Memory and History: The Revival of the Cossacks in the Late 20th–Early 21st Century through the Prism of Ataman’s Memoirs

Abstract. The article is a review of the book by V.P. Gromov “Notes of Ataman Gromov” and is an analysis of the author’s plan, structure and composition of information of memoirs. The relevance of the article is due to the uniqueness of the reviewed book. There are few published memories of the revival participants. The peer-reviewed work is of particular interest in that, firstly, it is written not only by the ataman-participant in the revival process, but also by a professional historian. In this regard, the memoirs observe both the chronological order of facts and phenomena, and there is a research moment in the presentation of certain events. The article reveals the structure of the volumes of “Notes of Ataman Gromov”, reveals the most important ideas of the chapters of the book, while the author unfolds paintings of the late Soviet and post-Soviet eras, including the Cossacks in them. The work of V.P. Gromov is saturated with information that allows you to understand how Cossack culture and identity were preserved in the Soviet period, how the historical memory of descendants was updated, how people came to Cossack organizations. The Cossack revival in the Kuban is woven into the sociopolitical processes of the Krasnodar Territory and the Russian state, connected by cultural traditions with Cossack emigration. All this is revealed through many details that allow you to understand the specifics of the era in which the revival of the Cossacks took place.

Keywords: memoirs, Cossacks, history, culture, historical memory, revival, Kuban Cossack army.