold the population.Show less
A thesis about the Wall of Grief in Moscow, the first monument built for the victims of political repression during the Soviet era supported by the Russian government.
