Pürevjav
Basic information
Interviewee ID: 990002
Name: Pürevjav
Parent's name: Tserendorj
Ovog: [blank]
Sex: m
Year of Birth: 1927
Ethnicity: Halh
Additional Information
Education: higher
Notes on education:
Work: retired
Belief: Buddhist
Born in: Yosonzüil sum, Övörhangai aimag
Lives in: [None Given] sum (or part of UB), Ulaanbaatar aimag
Mother's profession: herder
Father's profession: herder, hunter, worker
Themes for this interview are:
(Please click on a theme to see more interviews on that topic)
education / cultural production
collectivization
industrialization
privatization
environment
Alternative keywords suggested by readers for this interview are: (Please click on a keyword to see more interviews, if any, on that topic)
school
officer school
Internal Ministry School
Battle of Halh Gol
industrial center
repression
torture
collective farm
commune
collectivization
Ulaanbaatar
work
bridges
democratization
family
divorce
To read a full interview with Pürevjav please click on the Interview ID below.
Summary of Interview 080301A with Pürevjav
The interview is about life history, and also includes history of the country. The interviewer moved to Ulaanbaatar when he was a small child in the 1930s. He tells about his elementary school, the games children played at that time (Piling up, Scarf drop, Lapto, Pig, money, knucklebones), and how they prepared for parades for the celebration of the Anniversary of the October Revolution and May First.
After elementary school he went to the ‘Sukhbaatar school', a type of military academy that trained military officers. There was also an Ministry of Internal Affairs school that prepared secret (state) agents. Pürevjav tells about the repressions in the 1930s and later, and in particular the Laagan affair and Malt’s affair. Some events took place in the Green Round, the old theatre which was also used as for government meetings. The Ministry of Internal Affairs used torture in their interrogations, especially, at night. The repressed remained quiet about what had happened, even in the 1970s and 1980s; people were too cautious.
During cultural campaigns family altars were not necessarily destroyed.
During the Battle of Khalha River (Halhyn Gol, in 1939 - WWII), goods were scarce and all the factories produced goods, especially, clothes, for the Army.
The Officer’s School had some of the best supplies. After serving in the army, he went to work for a State farm in the countryside. State farms received some of the best supplies. Collectivization, in general was mechanization (machinization) of livestock breeding. Communes and collectives were two different establishments. People were forced to join the communes but not the collectives.
Tells the history of Ulaanbaatar, the building of Selbe and Zaisan bridges by prisoners. In terms of work, he worked in many places, which debunks the established assumption that socialism gave people a secure and stable job.
Pürevjav discusses what he sees as the main advantages of democratization. There has been changes in family and divorce rate. Divorce, for instance, was difficult during socialism. But it became prevalent and easy after socialism.
