The Polar Ural Mountains and subsequent Mandalada resistance is an accurate and true event in the history of the Nenet community. In 1943, Soviet authorities from the Arkhandel’skaia Oblast were on their way to collect herders for reprimanding herders who sought to oppose the policies of the Union. A skirmish broke out upon their arrival, albeit brief, and the eventual surrendering of the Nenets resulted in the arrest and deportation to political prisoner camps of 36 individuals. Only two would return to camp.

This historical event of cultural resistance would burn in the memories of Nenets for years to come, and recently became available to anthropologists and researchers through an oral history recounting by several primary sources to the event.

For a full reading of the events recounted, read the source below.

Laptander, Roza. “Processes of Remembering and Forgetting: Tundra Nenets’ Reminiscences of the 1943 Mandalada Rebellions.” Sibirica: Interdisciplinary Journal of Siberian Studies 13, no. 3 (Winter2014 2014): 22-44. Historical Abstracts with Full Text, EBSCOhost (accessed March 26, 2017).