“The War Cannot Be Understood, It Must Be Felt”: 36 Days of Occupation of Novyi Bilous Village, Chernihiv Region (February 24 — April 1, 2022)
(record and publication by S. Makhovska)
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.15407/uhj2023.04.043%20Keywords:
Russia’s war against Ukraine, oral history, occupation, survival strategies, war every day life, Chernihivshchyna (Chernihiv region), Novyi Bilous villageAbstract
The purpose is to supplement the source base on Russian war crimes in Ukraine, specifically regarding the occupation and massive enemy attacks in the Novyi Bilous village, Chernihiv District, Chernihiv Region. After evacuating from Chernihiv to the village, the respondent and her son fell into a 36-day occupation. During the occupation, she had to look for new survival strategies.
The main research method was interviewing the informant using three pre-developed questionnaires that thematically covered the peculiarities of everyday life of Ukrainians in the context of active hostilities, evacuation, and occupation.
The scientific novelty lies in the partial access and introduction into scientific circulation of new oral historical stories about the occupation of the Chernihiv Region in the first months of the Russo-Ukrainian war.
Conclusions. The recorded testimonies are an important part of the source base of the modern history of Ukraine, which covers the peculiarities of life support and everyday life of the civilian population of Chernihiv and the Chernihiv Region.
