Liudmila Lyagushkina

My article on women as targets of Stalin's Secret Police in 1937-1945 is out in Europe-Asia Studies and is open access! Why were so few women targeted in the Great Terror — and what changed during the war? "Semi-Literate, But Understands Political Issues Well”: www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

Also, my first work-related event since moving to London. I knew researcher imposter syndrome was a thing, but I didn’t expect to feel something similar about London. I can’t believe I live here and am a Londoner myself!

Slowly returning from maternity leave: my first event - at the @ihr.bsky.social, where I’ll be starting later this academic year as a @royalhistsoc.org PhD Fellow. First time in the iconic Senate House building

Yesterday was a fantastic – yet intense – day at the Emerging Digital Methodologies Conference in Oxford. After seeing some snow on my way to Heathrow Airport, I’m now off to Washington for the next conference.

Russian TV is now “debating” whether it was right to restrict access to archives on Stalin-era repressions because “we shouldn’t talk about them during the war.” One question: why this bizarre selection of “works by British and American historians” with “catchy titles”?

Visited the @railwaymuseum.bsky.social in York for my placement at the @sciencemuseum.org.uk There’s a dog named Laddie who collected money for charity at a station. After it died, it was stuffed, put in a glass case, and kept collecting for 30 more years. Visitors still drop coins in it…

The people in the photo enjoy spending time reading through kilometres of documents produced by the secret services, trying to extract any trace of meaning from them. It was a great joy to co-organise a panel on preventative policing and repression in the USSR and Czechoslovakia at #ICCEES2025

Spent 4 days in London at a fantastic #DigitalHumanities & #RSE summer school hosted by @kingsdigitallab.bsky.social. Now stuck in a loop: 🔁 “I need to rewrite all my code!” 🔁 “Must try this new methodology!” 🔁 “Wait… thesis!!” PhD life in a nutshell😄 Thanks to all the organisers!

The topic of my thesis - the fate of "repeaters," or re-convicted political prisoners under Stalin - is becoming unexpectedly timely, as reports suggest Russian police have resumed this practice: theins.ru/obshestvo/28...

Spent a wonderful two weeks working with Soviet documents at the Hoover Archives. Heading home with 3.5 GB of copied materials, recharged by the sunshine and Stanford University's energy.