Series Description160 archival containers (159 archival boxes including four oversized boxes 156-159)
In the 1960s samizdat, that is a system of underground publishing of uncensored materials, became an important factor of public life in the Soviet Union. At the end of the 1960s, the Soviet Research Department of the RFE/RL Research Institute started to systematically collect samizdat documents that reached the West. Those documents were considered a valuable first-hand source from inside the Soviet Union and were actively used to prepare radio programs. In 1970, the Samizdat Archives was set up as a separate unit within the Research Institute. The SA staff was responsible for collecting, cataloguing and checking the new arrivals to separate potential forgeries and verify the information in authentic documents.
The series contains registered samizdat documents that were published by the RFE/RL in two collections: 1) Collection of Samizdat Documents (Sobranie Dokumentov Samizdata, 1972-1978) and 2) Samizdat Materials (Materialy Samizdata, 1968-1991). The last registered document was 6617. In most cases, original handwritten or typewritten samizdat documents, in the form as they reached the Radios in Munich, are filed along with notes about their provenance and comments by staff researchers, related correspondence, additional versions or translations of the documents as well as reference material. There are several cases when the original samizdat document is an open reel audio tape, transcribed and turned into a textual record by the editors at the Samizdat Unit in Munich. There are about 18 hours of such audio recordings, relating to 58 samizdat publications. The sound recordings are accessible via OSA’s Digital Repository. The first 3000 registered samizdat documents are accompanied by bibliosheets - a special English language registration form created by RFE/RL Samizdat Unit staff for each document. This form contains the following fields: Biblio (i.e. registration number and title); Details and description; Classification; Index keywords; Cross-references in samizdat; Initial source; Published version; Notes; Sources; Press treatments. Usually not all fields are filled out. In some cases, bibliosheets are missing. Documents with AS numbers above 3000 are filed with cover pages from Materialy Samizdata, listing documents included under their registration numbers. Some samizdat records (in particular, those published in the West before they were reproduced in Materialy Samizdata) were not included in the series, but had a registration sheet filed instead. Some items are missing. The series represents one of the biggest Samizdat collections and contains rich source material on political dissent, human rights, religious and intellectual life in the Soviet Union. The main thematic categories include news reports about the dissident movement (arrests, sentences, searches, interrogations, hunger strikes); philosophical, historical, literary and general political writings; documents related to specific political trials, prison conditions and forced hospitalization of dissidents; religious samizdat; and samizdat of national movements and ethnic minorities.
The series is organized based on the original order. The documents in the series are filed according to their registration numbers, i.e. in chronological order of arrival to RFE/RL. In many cases, however, the order of arrival and the dates of creation do not correspond, because it took different time for the documents to reach the West.
To facilitate the usage of the series, each item was described individually in Russian and in English and tagged. The English titles and descriptions were prepared for navigation purposes only. For scholarly references, please use the Russian title given on the original document by the author or by the SA editors. The tags refer to religious denominations (Orthodox Christians, Catholics, Baptists, Adventists, Pentecostals, Buddhists, Hare Krishna); nationalities (Jews, Crimean Tatars, Germans); social groups and movements (Workers; Pacifists); specific organizations (Moscow Helsinki Group; Russian Social Fund) or topics discussed in the documents (Psychiatry; Disability; Gender; Environment; Medicine and public health; War in Afghanistan). The list of tags and key personalities can be consulted under the “Tags” tab (see above).
Series Description160 archival containers (159 archival boxes including four oversized boxes 156-159)
In the 1960s samizdat, that is a system of underground publishing of uncensored materials, became an important factor of public life in the Soviet Union. At the end of the 1960s, the Soviet Research Department of the RFE/RL Research Institute started to systematically collect samizdat documents that reached the West. Those documents were considered a valuable first-hand source from inside the Soviet Union and were actively used to prepare radio programs. In 1970, the Samizdat Archives was set up as a separate unit within the Research Institute. The SA staff was responsible for collecting, cataloguing and checking the new arrivals to separate potential forgeries and verify the information in authentic documents.
The series contains registered samizdat documents that were published by the RFE/RL in two collections: 1) Collection of Samizdat Documents (Sobranie Dokumentov Samizdata, 1972-1978) and 2) Samizdat Materials (Materialy Samizdata, 1968-1991). The last registered document was 6617. In most cases, original handwritten or typewritten samizdat documents, in the form as they reached the Radios in Munich, are filed along with notes about their provenance and comments by staff researchers, related correspondence, additional versions or translations of the documents as well as reference material. There are several cases when the original samizdat document is an open reel audio tape, transcribed and turned into a textual record by the editors at the Samizdat Unit in Munich. There are about 18 hours of such audio recordings, relating to 58 samizdat publications. The sound recordings are accessible via OSA’s Digital Repository. The first 3000 registered samizdat documents are accompanied by bibliosheets - a special English language registration form created by RFE/RL Samizdat Unit staff for each document. This form contains the following fields: Biblio (i.e. registration number and title); Details and description; Classification; Index keywords; Cross-references in samizdat; Initial source; Published version; Notes; Sources; Press treatments. Usually not all fields are filled out. In some cases, bibliosheets are missing. Documents with AS numbers above 3000 are filed with cover pages from Materialy Samizdata, listing documents included under their registration numbers. Some samizdat records (in particular, those published in the West before they were reproduced in Materialy Samizdata) were not included in the series, but had a registration sheet filed instead. Some items are missing. The series represents one of the biggest Samizdat collections and contains rich source material on political dissent, human rights, religious and intellectual life in the Soviet Union. The main thematic categories include news reports about the dissident movement (arrests, sentences, searches, interrogations, hunger strikes); philosophical, historical, literary and general political writings; documents related to specific political trials, prison conditions and forced hospitalization of dissidents; religious samizdat; and samizdat of national movements and ethnic minorities.
The series is organized based on the original order. The documents in the series are filed according to their registration numbers, i.e. in chronological order of arrival to RFE/RL. In many cases, however, the order of arrival and the dates of creation do not correspond, because it took different time for the documents to reach the West.
To facilitate the usage of the series, each item was described individually in Russian and in English and tagged. The English titles and descriptions were prepared for navigation purposes only. For scholarly references, please use the Russian title given on the original document by the author or by the SA editors. The tags refer to religious denominations (Orthodox Christians, Catholics, Baptists, Adventists, Pentecostals, Buddhists, Hare Krishna); nationalities (Jews, Crimean Tatars, Germans); social groups and movements (Workers; Pacifists); specific organizations (Moscow Helsinki Group; Russian Social Fund) or topics discussed in the documents (Psychiatry; Disability; Gender; Environment; Medicine and public health; War in Afghanistan). The list of tags and key personalities can be consulted under the “Tags” tab (see above).