International Scientific and Practical Conference
«Political repression in the countries of Central Asia in 1937-1938: features and consequences»

International scientific and practical conference dedicated to the memory of victims of political repression in the countries of Central Asia in 1937-1938 took place on 31 October 2018, at Abai Kazakh National Pedagogical University in Almaty. Representatives of research institutions and universities of the Kyrgyz Republic, the Russian Federation and Kazakhstan attended it.

The conference discussed the problems in the following thematic areas: «Stalin`s» time in the official and popular memory; Modern resources and research directions of mass political repression; Human destinies in the conditions of a totalitarian regime; The study of the repression of the Stalin period: methodology and sources; Mechanisms and bodies of political repression: a regional aspect; Repressed and rehabilitated culture; Problems of identifying and studying new sources on the history of political repression.

The scientific reports of the conference participants noted that one of the topical issues of discussing the problems of the history of political repression and the history of the totalitarian regime in the Soviet republics is the study of the official and national memory of the tragic events of 1937-1938.

The development of research on the history of mass political repression of the 30s of the twentieth century in the republics of Central Asia is today being focused on the study of local processes at the local level through the prism of the fate of people and their families who have been repressed.

The use of accumulated historical and historiographical material and the identification of new personal sources of the history of political repression of 1937-1938 in the republics of Central Asia allows not only to answer many scientific questions, but also to expand their content through new understanding at the level of interdisciplinary research.

The conference participants adopted the resolution:
1.To recognize the need to carefully study the history of the Soviet past in order to get rid of the legacy of Stalinism and to prevent the manifestation of such methods in public and political life in the post-Soviet space.
2.To continue the study of the problems of the Soviet history of the Central Asian republics on the basis of new directions in the development of historical science, in particular, through the use of interdisciplinary methods of modern humanitarian research.
3.To recommend the inclusion of new materials about people`s memory on the history of mass political repression of the 30s of the twentieth century in educational and methodological literature and the practice of teaching teachers and teachers of educational institutions.
4.To consider it necessary to require professional coverage of events in the history of political repression of the 20th century in the mass media with the obligatory participation and consultation of research scientists specializing in the study of the history of the Soviet era.
5.Practice conducting joint international scientific-practical conferences and round tables in the republics of Central Asia on the problems of the political history of the Soviet era with the aim of further developing professional and scientific understanding of historical events of the past.

Institute of History and Law