Holodomor oral history: the peculiarities of oral history sources narrative

The goal of the research is to reveal peciliarities of Holodomor oral history sources through the prism of oral history theory and trauma studies. Methodology of the research is built on the principles of historicism, systematic and structural approaches in combination with the elements of such methods, as source heuristics, comparative, historical-chronological analysis; extrapolation, textological and terminological analysis. Scientific novelty is revealing of the peculiaritites of Holodomor oral history as a historical source basing on the analysis of oral history sources. Conclusions. The article suggests a set of signs of Holodomor oral history, established with the help of approahes, used in oral history theory in three angles. The first sign is tied with coexistence of two spheres «official history/personal narrative». The author concludes that taking into account pressure of the state, caused by the ideological factors, information pressure of the state became visible in 2000s, when a reasonable part of oral history testimonies had been already written; and politics of the state on ban of presence in public sphere of information about the famine had resulted into reverse reaction – rootenization of famine in individual memory. In the frames of block “time/memory” the article separates age and gender specificity. The author points that the earlier a testimony is separated, the more details and social life of a village can be received; about mostly children memories with their specificity (fragmentary, with fixation on smell-taste-colors). The article points at distinctions of female (emotional and family oriented) memories from male (try to define experience of survival of a community, with attempts to provide background of events). The majority of peculiarities is revelaed in the spheres of «trauma/recalling» – five: specific terminology («graze», «to die out», «kurkul», about food); emotionality that blocked the road as a historical source to academic studies and information field; frequent articulation or observation of high traumatism of seen and lived through during the famine; victims as almost exceptional authors of the narrative; unification of narrative that allows separation of factographic core and reflexive component of oral history source.