Russia

Born in 1989 in Lukovetskiy, Russia
Student (Foreign Trade Management; Russian Foreign Trade Academy)

"The Ukrainian American with a Russian soul" (2005)

Nadezhda Shalaurova's contribution is a study of one person's fate: that of a "Ukrainian American with a Russian soul." The 18-year-old Russian tells the life story of her great grandfather Michael, in the context of the seismic shifts of the 20th century: Under Stalin, Michael was deported from Ukraine to northern Russia; he fought in the Soviet Army in the "Great War for the Fatherland" - World War II; he landed in prison but managed to escape from a concentration camp. Fearing Stalinist repressions against escaped prisoners, he finally managed to flee via France to the USA. Only in 2001 did he contact his Russian family again. In the course of her research, Nadezhda Shalaurova was especially impressed by the realization that historical events such as war, imprisonment and emigration are made so much more vivid through the retelling of one person's life journey: "Suddenly, history was not only a school subject to me, but more like a great ocean of individual destinies."

Nadezhda Shalaurova won third prize in the 2005 Russian History Competition: "Russia in the 20th century - the price of victory."