Global Humanities Junior Fellow at Freie Universitaet Berlin

June - September 2014

When Nobody Controlled You: New Articles - New Soviet Understanding 1945-1953?

The question of “Soviet subjectivity” is currently the object of a historiographical debate. What was the meaning of being Soviet? How much freedom did one have to think outside the box of clichés and dogmas of the Soviet state? To which extent was the Soviet citizen a mere performer of state ideology?
The first four and a half years of Soviet occupation of eastern Germany created an influx of new material goods into the Soviet Union. Be it trophy removals (materials and equipment) or the subsequent factory dismantling, the Soviet subject was exposed to a new material culture. Ella Janatovsky’s research project examines the possibility of alternatives to the Soviet clichés after World War II through the emerging material culture.

Ella Janatovsky is currently completing her M.A. in History at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. She finished her B.A at the School of History, an interdisciplinary honors program at the Hebrew University and is Editor-in-Chief of the historical journal, Hayo Haya: A publication platform for young scholars from all ends of the Humanities and Social Sciences on historical topics.