The "Siberian Seven" and the Global Campaign for Religious Freedom

FAIN: FT-254227-17

Emily Bruderle Baran
Middle Tennessee State University (Murfreesboro, TN 37132-0001)

Preparation of a monograph on international Christian human rights during the Cold War.

My project explores the intersection of religious activism and human rights through the first scholarly examination of the Siberian Seven incident. In 1978 seven Pentecostals from Siberia entered the American Embassy in Moscow. They had endured decades of persecution, and refused to leave the embassy, ultimately winning emigration after five years in residence. My project uses this incident to chart the global human rights campaign on behalf of Soviet Christians in the late Cold War. It examines the dialogue between Soviet citizens and western activists, and their difficult relationship with their governments and society at large. The Siberian Seven demonstrate the need to understand the interplay, exchange, and conflict between Christians on both sides of the Iron Curtain. I am requesting NEH support to fund critical research in the Russian state archives. This will allow me to produce a compelling monograph that reaches a broad audience of scholars, students, and the general public.