Операція «Запад»/«Захід»: нові джерела до дослідження радянських репресивних практик примусових депортацій у другій половині 1940 та в 1950-х роках у Західній Україні

The main stages of the Sovietization of the western regions of the Ukrainian SSR after the end of World War II are analyzed. It is shown that this process continued to take place using forceful repressive methods. It is argued that in parallel with the military-Chekist operations, as in previous years with the establishment of Soviet power, forced evictions continued. t is noted that the further legitimization of the Soviet regime in the western regions of the Ukrainian SSR required holding elections, while their results were to be used to suppress the nationalist Resistance forces. The dynamics of the application of the practice of military-Chekist operations and forced deportations in 1944, 1946 and 1947 are outlined. The process of preparation and the course of the most massive deportation action «Zapad»/«Zachid» («West») are reconstructed.

The historiography and source base of the problem were analyzed, and it was noted that there is a problem with the anthropocentric view of the study of repressive practices of forced deportation on a political principle after the Second World War and subsequent serving of sentences in Gulag camps and special settlements. It was noted that an important source for studying the experience of deported people in the 1940‑1950s, in particular as part of the «Zapad»/«Zachid» («West») operation, are memoirs and oral testimonies documented by scientific and museum institutions. In particular, in 2018, the Memorial Museum of Totalitarian Regimes «Territory of Terro» launched the oral history project «Unheard». The main task of which was to record eyewitness testimonies of dramatic events of the 1930‑1950s (dekulakization (dispossession), war and post-war deportations, World War II), and socio-political life in the USSR.