At the Beginning of the War: Publishing Activity of Soviet Historians of Antiquity in 1941–1943

The article analyzes the publication activity of Soviet historians of antiquity in the initial period of the Great Patriotic War (1941–1943). Publishing activity during the war years decreased: the specialized journal Bulletin of Ancient History ceased to be published, and not a single monograph on antiquity was published. The publication of “World History” slowed down, and “History of Culture” in fact, was destroyed (only the layout was preserved). The publication of limited books on history during the initial period of the Great Patriotic War continued in Moscow; books on the history and literature of antiquity were also published in Kazan. All the forces of Soviet historians turned to the publication of popular science (in fact, propaganda) articles and anniversary works, of which the collection “Twenty-fi ve years of historical science in the USSR” published in Moscow in 1942 was the most signifi cant. However, it should be noted that the vast majority of the texts of this collection were written before the war, and only at the last moment “updating” additions were inserted. During the war years, the Soviet historical narrative was clearly divided into a scientifi c and political-propaganda narrative. One could consider dissertations as the examples of a scientifi c narrative, for example, the dissertation of A. V. Mishulin, the defense of which took place in Moscow in the summer of 1943. They preserved both scientifi c argumentation and the scientifi c apparatus (including references to German authors). In general, since the re-evacuation of higher educational and academic institutions to Moscow in 1943, the process of normalization”, the restoration of the scientifi c narrative in the fi eld of the history of the ancient world, begins. The author of the article concludes that the context of military confrontation facilitated politicizing the issues of ancient history. The fi ndings were patriotic in nature, designed to increase feelings of national pride and hatred for fascist invaders. Soviet historians of the ancient world sought to show superiority and signifi cance for the world historiography of their research. However, the scientifi c narrative was preserved in dissertations.