Problems of relationships of society and state in Germany in the XX century in the works of historians of the Altai State University

The main purpose of this article is to summarize the research experience of scientists of the Altai State University on the relationship between society and the state in Germany in the 20th century. The author also makes an attempt to identify the relationship between the socio-political processes that took place in Russia and in Altai region at the end of the 20th and the beginning of the 21st centuries, and the choice of scientific approaches in the study of the history of Germany. The factors that influenced the development of German studies in the region are noted. The contribution made by scientists in various publications is considered, including in the collections of the Department of World History and International Relations of the AltSU, in the sections in the three-volume “History of Germany”, in the issues of the “Dnevnik of the Altai School of Political Studies”, etc. Two structures played a major role in the intensification of scientific research: the Altai branch of the West Siberian Centre for German Studies and the Altai School of Political Studies (AShPI). The head of the first of them was Professor A.E. Glushkov, who together with his colleagues (A.M. Betmakaev, Yu.G. Chernyshov , E.P. Glushanin, N.I. Krugova, A.K. Kuznetsov, L.V. Monina, etc.) collaborated with the head of the Center, Professor of the Kemerovo University Yu.V. Galaktionov and Director of the German Historical Institute in Moscow, Professor B. Bonvech. The second organization - AShPI - since 1996 annually held conferences, in which many German experts participated, who also contributed to the study of the experience of the political history of Germany. In Altai, as well as in Russia, during these years there was an active social movement for reforms. The democratization of the social system, the abolition of ideological censorship and the disclosure of new documents that shed light on previously taboo topics, contributed to a freer study of a number of historical subjects that seemed relevant in the context of reform. For example, on the experience of Germany intensively studied problems of transition from totalitarian regime to democracy, problems of development of civil society, multiparty system, parliamentary system, federalism, etc. However, by the beginning of the 21th century the situation has changed. Gradually, the main vectors of the country's political development, the working conditions of historians, and the most popular topics of their research have become different. Nevertheless, the study of the experience of relations between society and the state in Germany (and especially - the universal components of this experience) was useful and necessary. So, the great merit of the historians who worked in the late XX-early XXI centuries is that they have made this experience more understandable and accessible for the citizens of Russia.

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