Arts and Humanities Commons^™

Shining Lights In A Crooked Generation: The Experiences And Impact Of Soviet Evangelical Youth, Abigail Coker

Masters Theses

Despite facing severe pressure from their secular surroundings, Soviet evangelical youth displayed resilience and creativity throughout the Soviet era, becoming key figures in the preservation and growth of the Russian Baptist church. Up until now, western scholars have largely ignored this story or treated it peripherally. This research seeks to address this gap by examining the experiences and impact of Soviet evangelical youth. Throughout the Soviet period, the content of the evangelical youth experience remained essentially unchanged, focusing on fellowship, service, and Bible teaching through preaching, singing, and poetry readings. The period from 1908 – 1929 became a foundational one …

The Fight Over Ideology: The Soviet Subversion Of Hungarian Culture In The Cold War Era, Mackenzie Vandixhorn

Senior Honors Theses

In the aftermath of Nazi Occupation during World War II, Hungarians were unable to escape the clutches of dictatorial government. The Soviet Union ousted the Nazis only to assert its own control in the years following the war. To sustain its subjugation of Hungary, the USSR needed Hungarians to accept communism. The Hungarian Revolt of 1956, however, revealed Hungary’s deep resentment for Soviet rule. To sway public opinion in favor of Soviet ideology, the USSR relied on propaganda, including statues, that sought to display the USSR in a positive light during the years 1945 to 1960. However, these attempts to …

Uniform Intelligence: The United States Military Liaison Mission And The Cold War 1947-1990, Frank Christopher Ofner

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

On May 7, 1945, Germany surrendered unconditionally to the Allied Powers, ending the war in Europe. As such, the Western Allies of Britain, France, and the United States came into direct contact with the Soviet forces in Germany, which they divided into four zones of occupation. With the potential of an armed conflict over Germany, the Western Allies and the Soviets agreed to use military liaison missions to help foster communication in Germany. The British and French maintained their units: British Commanders in Chief Mission to the Soviet Forces in Germany (BRIXMIS) and La Mission Militaire Francaise de Liaison (FMLM …

Military Women In World Cinema: A 20th Century History And Filmography, Introduction, Deborah A. Deacon, Stacy Fowler

Faculty Articles

From British soldier Flora Sandes to the fame World War II Night Witches of the Soviet Air Force, women across the globe stepped up to defend their countries during every major and minor conflict of the twentieth century, and filmmakers have long attempted to capture their stories.

This book analyzes real and fictional military women's portrayals in world cinema, including movies from Israel, the United Kingdom, Italy, China, France, the Soviet Union, and others. It includes theatrical releases, direct-to-video productions, and made-for-television films.

Chapters, organized by decade, address topics including the women's sexuality, maternal and marital status, leadership skills, actual …

Russian Logics And The Culture Of Impossible: Part Ii: Reinterpreting Algorithmic Rationality, Ksenia Tatarchenko, Anya Yermakova, Liesbeth De Mol

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

This article reinterprets algorithmic rationality by looking at the interaction between mathematical logic, mechanized reasoning, and, later, computing in the Russian Imperial and Soviet contexts to offer a history of the algorithm as a mathematical object bridging the inner and outer worlds, a humanistic vision that we, following logician Vladimir Uspensky, call the “culture of the impossible.” We unfold the deep roots of this vision as embodied in scientific intelligentsia. In Part I, we examine continuities between the turn-of-the-twentieth-century discussions of poznaniye—an epistemic orientation towards the process of knowledge acquisition—and the postwar rise of the Soviet school of mathematical logic. …

Bridging The Gap: Analyzing The History Of U.S.-Russian Relations Throughout History And The Actions That Would Improve Them, Coleman Anderson

Senior Honors Theses

After the onset of communism in Russia, relations between the United States and Russia have been tense up to the modern day. Even the fall of the Soviet Union could not usher in a permanent peace between the two countries, with mistrust pouring over from both parties. Utilizing both primary sources and commentary from subject matter experts, this paper argues that in order to achieve a legitimate and sustainable policy of peace between the United States and Russia, policymakers need to first understand the history and culture of the people they are reaching out to. Using this knowledge, policymakers can …

Local Involvement, Memory, And Denial: The Complexities Of The Holocaust In Lithuania, Hailey Cedor

Honors College

The Holocaust was one of the most pivotal and destructive events in the 20th century. While decades of research have been done in order to attempt to understand the events of the Holocaust, its preconditions, its survivors, and its lasting impacts, there is still much to be studied. This thesis explores the complex and understudied relationship of Lithuanians with the Holocaust. Local collaboration with Nazi perpetrators was widespread, yet acknowledgement of and reconciliation with this collaboration is largely absent from Lithuania’s current public memory. While this work does not excuse the actions of perpetrators or condemn those who helped Jewish …

Cuban Art After The Revolution: 1960s-1970s, Elvis Fuentes

Open Educational Resources

This presentation features Cuban art after the Communist Revolution of 1959. It includes the rise of documentary photography and poster design as state-sponsored propaganda art, as well as changes in the visual arts from abstraction to figuration. It includes a brief chronology of Cuban art in the 20th century.

Voices Of Courage: A Comparison Of The Treatment Of Evangelicals And Dissidents Under Khrushchev, Abigail Coker

Senior Honors Theses

Nikita Khrushchev’s time in power from 1953-1964 has often been thought of as a period of “thaw” in the Soviet Union, as he allowed a certain degree of freedom of expression for artists and writers. However, this view of the Khrushchev “thaw” ignores the blatant human rights violations enacted by the Soviet Union during this time, specifically in its treatment of evangelicals and other dissidents. This work examines Khrushchev’s treatment of evangelicals and other dissidents with the goal of refining modern perceptions on Khrushchev’s time in office. The timelines and methods of both the anti-religious campaign of 1959-1964 and the …

The Ussr And The Gdr: Mutual Collapse, Jessica M. Alessi

Student Publications

The Soviet Union had a number of satellite states, where communist puppet regimes were propped up in order to serve the interests of the Soviet Union. The Eastern Bloc was established with the goal of spreading the Soviet style of government, regardless of its unpopularity. The only reason that the communist regimes in these states were able to survive was because of Soviet support. This meant that the decline of the Soviet Union and the individual bloc states fed into each other. This is examined through the case of the German Democratic Republic and its relations with the Soviet Union.

The Komsomol Experience Under Stalin, Grace E. Gallagher

Student Publications

Founded in 1918, the Communist Youth Organization, more commonly known as the Komsomol, was used as a method for political socialization for Soviet youth by providing a sense of community, activities, and a sense of identity. The organization was also used as a way to bolster the Soviet military and generate propaganda. The Komsomol was at its height during the Stalinist period. Members played substantial roles in the major highlights of Stalin’s political career, including the Five-Year Plans, the Purges, and World War II, giving them the political experience necessary to rise as a new generation of party leaders.

Explaining America's Proxy War In Afghanistan: U.S. Relations With Pakistan And Saudi Arabia 1979–1989, Adelaide Petrov-Yoo

History

From 1979 to 1989, an international coalition led by the United States, Saudi Arabia, and Pakistan sent aid to Afghan guerillas known as the mujahideen. This thesis investigates the interests served by this aid by identifying key decision makers and identifying what they hoped to achieve by participating in the aid pipeline. In the United States, President Carter escalated the aid program in response to waxing Soviet influence and waning US influence in the region. President Reagan’s foreign policy approach, fighting the Cold War in other countries through proxies labeled “freedom fighters”, encouraged members of Congress and the Executive branch …

The Misunderstood Origins Of The Cold War, Jennifer Melton

Spring Presentation of Undergraduate Research

The origins of the Cold War stemmed from the position of competition the United States and the Soviet Union were forced into after World War II ended which created the void of communication between the two superpowers. Without the excuse of alliance that World War II provided the two countries moved into a period of a more pronounced ideological conflict. The reason for this was because ideologically they were at direct odds with one another. The difference in ideology and politics of both countries forced further separation and unwillingness to work together to resolve any issues. This difference in ideology …

A Roundtable For Victoria M. Grieve, Little Cold Warriors: American Childhood In The 1950s, Thomas Field Jr., Julia L. Mickenberg, Lori Clune, Mary Brennan, Donna Alvah, Victoria M. Grieve

Publications

Dr. Thomas Field introduces a roundtable discussion of Victoria M. Grieve's Little Cold Warriors: American Childhood in the 1950s, providing a synopsis of reviewer critiques before the reviewers expand on their views and the author responds.

Brezhnev’S Winter, Nicholas Hayes

University Chair in Critical Thinking Publications

No abstract provided.

Don Quixote In Russia In The 1920s-1930s: The Problem Of Perception And Interpretation, Slav N. Gratchev

Modern Languages Faculty Research

This study logically continues my previous examination of the perception of Don Quixote in Russia throughout the early twentieth century and how this perception changed over time. In this new article, which will be the third in a sequence of five, I will again use a number of materials inaccessible to English-speaking scholars to demonstrate how the perception of Don Quixote by Russian intelligentsia shifted from being skeptical to complete admiration and even glorification of the hero. Don Quixote was increasingly compared with Prometheus, the most powerful and most romanticized personage of Greek methodology. Indeed, “. . . начав юмористический …

Jackson, Carlton Luther, 1933-2014 (Mss 581), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

MSS Finding Aids

Finding aid only for Manuscripts Collection 581. Research and manuscripts for books written by Western Kentucky University history professor Carlton Jackson. Includes some personal and professional correspondence, unpublished writing, and a partial memoir. Click on "Additional Files" below to see a listing of correspondents who provided information about the influenza pandemic of 1918. This correspondence is found in Boxes 13 and 14.

Kim Was Korea And Korea Was Kim: The Formation Of Juche Ideology And Personality Cult In North Korea, Bianca Trifoi

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Juche ideology, created by founder Kim Il-Sung, governs all aspects of North Korean society. This thesis attempts to answer the questions of why and how Juche ideology and the cult of personality surrounding Kim Il-Sung were successfully implemented in North Korea. It is a historical analysis of the formation of the North Korean state that considers developments from the late 19th century to the late 20th century, with particular attention paid to the 1950s-1970s and to Kim’s own writings and speeches. The thesis argues that Juche was successfully implemented and institutionalized in North Korea due to several factors, including the …

Gender And The Emergence Of The Soviet 'Citizen-Consumer' In Comparative Perspective, Amy E. Randall

History

In the 1930s, the Stalinist regime promoted a campaign to establish “Soviet trade,” a non-capitalist system of “socialist” retailing. Policymakers also legitimized ordinary people’s desires for greater material comfort and increased consumption, and encouraged them to act as new Soviet consumers by engaging in new consumer behavior and official efforts to improve retail trade. This essay examines how the government’s mobilization of consumers helped to produce a new identity, the Soviet “citizen-consumer,” whose consumer practices facilitated the integration of consumers into the Soviet polity and the building of socialism. It also considers how this mobilization of Soviet consumers was similar …

Oral History- Dennis Smith, Jordan S. Adams

Cold War

This Article is about Bitburg Air Force Base during the height of the Cold War, it includes an explanation of the Victor and Zulu Alert.

National Identity, Historical Narratives, And The Fate Of Poland In World War Ii, Ziven K. Chinburg

Honors Projects, History

Abstract

This paper explores the fate of Poland during, and immediately after, the Second World War and examines the question of Western betrayal of Poland. This paper looks into why some Poles felt, and continue to feel, a sense of betrayal by their allies during the war. The main focus of this paper is how the Poles came to understand their fate and position in the world during and after World War Two. The thesis of this paper is that Poles define their national narrative in the modern era as glorious victimhood and that this definition of glorious victimhood is …

Effects Of The Semipalatinsk Test Site In An Independent Kazakhstan, Claudia Segura

Faculty Curated Undergraduate Works

The Cold War was centered on the fight for superiority in the international system between the United States and the Soviet Union. The tension between both parties was communicated through their testing of nuclear weapons, as to reveal the power of mass destruction to one another. Semipalatinsk is a nuclear weapons test site in present-day Kazakhstan in which the Soviet Union conducted hundreds of nuclear weapons tests. These tests not only proved to be threatening to the United States, but also to the inhabitants of the region. The grave toll proved to be more dangerous to the people and the …

Heroes Of Berlin Wall Struggle, William D. Bowman

History Faculty Publications

When the Berlin Wall fell 25 years ago, on Nov. 9, 1989, symbolically signaling the end of the Cold War, it was no surprise that many credited President Ronald Reagan and Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev for bringing it down.

But the true heroes behind the fall of the Berlin Wall are those Eastern Europeans whose protests and political pressure started chipping away at the wall years before. East German citizens from a variety of political backgrounds and occupations risked their freedom in protests against communist policies and one-party rule in what they called the "peaceful revolution." [excerpt]

Yugoslav-Soviet Split, Bert Chapman

Libraries Faculty and Staff Scholarship and Research

Describes the political and military split between the Communist countries of Yugoslavia and the Soviet Union in the years after World War II until Yugoslavia's disintegration in the early 1990s.

So We Ran..., Sara R. Bias

Student Publications

This paper tells the true story of a Hungarian refugee who's family fled the communist regime there in 1971. Gabriella Bercze's story reflects on what it was like to live in Hungary under communist rule, and her family's experience in escaping the country, and fleeing to Italy, where they lived in a refugee camp for months before immigrating to the United States in the early 70s.

Chelf, Frank Leslie, 1907-1982 (Mss 492), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

MSS Finding Aids

Finding aid only for Manuscripts Collection 492. Correspondence, photographs, scrapbooks, audiotapes, film and miscellaneous material relating primarily to the political career of Democrat Frank L. Chelf, who represented Kentucky’s Fourth District in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1944-1966. Includes Chelf’s voting record and bills, research and speeches related to his legislative interests.

“‘Gulag’—Slavery, Inc.”: The Power Of Place And The Rhetorical Life Of A Cold War Map, Timothy Barney

Rhetoric and Communication Studies Faculty Publications

In 1951, the American Federation of Labor produced a map of the Soviet Union showing the locations of 175 forced labor camps administered by the Gulag. Widely appropriated in popular magazines and newspapers, and disseminated internationally as propaganda against the U.S.S.R., the map, entitled “‘Gulag’—Slavery, Inc.,” would be cited as “one of the most widely circulated pieces of anti-Communist literature.” By contextualizing the map’s origins and circulation, as well as engaging in a close analysis of its visual codes and intertextual relationships with photographs, captions, and other materials, this essay argues that the Gulag map became an evidentiary weapon in …

The Socialist Design: Urban Dilemmas In Postwar Europe And The Soviet Union, Elidor Mehilli

Publications and Research

Taking a cue from two books—Stephen Bittner’s account of the “many lives” of the Soviet Thaw and Greg Castillo’s study of the Cold War as a series of battles in design and the domestic sphere—as well as a recent explosion of interest among historians in the Khrushchev era, “spatial history,” material culture, and East–West exchanges, this article addresses the paradoxes of the Thaw as exemplified in urban form. It argues for the interconnected nature of domestic, international, and Eastern bloc- level dynamics by viewing processes of the Thaw simultaneously from the angles of neighborhood, city, and empire. These angles capture …

Introduction: Continuity And Change In Russian Culture, Dmitri N. Shalin

Russian Culture

This project on Russian culture goes back to the Spring of 1990 when several American and Russian scholars converged at the Russian Research Center at Harvard University and decided to join forces in a study of changes sweeping the Soviet Union. From the start, the participants agreed that they would not try to chase fast breaking news from Russia -- a hopeless task given the pace of recent changes, but rather would focus on the continuity and change in Russian culture, on the long-term social forces that compel the Russian people to reexamine old ways and reevaluate old values.

Labor Culture: Labor Morality Under Socialism, Vladimir Magun

Russian Culture

Soviet leaders had always taken a keen interest in workers' behavior and labor motives and sought to keep labor morality under strict state control. A complex network of values and regulations was developed for this purpose after the October Revolution of 1917. They were best articulated in the "political economy of socialism" which purported to present a scientific picture of the country's economic life. Textbooks on socialist economy were widely circulated in the Soviet Union and appropriate courses included into a core curriculum for all higher education institutions in the country. Basic tenets of socialist political economy were taught in …