My research explores the anti-sectarian repressive policies, antireligious propaganda and forms of religious self-definitions which emerged under the influence of the Bolshevik discourse in the 1920s and 1930s. My PhD project focuses on the case of the Moldavian ASSR (1924-1940, part of Ukrainian SSR) and is based on data from the recently opened archives from Moldova and Ukraine.
The life of the religious minorities in the USSR has been the subject of a number of recent studies, but their focus was on particular cases of religious groups. They provided a very general analysis of the regime’s policy and repressive mechanisms. Likewise, the alteration of religious identities under the influence of Bolshevik discourse is one of the unexplored aspects of the religious life in the USSR. My research will contribute to a better understanding of the processes occurring in the religious landscape under the influence of propaganda and repressive campaigns and will cast more light on the evolution of Soviet repressive mechanisms in relation to religious minorities.

A full-length study is available here.