Documentary complexes about Don Ostarbeiters in regional archives: a case study of complex source characteristics

Introduction. The article characterizes the research problem associated with the systemic assessment of the source base, allowing to reconstruct the forced deportation of “Eastern workers” from the occupied territory of the Rostov region to the Third Reich. A significant volume of retrospective documentary information characterizing the problems in focus is located in regional archives and is consistently introduced into scientific circulation. At present, a relevant task is a comprehensive generalization of heuristic results that determine the possible prospects of epistemological practice. Materials and Methods. The empirical foundation of the study was formed by documentary complexes of the State Archives of the Rostov Region, including the Taganrog branch, the Center for Documentation of Contemporary History of the Rostov Region, the Center for Storage of Archival Documents in Shakhty, Rostov Region. The methodological basis of the research practice was determined by traditional heuristic approaches focused on a systemic search for retrospective documentary information. Analysis. The research allowed clarifying the general composition and substantive characteristics of differentiated documents reflecting significant events of total genocide of the peaceful Soviet population during the Great Patriotic War. In regional archives of the Rostov region there are documentary complexes characterizing various aspects of the targeted deportation of local residents for forced labor in Germany and used in the research practice of domestic and foreign historians. Results. The analysis allowed forming a holistic idea of the epistemological potential of the sources under consideration, determined by both the actual number and the species diversity of the presented documents. The modern trend of scientific study of selected documentary complexes is determined by a kind of microhistorical turn, allowing focusing on specific images of individuals who became innocent victims of the criminal policy of the Nazi occupation authorities.