Thomas de Waal Interviews, 1994-2001

Summary Information

Abstract

Audio interviews by Thomas de Waal and their transcripts relating to the conflicts in Chechnia and Nagorno-Karabakh

At a Glance

Arrangement

Arrangement

The collection is arranged in one series, by interviewee.

• Series I: Interviews and Transcripts, 1994-2001

Description

Summary

The digitized content of more than 70 hours of audio cassette tape interviews conducted by Mr. Thomas de Waal with some sixty participants and policymakers during the struggle between former Soviet Republics Armenia and Azerbaijan over the disputed Nagorno-Karabakh region, and conflict of Russia with the breakaway republic of Chechnya. The digitized interviewees include Dzhokhar Musaevich Dudaev, the first president of the Chechen Republic of Ichkeria, in the North Caucasus, who was assassinated by Russian warplanes in April 1996; Mikhail Gorbachev; Eduard Shevardnadze, then-President of Georgia; as well as numerous military figures, human rights advocates, and others directly involved in the conflicts. The interviews are primarily in Russian, but a small number is in English or includes segments in English. 67 Russian-language interviews were fully or partially transcribed in 2017.

• Series I: Interviews and Transcripts, 1994-2001

Using the Collection

Rare Book and Manuscript Library

Restrictions on Access

You will need to make an appointment in advance to use this collection material in the Rare Book and Manuscript Library reading room. You can schedule an appointment once you've submitted your request through your Special Collections Research Account.

This collection is located on-site.

Interviews are only available onsite at the Rare Book and Manuscript Library, via links in the container list below.

Temporary permission to provide online access for the Columbia Community to digitized material granted in April 2020.

Conditions Governing Use

Copying by permission from the Harriman Institute Director or Associate Director.

The RBML maintains ownership of the physical material only. Copyright remains with the creator and his/her heirs. The responsibility to secure copyright permission rests with the patron.

Preferred Citation

Identification of specific item; Date (if known); Thomas de Waal Interviews; Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Columbia University Library.

Accruals

Materials may have been added to the collection since this finding aid was prepared. Contact rbml@columbia.edu for more information.

Ownership and Custodial History

Gift of Thomas De Waal.

Acquisition

Thomas de Waal, Gift, 5/19/2016, 2016.2017.M004.DIGITAL and 2016.2017.M145.DIGITAL

About the Finding Aid / Processing Information

Columbia University Libraries, Rare Book and Manuscript Library

Processing Information

Processed in 2016-2017

Revision Description

2017-06-14 File created.

2019-05-20 EAD was imported spring 2019 as part of the ArchivesSpace Phase II migration.

2019-09-18 Links to DLC added. kws

Subject Headings

The subject headings listed below are found in this collection. Links below allow searches at Columbia University through the Archival Collections Portal and through CLIO, the catalog for Columbia University Libraries, as well as ArchiveGRID, a catalog that allows users to search the holdings of multiple research libraries and archives.

All links open new windows.

Genre/Form

Subject

History / Biographical Note

Biographical / Historical

Thomas Patrick Lowndes de Waal (b. 1966) is a senior associate with Carnegie Europe, specializing in Eastern Europe and the Caucasus region. He is based in London. A graduate of Balliol College, Oxford, he conducted these interviews while based in Moscow and reporting for the Moscow Times, the Times of London, and the Economist, specializing in Russian politics and the volatile situation in the Caucasus. He is the co-author (with Carlotta Gall) of the book Chechnya: Calamity in the Caucasus (NYU Press, 1997), for which the authors were awarded the James Cameron Prize for Distinguished Reporting. Mr. de Waal also authored an authoritative book on the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, Black Garden: Armenia and Azerbaijan Through Peace and War (NYU Press, second edition 2013), which has been translated into Armenian, Azeri, Russian, and Turkish, as well as The Caucasus: An Introduction (Oxford University Press, 2010). The interviews conducted on these tapes directly informed each of these publications.