If we use social media, we have at least once read about the executed kobzars. Allegedly, in the early 1930s, the authorities announced a kobzar congress in Kharkiv, and then the musicians who came to it were executed. The post about the executed kobzar congress (Kharkiv tragedy) is generally one of the most popular texts on the Internet about the history of Ukraine during the Soviet era and Stalinist repressions. This story formed the basis of the movie The Guide. But is it a real event or a historical myth? What do historians think about the story of the kobzars? Are there any documents in the KGB archives, or could they have been destroyed? Together with the famous scholar Roman Podkur, we tried to find answers to these questions.
24 фев 2023
