On a research trip to Kostanay under project BR24993057, “Fundamental Research on the Main Categories and Subcategories of Victims of Political Repression in Kazakhstan and the Process of Their Full Rehabilitation”
Employees of the Institute of History and Ethnology. C.C. Valikhanova, branch in Astana VNS, Candidate of Sciences, Professor Mukanova GK and Beysekeeva U.Sh. in November 2025 conducted research works in Kostanay.
The purpose of the trip was to identify, collect, and systematize previously unstudied sources on the history of the “Little October in Kazakhstan” political campaigns in the collections of the State Archives of Kostanay Region, the library, and the Kostanay city museum. Prior to the trip, the historiography, publications, and available information on the collections of the State Archives of Kostanay Region (hereinafter referred to as GAKO) were reviewed. Letters to the heads of these institutions were prepared and sent to their email addresses. Publications by regional historians and faculty members of the A. Baitursynov Kostanay Regional University were reviewed. The chronological scope of the study was determined (mid-1920s-1933, including the 1940s).
Upon arrival, accompanying letters and books were presented to the director of the KA State Archives, S.S. Kazybaev. The buildings of the KA State Archives are located in the central (former Party Archive) and railway station districts of the regional center.
Inventories of holdings were commissioned and reviewed, including the history of the Kustanai Provincial Workers’ and Peasants’ Inspection, 1921-1925, as well as the resolutions, decrees, and minutes of meetings of the Kustanai District Party Committee for 1930-1932.
Regional files containing documents on the history of individual localities in the region were reviewed.
State Archives of Kostanay Region (SA KO)
The bulk of the work was carried out at the State Archives of Kostanay Region—a well-structured collection of documents on the history of the region, including those from the Soviet period, containing unique materials:
• administrative reports;
• documents on the work of Soviet institutions;
• information on political campaigns and organizational events of the “Little October” movement;
• reports on popular unrest and protests;
• reports of the OGPU and civilians on personal files;
• files on the closure of madrassas and churches during the Soviet era;
• population statistics, lists of those disenfranchised
* information on the activity of members of the “Kosshy” union.
The following was completed:
• review of thematic collections and storage units;
• identification of documents previously unused in the academic field;
• partial photocopying of materials;
• compilation of notes and analytical notes on the selected files;
• consultations with archivists on the structure of the collections;
• analysis of thematic collections (personal files of communists; purges; files on the creation of collective farms, on local clan relations, on elections to aul councils, etc.);
• systematization of discovered documents for subsequent introduction into scientific circulation.
The material from the State Archives of the Kostanay Region, studied and systematized, fully meets the objectives of the PCF project and allows for a significant expansion of its source base, including documents previously considered lost or difficult to access.
Kostanay Regional Universal Scientific Library named after L.N. Tolstoy.
The following was conducted:
• search for rare publications from the Soviet period;
• analysis of newspapers and magazines from the 1920s and 1930s;
• study of publications from the Soviet era published by the regional publishing house;
• search for materials on the “Little October” campaigns;
• identification of books and collections of memoirs on the history of the clergy and the persecution of clergy.
The Kostanay Regional Universal Scientific Library named after L.N. Tolstoy studied books published in the region on the topic of mass repressions, media publications, thematic collections of conferences at the A. Baitursynov Kostanay Regional University, and others.
A number of sources were discovered, including rare brochures and reports on:
• public protests against taxation and collectivization;
* deported peoples in the region;
By agreement, the following were visited:
• Kostanay Regional Museum of History and Local Lore
• Meetings were held with professors from the A. Baitursynov Kostanay Regional University studying the region’s toponymy (Doctor of Sciences A. Absadyk and others).
Consultations were received:
• on manuscripts in Arabic script;
• on methods of describing and systematizing Arabic-language texts;
• on the evolution of regional toponymy during forced collectivization and the resettlement practices of the USSR.
ORAL HISTORY COLLECTION AND FIELD WORK
The project included:
• meetings with researchers studying the Soviet period and political repression;
* For the compilation of narratives, the recollections of the descendants of victims of mass political repression (respondent A. Amirov) about their repressed great-grandfather were recorded on a dictaphone.
• exchange of opinions on the specifics of the Kazakh economy in the region and the peculiarities of settlement;
• collection of information on the region’s toponymy, reflecting the preferences of the population and the principles of clan settlement;
• identification of possible family archives containing materials on the repressions.
The materials will be used in the preparation of:
• a collective monograph; research articles; reports at international conferences; summary research reports; and digital archival collections.
The collected materials are consistent with the fundamental nature of the PCF and are significant for the development of historical scholarship in Kazakhstan, expanding the source base for research on “Little October” and creating a foundation for further study of the topic.
