Хрущёв и оттепель: Заключение
Congratulations! You have completed Lesson 5.
Supplementary activities:
1. Read more of Khrushchev’s “Secret Speech”. What evidence does Khrushchev give for Stalin’s crimes? What lines does Khrushchev not allow himself to cross in his words about the crimes of the past?
2. Find out what people think Khrushchev’s motivations were for the “Secret Speech.” How did he decide to take that step?
3. Research on the internet or in books about the publication of «Один день Ивана Денисовича». Why was it so remarkable at the time? What did people think about it at the time? How is the work of literature regarded today?
4. Research on the internet about the confrontation at the Manezh exhibition in 1962 between Khrushchev and Neizvestny and write a paper about it or give a presentation about it. Can you find eyewitness accounts from other people besides Neizvestny and compare with his account? Ask your teacher for help if you need it.
5. Find out what people think about the gravestone that Neizvestny created for Khrushchev. Overall, do people like it, or not? What do they think it symbolizes? You could do a survey of your classmates.
6. Can you find more evidence linking Khrushchev’s reforms with those of Gorbachev? What were the similarities and differences between the two?
7. Go back to the page Как вспоминают Н. Хрущева? and listen to the peoples’ opinions about Khrushchev again. Then choose one of the following:
a. Listen for other topics mentioned in the clips that Logunov does not mention. Learn about some of those and give a presentation about them to your class.
b. From what you have learned in these two lessons, can you decide with which opinion you most agree? Write an essay explaining why. You could do a survey of your classmates’ opinions about Khrushchev: was he mostly a positive or negative figure in Soviet history?
8. Complete the Capstone Lesson on Khrushchev: this lesson features excerpts from an interview with Sergei N. Khrushchev, the son of Nikita S. Khrushchev.
You have completed the lesson series based on an interview with Александр Логунов.
You may want to continue learning with one of the following series of lessons:
Интервью с Вениамином Смеховым
