Collectivization on the territory of the Sharkovshchina district

Abstract

The text presents the results of the research conducted in 2016, 2017 and 2018 in the Sharkovshchina district of the Vitebsk region. Western Vitebsk region is a part of the modern Vitebsk region, during the interwar period it was a part of Poland. Memories of the postwar reality of the inhabitants of the West Belarussian region of modern Belarus have their own specifics. The return to peaceful life took place against the backdrop of not only overcoming the postwar devastation, but also the continuing sovietization of the region. The attitude towards the implementation of collectivization, the religious and cultural policies of the Soviet government – it all was reflected in the memories of the inhabitants of the region and also in the official documents of those years. The article is written on the basis of oral sources of narrators (mostly interviewees were born in the late 1920s and 1930s) and archival documents, which contain materials about the process of collectivization.