Research on the history of the USSR in the Lower Volga Region universities in the second half of the 20th century: trends and contradictions

Evolution of the methodological paradigm of historical research, more themes and methodological tools of historians in the period under review were inextricably linked with the process of transformation of the party-state policy of the USSR and the reform of the Soviet society. The turning point in the study of the history of the Soviet society in the Institute of History was the establishment of the Department of the History of the Soviet Society in 1954. Already by 1951, 702 dissertations on the history of the Soviet society were defended in the USSR, while 899 candidate theses were on the entire pre-revolutionary history. These figures clearly show the tendency of formation of the Soviet period history as a leading branch of historical science in the Soviet Union. Researchers of the first postwar decade were mostly interested in the periods of the October Revolution and the Civil War in the USSR. After the war, under the leadership of Saratov State University topical scientific issues to be examined in the following five years were formulated. Historians suggested exploring a complex topic "The Great Patriotic War and Saratov Region". Once the History Faculty had its first Doctor of Sciences, Vasiliy K. Medvedev, the Department of USSR History of the Soviet Period was organized at the initiative of Dean V.A. Osipov. In 1965, WWII veteran Dmitry Polikarpovich Vanchinov became an Associate Professor of the Department. Since then an intensive study of the history of Saratov Region during the war began. Several doctoral research works by Saratov State University scientists were made on the history of the Soviet society - a thesis "Saratov Volga Region during the Great Patriotic War of 1941-1945" (1973) by D.P. Vanchinov, and "The Social Functions of Historical Science in the Great Patriotic War" by G.D. Burdey (1990). The studies at the departments of Stalingrad Pedagogical Institute of the period covered several areas of historical research. Along with the trends of the national historical science the Department of History of the USSR expanded the range of research on the history of the Soviet period. Particular studies focused on regional issues. Several key areas in the study of the Soviet period were defined: the first was related to the study of history of Tsaritsyn and and of the Civil War, the second studied the history of the Great Patriotic War and the Battle of Stalingrad, the third - the role of the CPSU in the history of Stalingrad-Volgograd. Directions of historical research, as in previous periods, were largely determined by the development of historical science. The latter, in turn, under the Soviet socio-political system characterized not only the results of historians' research, but was also set by the party and government directives.

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