Final answer:
In George Orwell's '1984,' individuals vanish from the Ministry of Truth as part of the Party's efforts to control and rewrite history. This reflects real historical actions taken in Stalin's Russia, where out-of-favor individuals were erased from records.
Step-by-step explanation:
In George Orwell's 1984, set in a dystopian future where the government controls every aspect of life, including the past, individuals routinely vanish from the Ministry of Truth. This institution is responsible for the alteration, manipulation, and falsification of historical records to fit the Party's narrative. One notable example includes the character Syme, who works on compiling the Eleventh Edition of the Newspeak Dictionary and suddenly disappears—becoming an 'unperson' because he's too intelligent and thus a threat to the Party.
Similar practices were actually carried out during Joseph Stalin's regime in the Soviet Union, where individuals who fell out of favor were not only purged but often erased from photographs and records, as highlighted by David King’s book 'The Commissar Vanishes: The Falsification of Photographs and Art in Stalin's Russia'. This historical occurrence reflects the chilling reality of the power of propaganda and censorship.