The Russian Period in the Life and Work of Sergei Metalnikov

Статья посвящена российскому периоду биографии Сергея Ивановича Метальникова, выдающегося ученого – зоолога, протистолога, микробиолога, иммунолога и философа. На основании архивных и опубликованных документов с использованием классических теоретических методов исторического исследования подробно восстановлены основные события его жизни (вплоть до момента эмиграции во Францию): детство, университетские годы, создание семьи, формирование научных интересов, начало работы в науке и постепенная адаптация в научном социуме, зарубежные командировки и стажировки, становление как исследователя и крупного деятеля науки и образования. Особое внимание уделено деятельности ученого на Высших женских (Бестужевских) курсах. Показано, что исследуемый период в жизни С. И. Метальникова был весьма успешным с точки зрения его научной карьеры, однако обстоятельства и последовательные политические взгляды вынудили его в конце концов покинуть страну. The article is devoted to the Russian period of the biography of Sergei Ivanovich Metalnikov, an outstanding Russian scientist, who emigrated to France after the revolution. He was a zoologist, protistologist, microbiologist, immunologist and philosopher. The personality of the scientist is interesting both for biologists and for historians of science and technology, as well as for the history of Russian scientific emigration. His life was also connected with the South of Russia: his family owned the Artek estate in Crimea, and he is deservedly considered to be one of the founders of Taurida University. The aim of the current article is to reconstruct the main events of his life, first of all those that formed his personality as a scientist, starting from childhood and continuing with the university years and the first independent steps in science, those related to his activities in the field of science and education. The article is based on archival and published documents, the main events of his life until the moment of emigration to France are reconstructed in details using classical theoretical methods of historical research. Among archival documents, his two autobiographies from the State Archive of the Russian Federation and the Manuscripts Department of the Institute of Russian Literature should be mentioned. Besides them, the article is based on other documents from the Central State Historical Archive of St. Petersburg, the Archive of the Russian Academy of Sciences and its Saint Petersburg branch, the Manuscripts Department of the National Library of Russia. The article covers in detail his childhood, family, university years, the formation of scientific interests, the beginning of his work in science and adaptation in the scientific community, foreign trips and trainee ship, his formation as a scientist from a junior researcher to a prominent person in science and education. Particular attention in the article is devoted to Metalnikov’s activities at the Higher Women’s (Bestuzhev) courses, which have not received an adequate coverage in the literature yet. It is shown that the relevant period in Metalnikov’s life and work can be described as a very successful career. He managed to develop from a young scientist to a professor, a prominent and respected specialist of a wide scientific range. Nevertheless, the turbulent events in the life of the country and the personal civil position of the scientist led to his desire to emigrate from Russia and work abroad, and scientific achievements became the basis for the fact that he successfully succeeded.

Charity organizations and financial aid rendered to the writers and scholars of white émigré in Europe in 1920’s – 1930’s

The subject of this research is the financial aid rendered by charity organizations of the Russian literature and scientific emigration to the writers and scholars in European countries over the period of 1920’s – 1930’s. The goal consists in determination of significance of the provided by beneficiaries financial assistance in the context of economic situation of the receiving country during the indicated historical period. The work examines the activity of organizations that rendered financial aid to the writers, journalists and scholars in such countries as France, Switzerland, Germany, Turkey (Constantinople) and Czechoslovakia. Methodology is based on the historical approach and principles of scientificity and objectivity. Quantitative, comparative and statistical methods are applied for the analysis of financial indexes. For achieving the set foal, the author analyzed a wide variety of sources from the Russian and foreign archives, some of which were published for the first time. As a result of the conducted research, the author acquired new data on the size of actual financial assistance rendered to the writers and scholars of white émigré. Assessment is conducted on the significance of such aid for successful social adaptation and overcoming of financial difficulties by the representatives of scientific and literature emigration. The article is addressed to all researchers of the organizations of white émigré.  

THEORETICAL AND METHODOLOGICAL APPROACHES OF THE STUDY OF THE SOVIET PERIOD IN HISTORY UKRAINIAN GRECO-CATHOLIC CHURCH

The evolution of contemporary humanitarian science takes place under the influence of a wide range of processes that affect the human consciousness, stirring up interest in it in the knowledge of a new, in understanding its past. Recent events that filled the Ukrainian society, actualized the demands of the people to history in their local and global dimensions. Being under the constant influence of the mass media, who often submit a limited interpretation of the facts, a contemporary Ukrainian citizen has a desire for a creative study of the experiences of past generations. The hybrid Russian-Ukrainian War convincingly emphasized that knowledge of its own history is an integral part of the national security of the state, which can be built by anyone who considers Ukraine as their homeland, identifies with it a story of its kind. In studying the history of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church in the Soviet era, historical science enjoys both generally accepted and special methodological principles that emerged during the second half of the twentieth century. in the environment of both Ukrainian scientific emigration and post-Soviet era. It clearly reflects the historical background of the period and its impact on the functioning of scientific institutions, the formation of scientific research areas, etc. Among the key issues was the study of the historiographical description of the relationship between the Russian Orthodox Church and the UGCC, the Greek Catholic underground, the dissident movement in its environment. It was in the environment of the Ukrainian Greek-Catholic emigration that the themes of such studies were born, which later only entered the western historiography, and hence the contemporary historical thought. Each of them contained some emotional coverage of the problem, and somewhere with elements of the archaic approach to highlighting the complex issues of the history of Ukrainian Greek Catholicism. However, in our opinion, this is perhaps the best way to understand the essence of the liquidation of the Greek Catholic Church and the repression against its episcopate, monasticism, clergy, etc. The article also focuses on the special terminology that should be used in the study of Ukrainian Greek Catholicism in the Soviet era. In particular, terms such as „unbreakable”, „Catacomb Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church”, „catacomb period of the UGCC”, „the history of the elimination of the UGCC” are highlighted and interpreted.