Lecture: Confronting a Difficult Past in the USSR and Russia — Did We Ever Have a Chance?

How did the state turn terror into a tool of governance?

Why did the Thaw era become a time for searching a language to speak about state terror, and why did it ultimately fail?

How did the memory of repression go underground?

What were the scale and significance of the dissident movement in the USSR?

How were the foundations of collective identity in Soviet society dismantled during the Perestroika era?

What was the essence of the “doctrine of total continuity” of Russian power in the 2000s?

Why did a “memory inflammation” occur in Russian society in the 2010s, and how did history begin to replace politics?