Initiative Unknown Stories of the Soviet Gori by the Cooperation for Peace and Progress has emerged from the project Lectures in Gori: the “Unknown” Soviet Past supported by the HBS in January-June 2015. 30 young men and women living in Gori, hometown of Soviet dictator Stalin, who study at local public schools and the Gori State University, attended the series of lectures and workshops on issues reflecting social, cultural, economic and political life of the Soviet Past.
This time CPP in cooperation with the HBS SC offered its local young partners to gain experience in oral history methodology and to collect memories of Soviet Gori. As a result of this initiative 12 selected participants of the project were trained to conduct research and interviews among elder generation of Gori dwellers and to collect stories that reflect realities of the past that are still hidden in the “patriotic” myths around Stalin’s cult. In the end of the project series of presentations and discussions were held at the Gori State University and some of the public schools thus ensuring engagement of broader audiences in debating over Stalin’s cult of personality and consequences of its institutionalization in public life.
The project duration: September-December, 2015.
