Tales of repression and informers in the White Sea region

Abstract

The archival and field materials collected on the Summer and Winter shores of the White Sea are published in this essay. Narratives about informers and reporting on others - the practice that existed not only in large cities of the USSR but in rural communities as well - are analyzed. The tales of how the Soviet regime affected the life of Pomor villages can be categorized into several thematic groups: narratives about bans on religious practices, about punishment for political statements, and about reporting. The author demonstrates how the peasants reacted to interventions from the state, and how the primary emotion was fear and the primary reaction was silence