Alain Blum, Marta Craveri, and Valérie Nivelon, eds. Déportés en URSS: Récits d’Européens au goulag. Paris: Éditions Autrement, 2012

Abstract

This collection brings together the accounts of Europeans deported to the Soviet Gulag, understood both as labor camps and forced relocation settlements. It is the result of a wonderful multimedia project that draws on the expertise of a dozen scholars from eight countries. Thanks to their work, we have the testimony of more than 160 individuals who were victims of the Soviet practice of forced deportation from 1939 to 1950. The project is multimedia in that it stems from a Radio France Internationale series that presented the interviews of deportees and an outstanding website. The latter allows the general public to trace the experience of deportees with the help of excerpts from filmed interviews, personal papers like photographs and diaries, as well as maps and official documents. This allows viewers to appreciate the individual experiences of deportees in their wider historical context. The volume under review is a companion to the radio series.