Origins of cooperation between the german and soviet historians. establishment of the commission of the USSR and GDR historians (1949-1961)

After the German reunification in 1990 relations between Russian and German historians reached a new level and became more organized and productive. This is confirmed by the creation in 1997 of the Joint Commission to study the contemporary history of Russian-German relations whose work at the beginning of the XXI century became systemic. Because of this interest arose in the origins of cooperation between the historians of the USSR and Germany after the war, the main element of which during the Cold War was the establishment and activities of the Commission of the USSR and the GDR Historians. The purpose of this article is to analyze the formation of cooperation between the USSR and the GDR historians, to consider the direction in which the Soviet politicians, publicists and historians helped to create the historical science of the GDR under the sign of Marxism-Leninism. The chronological framework of this article covers the first period of cooperation between historians from 1949 to 1961. For a detailed analysis of the topic the author used materials from the Archive of the Russian Academy of Sciences and personal meetings with historians - members of the Commission of the USSR and GDR historians. This article opens up with the examination of the situation in the postwar historiography in the GDR and the description of the activities of the SED in the field of training young Marist historians. In the second half of the 1950s the idea of rapprochement between the Soviet and East German historians was put forward. In this respect, first of all, the author pays attention to the activities of A.S. Erusalimsky who during his business trips to the GDR carefully analyzed the position of the historical science in the GDR, defined its weaknesses and later, in cooperation with the German journalist and historian L. Stern, initiated the establishment of the USSR and GDR Historians Commission. He submitted a request to the Department of Science of the CPSU Central Committee with the proposal to establish the Commission. The author argues that by 1957 in both the USSR and the GDR the essential prerequisites for bilateral cooperation between the historians had formed, the first contacts between whom contributed to the formation of the Commission. The need for its creation was explained with a number of reasons: among the scientific problems facing historians of the USSR and the GDR there were such that could be thoroughly and comprehensively investigated only by joint efforts. On February 5, 1957 "The Final Protocol on the establishment of the Commission of the USSR and GDR Historians” was signed which clearly identified the main tasks, structure, functions, and basic forms of the Commission’s activity. The author draws readers’ attention to the difficulties in the work of the Commission and notes that the USSR and the GDR researchers focused on the following issues: the Second World War, fascism and anti-fascism, the Great October Socialist Revolution and the November Revolution in Germany, German-Russian and Soviet-German relations. In the conclusion of the article the author notes that the main result of the post-war cooperation between Soviet and German publicists and historians was the establishment of the Marxist conception of history in the GDR historiography. During the first five years of the Commission, the Soviet and German historians gradually developed a single point of view on important historical events, on the history and the science of history in general. During its work the Commission took into account the Communist Party’s ideological orientation and its interpretation of the events in Germany and in the USSR. In political terms, the creation of the Commission increased the Sovietization of historical education and research in the GDR and strengthened the ideological basis of the SED regime.

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