Рубрика: In English

The KARAGODIN Investigation (KARAGODIN.ORG) as ‘The Past as Action’

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Karagodin Investigation (KARAGODOIN.ORG)

The KARAGODIN Investigation (KARAGODIN.ORG) is examined by historian Ivan Kurilla* as an example of ‘the past as action’ in his book The Battle for the Past: How Politics Rewrites History.

This text is a chapter from Ivan Kurilla’s book in which he discusses the Karagodin Investigation project. In the book, the project and its author, Denis Karagodin, are placed in the section ‘The Past as Action’. Kurilla shows that Denis Karagodin’s project has a deep system-forming, institutional character, with far-reaching institutional implications for Russian society.

The full text is published with the author’s permission.

The Battle for the PastHow Politics Rewrites History

The Battle for the Past
How Politics Rewrites History by Ivan Kurilla

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Inherited Silence: Russian Family History — the KARAGODIN Investigation mentioned in an article by the Jordan Center for the Advanced Study of Russia, New York University

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An article by Anna Vichkitova was published on the website of the Jordan Center for the Advanced Study of Russia (New York University), mentioning the KARAGODIN Investigation:

Inherited Silence: Russian Family History

What defines post-Soviet family history is not what has been transmitted, like the inherited pain of Holocaust survivors’ descendants, but what has been missed.

Denis Karagodin, a resident of Tomsk, spent nearly a decade investigating the execution of his great-grandfather by the Soviet secret police. He created an open-access website to document the story, identify those complicit in the crime, and recover the case from archival records. Karagodin is not a professional historian; his work is driven by a personal search for justice and truth. His project is part of a broader trend in post-Soviet Russia aimed at restoring family narratives that were erased. <…>

Source: Jordan Center for the Advanced Study of Russia
Publication date: November 26, 2025
URL: https://jordanrussiacenter.org/blog/inherited-silence-russian-family-history

The Library of Congress has included the website of the project KARAGODIN Investigation in its online catalog

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In Russian

The Library of Congress has included the website of the project KARAGODIN Investigation in its online catalog as a source of historical significance, which was created digitally and has never been printed on paper!

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The Russia Guy: E125: Matthew LUXMOORE on Denis KARAGODIN’s crusade in Tomsk

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В подкасте 🎤 The Russia Guy (автора Kevin ROTHROCK) вышел эпизод с Matthew LUXMOORE, посвященный "Расследованию КАРАГОДИНА".

Хорошая интересная беседа. Рекомендуем!

The Russia Guy

E125: Matthew LUXMOORE on Denis KARAGODIN’s crusade in Tomsk

– "Matthew LUXMOORE, a Moscow-based correspondent for RFE/RL, discusses his March 2021 article about an amateur researcher in Tomsk named Denis KARAGODIN who’s spent the better part of a decade compiling archival documents about the execution of his great-grandfather in 1938 by officers in the NKVD. Earlier this year, the local authorities reportedly started building a criminal case against KARAGODIN on defamation charges filed by the relatives of some of his grandfather’s supposed executioners."

Sound:

Сhapter markers

  • 2:17 What did Matt ask Denis KARAGODIN?
  • 6:51 Does it take a professional historian to do this archival work?
  • 9:37 STALIN’s Terror vs. U.S. slavery
  • 11:09 Public opinion about KARAGODIN’s campaign
  • 15:39 Framing KARAGODIN’s archival work as political activism
  • 17:53 Privacy as a political weapon
  • 22:45 Should historians start fearing criminal prosecution in Russia?
  • 24:07 Placing the Kremlin in all this

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The Washington Post вышла с большой статьей о Расследовании КАРАГОДИНА

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Ведущая североамериканская газета "The Washington Post" вышла с большой статьей о "Расследовании КАРАГОДИНА".

The Washington Post

Статья: "He spent years uncovering the Stalin-era execution of his great grandfather. Lawsuits seek to bury the evidence."

Текст вышел как на сайте издания, так и в его бумажной версии!

Автор – Robyn DIXON, лично посетила город Томск (в начале апреля) и взяла почти трех-часовое интервью у Дениса КАРАГОДИНА – руководителя следственной группы "Расследование КАРАГОДИНА".

Пара прямых цитат:

The Washington Post

"He spent years uncovering the Stalin-era execution of his great grandfather. Lawsuits seek to bury the evidence." – [May 9, 2021 at 5:00 p.m. GMT+7] by Robyn DIXON (Moscow bureau chief) – The Washington Post.

"<...> Karagodin, who is working on a doctoral thesis when not researching, is facing two legal cases seeking to shut down karagodin.org, a sprawling online museum recounting his discoveries, full of documents, fascinating historical tangents — and a tab with the heading “murderers.”<...>"

"If Karagodin is sanctioned by the courts, it would mark another ominous turn as Russian security chiefs tighten their grip and Putin cracks down on activists, journalists and opponents such as jailed Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny.

Karagodin’s efforts for justice and transparency also offer a template for others to follow — provided they have the energy and time to overcome bureaucratic resistance. <...>"

“There’s been a murder,” he told the FSB major, asking to see the archive. The major, surprised, countered: “Write a request. <...>"

"Karagodin is planning a podcast to drum up public pressure."

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