Refleksijas par vēsturi Ēvalda Vilka stāstos “Divpadsmit kilometri” un “Pusnakts stundā”

The study analyses reflections on the meaning and possibilities of historical research in the stories Twelve Kilometers and In the Midnight Hour written and published by Latvian writer Ēvalds Vilks in the 1960s. Depicting various events in Latvia during the World War II (Holocaust in rural area at the level of micro-history) and the Soviet policies in Latvia during the Stalinist period, Vilks used certain literary plots on the responsibility of an individual in existential situations during significant historical changes. Both the stories and their reception in public were significantly influenced by author’s biography and the general context of the era. Despite the limitations imposed by censorship, the literary text enabled Vilks to avoid the schematic Soviet concept of history in these stories, contrasting it with the idea of exploring past as a moral duty that forms the basis for writing history. This approach makes Vilks’ prose an important source of history of the Soviet occupation period of Latvia.