Controversy about Memory: E. Evtushenko’s Poem ‘Baby Yar’ in the Soviet Literary and Political Context of the 1960s

Abstract

The article researches the history of the creation and publication of E. Yevtushenko’s poem “Baby Yar” in the “Literary Gazette” as well as the newspaper controversy soon to start off. The authors deconstruct a number of myths about the creation and publication of “Baby Yar” as well as about the sanctions followed allegedly for the author and for V. A. Kosolapov, the “Literary Gazette” editor-in-chief. It is also proven that the publication of the poem was in accordance with the political pragmatics of the supreme Soviet administration prior to the XXII CPSU Congress.