Questionnaires of the Society for Assistance to Victims of Intervention on Crimes Committed Near Tsaritsyn in 1918 as a Historical Source

Abstract

Introduction. The article examines the activities of the Society for Assistance to Victims of Intervention in 1918 in Tsaritsyn and the surrounding regions. The question of the creation of Society and the purposes of its work is briefly considered. This is a Soviet public organization created to identify the negative consequences of intervention and substantiate the counter-claims of the USSR to capitalist countries. As part of their activities, representatives of the society interviewed victims of the actions of the interventionists, white armies, and other opponents of Soviet power. Methods and materials. The publication presents the results of the study of questionnaires that were collected in the specified chronological and geographical framework and were deposited in the GA of the Russian Federation. Analysis. The structure of the article corresponds to the structure of the society questionnaires. First, information about the social composition of the surveyed citizens is presented. Then the issue of persons responsible for causing damage was considered (based on information from the column “circumstances of the damage suffered”). There is information here about both specific commanders and military formations. After that, the places where the cases of material and physical damage have the greatest density are determined. The circumstances of causing damage to citizens in the village of Mikhailovka, on the farm Kalach, etc. are considered in detail. The circumstances that caused the damage to the population and the evidence presented by the applicants in support of their words are also considered separately. Finally, questions were raised about the legal procedure that accompanied the collection of questionnaires and their acceptance into work, about the processing of questionnaires on the Society Board, and about the statistical data collected by Society employees in the vicinity of Tsaritsyn in 1918. Results. The article reveals the nature of the work of the Society for Assistance to Victims of the Revolution, using the example of the South of Russia. The study of this issue will allow us to look at the Civil War from the perspective of an ordinary member of society and supplement the plots developed in historiography (such as the defense of Tsaritsyn, etc.) with new information.