COURAGE

connecting collections

The Second Directorate of the Soviet Lithuanian KGB (Fond No 41)

The documents in the collection represent KGB activity in the sphere of counter-intelligence, persecuting various forms of expression of the anti-Soviet movement, as well as KGB work against what was understood as cultural opposition. Until the autumn of 1967 (when the 5th Department of the KGB was established), the 2nd Directorate was responsible for counter-intelligence work in ideology. From 1967, its main direction was the security of state secrets. The KGB continued to use the 2nd Directorate to fight against dissidents and opposition, but it applied a new interpretation: the underground and expressions of nationalism were seen as a danger to state secrets. 

The collection was created in the Ukrainian diaspora by the Smoloskyp Publishing House. Deeply involved in political and cultural opposition in Soviet and post-Soviet Ukraine, Smoloskyp built a communication channel between Ukraine and the international community, making the Ukrainian oppositional movement internationally known. In 1998, the collection was institutionalized as the Museum-Archive and Documentation Centre of Ukrainian Samvydav in Kyiv. It holds the most extensive collection of Ukrainian samizdat; Ukrainian diaspora periodicals; the collection of Ukrainian tamizdat (samizdat materials published abroad in Ukrainian, Russian, English, French, German and other languages); hundreds of photos of Soviet-era political prisoners and dissidents; the archives of several committees for human rights in Ukraine from the US, Canada, Australia, Argentina, and other countries.

Numerous demonstrations were organized in 1989 in Budapest. Nine of the demonstrations are documented in the Historical Archives of the Hungarian State Security (Állambiztonsági Szolgálatok Történeti Levéltára – ÁBTL). As of January 1989, however, the freedom of assembly was guaranteed by law. The secret police observed and recorded the events by following their earlier reflexes, and they focused on identifying the participants and the banners. The photo collection of street demonstrations is the visual imprint of the actions which were organized by the different civil, artistic, and activist groups and a good source on the ambivalent behavior of the political police in the transitional period before the collapse of the communist system.

Punk culture in the GDR developed its own language, music and aesthetics. These constituted an open provocation to the existing system, fostering the notion of breaking with the conformity of everyday life under the regime of state socialism. In contrast to their role models in the UK who championed the slogan "no future", punks in the GDR feared "too much future", or the uniformity of prescribed and pre-determined life trajectories. 'Substitut', a privately run agency in Berlin, houses the most extensive archival collection relating to punk culture in the GDR. The archive grew out of 'Substitut's' numerous projects, including the 'production' of exhibitions and release of music compilations and publications.