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Ah, the so-called Myth of Valaam! This story – that severely disabled Soviet veterans were rounded up in 1946 or 1947 and exiled to a remote island chain – was first repeated to me as fact by the granddaughter of a still-living Soviet veteran from WW2. Her grandfather had fought in the Siege of Leningrad, which is relevant here because most versions of the story involve veterans from that city being specifically rounded up.
Many scholars have rebutted this myth in book and article format, among other things citing the complete lack of contemporary document finding to support it; an excellent resources for understanding some of the key context is:
Note that the myth is enduring, in part because many scholars working with oral sources continue to report it as fact – note, for example, the mentions and citations in:
Because it helps explain some other aspects of the myth, Valaam is an island located in the northern part of Lake Ladoga, the largest lake located entirely in Europe. Pre-Winter War and WW2, the lake lay between Finland and the Soviet Union, but the Soviets conquered the whole basin and retained it after the war. Confusingly, "Valaam" is also the name of an archipelago, of which Valaam Island is the largest. The lake is large, and as I understand it, the Valaam archipelago was not terribly accessible to citizens of Leningrad in the immediate post-war years – very different from the daytrip that it takes today. Many different versions of the myth list different islands as the destination for the alleged deportees.
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Ah, the so-called Myth of Valaam! This story – that severely disabled Soviet veterans were rounded up in 1946 or 1947 and exiled to a remote island chain – was first repeated to me as fact by the granddaughter of a still-living Soviet veteran from WW2. Her grandfather had fought in the Siege of Leningrad, which is relevant here because most versions of the story involve veterans from that city being specifically rounded up.
Many scholars have rebutted this myth in book and article format, among other things citing the complete lack of contemporary document finding to support it; an excellent resources for understanding some of the key context is:
>Dale, R. (2013). The Valaam myth and the fate of Leningrad’s disabled veterans. The Russian Review, 72(2), 260-284. https://doi.org/10.1111/russ.10691
Free access: https://kclpure.kcl.ac.uk/ws/portalfiles/portal/6216820/DALE_The_Valaam_Myth_Final_Submission_as_accepted_by_Russian_Review_Oct_2012_PURE.pdf
Note that the myth is enduring, in part because many scholars working with oral sources continue to report it as fact – note, for example, the mentions and citations in:
>Phillips, S. D. (2009). "There are no invalids in the USSR!" A missing Soviet chapter in the new disability history. Disability Studies Quarterly, 29(3). https://dsq-sds.org/index.php/dsq/article/view/936/1111
Because it helps explain some other aspects of the myth, Valaam is an island located in the northern part of Lake Ladoga, the largest lake located entirely in Europe. Pre-Winter War and WW2, the lake lay between Finland and the Soviet Union, but the Soviets conquered the whole basin and retained it after the war. Confusingly, "Valaam" is also the name of an archipelago, of which Valaam Island is the largest. The lake is large, and as I understand it, the Valaam archipelago was not terribly accessible to citizens of Leningrad in the immediate post-war years – very different from the daytrip that it takes today. Many different versions of the myth list different islands as the destination for the alleged deportees.
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