Оттепель · 1953–1964

The Thaw

해빙

The name given to the period of relaxed political and cultural controls in the Soviet Union from Stalin's death (1953) to Khrushchev's ouster (1964), coined after Ilya Ehrenburg's 1954 novel The Thaw (Оттепель). It was marked by the dissolution of the Gulag, release of political prisoners, loosened censorship, and opening to foreign culture. Punctuated by recurring 'freezes' (the 1956 suppression of the Hungarian uprising, the 1958 persecution of Boris Pasternak, and the 1962 Manege exhibition crackdown) it nevertheless etched into Soviet consciousness an awareness of the limits of liberalization.

Related people

Ilya Ehrenburg Nikita Khrushchev

Related historical events

Sources

  1. Wikipedia (RU) Russian Wikipedia: comprehensive article on the Khrushchev Thaw, its periodization, cultural and political dimensions, and the origin of the term from Ehrenburg's novel.
  2. Wikipedia (EN) English Wikipedia: covers the thaw's genesis in the post-Stalin power struggle, key events (Secret Speech, release of Gulag prisoners, cultural liberalization), and the Brezhnev-era reversal.
  3. carnegieendowment.org Carnegie Endowment/Politika (Andrei Kolesnikov, 2023): analyzes Sergei Chuprinin's three-volume chronicle of the thaw; describes the period as 'soft totalitarianism,' a time of contradictions where liberalization and repression coexisted, and argues the thaw 'freed the minds of Soviet people' and paved the way for Gorbachev's reforms.
  4. newworldencyclopedia.org New World Encyclopedia: entry detailing the thaw's background, cultural openness, social reforms, and lasting impact on Soviet society.
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