Altangerel
Basic information
Interviewee ID: 990001
Name: Altangerel
Parent's name: Danzan
Ovog: Atagantsongol
Sex: m
Year of Birth: 1944
Ethnicity: Buriad
Additional Information
Education: tusgai dund
Notes on education:
Work: retired
Belief: Buddhist
Born in: Altanbulag sum, Hyaraan sum, Selenge aimag
Lives in: Sühbaatar sum (or part of UB), Selenge aimag
Mother's profession: herder
Father's profession: herder
Themes for this interview are:
(Please click on a theme to see more interviews on that topic)
collectivization
repressions
herding / livestock
Alternative keywords suggested by readers for this interview are: (Please click on a keyword to see more interviews, if any, on that topic)
collectives
five-year plan
tax
livestock
state
propaganda
state farm
To read a full interview with Altangerel please click on the Interview ID below.
Summary of Interview 080201A with Altangerel
Collectivization began in 1948. It impoverished people. The propaganda at the time was that a collective force is more beneficial. But the process was illegal, harmful to people, and there was too much confiscated. Altangerel tells about the stages of collectivization. He tells how the tax system pushed people to “volunteer to join the collectives.”
The livestock taxes were set for five years without considering the changes that took place within those years, such as livestock death. Herdsmen were required to pay taxes on deceased livestock as if they had been living throughout the five-year period. Such taxation became a type of repression. Many people went to jail.
People’s reactions to collectivization differed based on their personal property. Some people had no livestock and benefited while the rich ones lost theirs. Altangerel tells about livestock segmentation in collective farms.
The term “state” began to be used widely. Everything, even the local milk factory, was seen as a “state” factory. Altangerel talks about the private (household-based) lots/production and the livestock that individual families were allowed to keep. He also tells about the differences between private and collective livestock.
He talks about the different kinds of the propaganda. Most was carried out by the state officials by going to individual families' gers and by talking to people. Then, he tells about the breakdown of collectives, the reasons and the time frame of the events. The collectives became state farms since the 1960s thus the state took over the collective property.
