The Published Samizdat part (69 recordings), nearly 18 hours of sound recordings was created between 1970 and 1989. These are the audio master files of the Samizdat Archive (‘Archiv Samizdata’). They include recorded telephone conversations between RFE/RL staff in Europe and the US, and opposition members in the USSR. Some of the original tapes however were smuggled out from the Soviet Union and archived by RFE/RL. These recordings shed light on how the Samizdat Unit operated and how the Western human rights activists gathered information from behind the Iron Curtain.
Some sound recordings were transcribed, edited and printed as Russian Samizdat - their AS numbers correlate to the sound files’ AS numbers; while others were aired at RFE/RL within its Samizdat program series.
By publishing and broadcasting Russian-language interviews with civilians, scientists, writers, church people or immigrants, RFE/RL offered new perspectives on the details of Soviet life. These sound recordings reveal what was life like for political prisoners in forced labor camps; for dissidents in psychiatric hospitals; for Catholics or Jews wishing to practice their faith. For the first time OSA makes this sound collection – a unique source for everyone interested in the nuances of the Cold War history – available on-line.
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