Georgian Soviet Archives Opened
Social Science in the Caucasus reports on the opening of Communist party archives to researchers in Georgia. The blog says that a working group is even releasing archival bulletins in Georgian and English. It considers the material stored in the archive of extreme interest as well as importance.
The launch in the well-done Museum of the Soviet Occupation was attended by some historians, foreign scholars and representatives of the Ministry of Interior, including Minister Vano Merabishvili.
Sure, there are various challenges in Georgia, and lustration remains a contentious topic. But releasing this material marks an extraordinary achievement. Many topics could be of interest. How, for example, did officials look at de-Stalinization? How do documents reflect the stagnation in later periods of the Soviet Union? And, countless tidbits: what do the archives show about various international visitors, such as Fitzroy McLean or John Steinbeck?
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