Ogonek Digital Archive, from 1923

“No other mass publication did more to bridge the gaps between different outlooks, heritages and geographies that existed in the USSR than Ogonek,” said Kent Lee, East View’s President & CEO. “Ogonek practically defined the social and cultural markers that shape Russia’s unique national identity.”

Ogonek extolled this national identity in news articles and colorful photodocumentaries about everyday Soviet life, while also publishing literary works by noted luminaries. Ogonek is unique in that it continued publishing between 1941 and 1945, rendering it today one of only a few publications available that depicted the USSR as a society during the Great Patriotic War.

Ogonek’s peak circulation of 4.5 million coincided with the zenith of glasnost and perestroika, which it embraced with edgy satire and political commentary. Ogonek continues today as the premier weekly newsmagazine for 144 million Russians in much the same way as it served earlier generations.

With exacting bibliographic rigor, the Ogonek Digital Archive reproduces in full image (including searchable full text) all 225,000 pages of the 4,700 issues published since 1923, including 440,000 photographs. The Ogonek Digital Archive is cross-searchable with related e-content on East View’s robust Web platform.