The history of the Revolution and the Civil War in Siberia united their destinies. The creative path of V.A. Ovsyankin and S.A. Sidorenko

In focus of the article there are two academic historians, professor Semen Sidorenko (1905-1980) and professor Vladimir Ovsyankin (1909-1984). They both worked at Leningrad State University and were into exploring of the Revolution of 1917 and the Siberian civil war. The lack of studies on scientific collaboration is the main goal of the article. Different archive materials were used for the theme disclosure such as information from Central State Archive of St. Petersburg, Tomsk State University Archive, newspapers and private sources, and professor Sidorenko’s family archive. Some of material appear in scientific circulation for the first time. The article is written in the genre of scientific biography. The authors consider life relations of characters and concentrate on the moments which reflect specifics of the investigated historical epoch. Culture revolution transformations in the 1930s opened the way into science and their personality traits such as perseverance, diligence and talent helped them to achieve good results. A young associate professor of the history department of LSU Ovsyankin becomes scientific supervisor of postgraduate student Sidorenko in 1940. The Second World War interrupts their collaboration. Sidorenko joins the army as a volunteer and loses all his family in the siege of Leningrad. Despite his painfull grief Semen Sidorenko finds strenght to complete postgraduate program and gets Phd in 1947. Vladimir Ovsyankin as a dean deputy of evacuated faculty in Saratov conducts research and leads reevacuation in 1944. He shows himself as a talented oraganizer leading the process of university building restoration. But the fabricated “Leningrad case” reflected in his biography. During 1960-70s these characters fully elicited their potential as scientists and educators. They both got PhDs in history in the 1960-70s. Then Ovsyankin became the head of the History Department at Leningrad State University, whereas Sidorenko got a new family and worked successfully at a university in the South Ural. historians, contribution to the reconstruction and conceptualization of revolutionary process in Siberia in the spring-autumn of 1917, as well as breakdown of civil society and its descent into the civil war. The biografies of Ovsyankin and Sidorenko reflect the specificity of the whole era in the Soviet history. Their individual contributions to the history and education deserve of international recognition and will earn a prominent place in Russian historian society of 20^th century. The authors declare no conflicts of interests.

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