SOVIET WOMEN AND JAPANESE INTERNEES: AN ANALYSIS OF EVERYDAY PRACTICES IN THE PERSPECTIVE OF GENDER HISTORY (1945-1956)
The article presents gender aspects of the history of the postwar Soviet everyday life. The study was organized on the basis of memoirs of Japanese prisoners and internees who worked for the Soviet economy in 1945-1956. Studying the history of Japanese acculturation in the Soviet society and analyzing their relationship with the Soviet women, the authors show the heuristic value of such an analysis for reconstructing the history of two countries and the history of the Soviet women who worked, suffered and loved about half a century ago. The unusual time (the circumstances of extreme daily routine for the Soviet women and captive men) forced the authors to conduct an analysis of behavioral reactions in an unsteady environment, in the interaction of complex feelings, expectations, aspirations and deeds. The authors conclude that unsustainable and dangerous living conditions (extreme even after the war) made friendly, quasi-family and other social relations stronger; they describe how people, separated by a barbed wire (virtual or real one), rallied and tried to understand each other for the sake of self-preservation. How did women and men who fell into unaccustomed everyday circumstances cope with difficulties? How much did the skill aggravate in an extreme situation? How did sexual preferences change in this situation, and what can we say about the intimate world of those surrounded by the alien culture and hostile people who spoke a foreign language?