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The series comprises different materials that were collected by Oxana Antic, who worked in the Research Department of Radio Liberty, in the famous “Red Archive," in 1970 - 1980s. Taking a post of the analyst of religious affairs in the Soviet Union, she wrote about religions and churches in the Soviet Union, the atheist education and the persecution of the believers.
Her collection consists of diverse documents, newspaper and magazine clippings, publications of the official letters by Oxana Antic to political organizations, authors of religious publications and editors of some periodicals and records from religious conferences and councils. There are a few private letters from those who sent some materials to O.Antic and commented on the origin of the documents and her answers to them. The range of topics covered by the collection embraces particular events, such as the attempt on the pope’s life and the visit of the pope to the USSR, information on famous personalities, say, poets-dissidents and priests, the coverage of the trials of the believers. There are also sources of the general character: various records on glasnost’, religious freedom, clashes between KGB and Russian Orthodox Church, a review of the religious publications in the Soviet Union as well as those published abroad and resolutions of special official committees and commissions on the religious affairs.
On the whole, the archive represents information that could be found in Soviet official newspapers and magazines, publications and commentaries on it in the western mass circulated press and some records that were not available to a wider circle of the readership. Collected together, these materials can be of importance for those researchers who seek to trace the trends, examine a particular case study for a long period of time and/or attempted to perform a comparative analysis of western and Soviet perspectives on various religious issues. It can be also possible to find documents devoted to particular regions of the Soviet Union. These documents are filed on the territorial affiliation: Belorussia, the Western Ukraine, Georgia, etc.
Accruals not expected
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