Join the conversation between historians Artem Kharchenko and Yurii Kodenko.
The event is organised by INDEX in collaboration with Territory of Terror.
Childhood is considered one of the most important periods of human life. Not only does physical development take place during this time, but the foundations of the future world view are laid. To help us better understand the process of growing up and maturing in Ukraine in the early and mid-20th century, historians Artem Kharchenko and Yurii Kodenko will share the results of their research.
29 November at 18:00 in the Territory of Terror Museum (45, Viacheslav Chornovil Avenue).
We will discuss:
- Concepts of childhood in the Soviet period, practices and perspectives of different actors: children, guardians and the state;
- Archival sources and oral histories, motivations of researchers and gaps in our knowledge;
- The functioning of the orphanage system in the 1920s and 1930s;
- What happened to children who experienced repressive methods such as imprisonment, deportation, and life in special settlements during the Second World War and in the post-war period.
Through the discussion, we will try to answer the question of whether it is appropriate to draw parallels between the traumatic past and the complex present.
Artem Kharchenko — historian, INDEX Fellow, associate professor at the Kharkiv National University of Arts of I.P. Kotlyarevsky, researcher of the history of childhood and Jewish history.
Yurii Kodenko — historian, senior research fellow at the Memorial Museum of Totalitarian Regimes "Territory of Terror," researcher of the repressions of the 1930s-50s. He is one of the authors of the project "Lost Childhood," which tells the story of childhood experiences under Soviet violence. Yurii is also working on the creation and development of the concept for the future "Museum of Repressed Children."
The conversation will be moderated by Liana Blikharska — historian, PhD candidate at the Ukrainian Catholic University, archival coordinator at INDEX.
