Portrait of the Ukrainian Capital Defenders in Award Documents for the Medal "For the Defense of Kyiv"

Abstract

The purpose of the work is to analyse the informative potential of little-known documents from the collection of the State Archive of Kyiv (SAK) which describe the awarding process for the medal for the defense of Kyiv in July-September, 1941. We determine the reliable number of awardees, as well as create a socio-demographic collective portrait of them. For the first time the documents for the medal "For the Defense of Kyiv" from the funds of the SAK are considered as a source of scientific research in the field of restoring the national memory of the Ukrainians and for the first time as well they are comprehensively introduced into scientific circulation. From decision protocols and the witness testimonies, award letters, etc., it’s possible to distinguish the main categories of persons who applied for awards, to divide them by gender, age, and types of work they did during the defense of Kyiv. The reporting documentation of the awards department of the Kyiv City Council for the period 1962–1992 provides rich material for the reconstruction the image of city defenders, studying the ways of involvement for the civilian population in defence work, as well as understanding the course of the awarding process over the 30 years. Prospects for further studies are possible through the further, more detailed prosopographic and demographic studies, the search for new information about awarding, further research work related to the period of June-September 1941. Personal information about people in award letters is also a valuable source of information for genealogical research.