Abstract

The article, based on archival materials from the Archives of Ivan Franko National University of Lviv and the State Archives of Lviv Region, analyzes the peculiarities of the transformation of the Chair of Indian Philology with a Special Review of the History of Culture and Philosophy and the Institute of Indian Philology and Culture which were headed at Lviv University by the leading Polish Indologist Stefan Stasiak (1927–1939), to the Chair of Oriental Studies (Eastern Languages, Oriental Linguistics) under the leadership of the same scientist (1940–1941). So the author refuted the thesis present in historiography that during 1939–1941 S. Stasiak headed the Institute of Oriental Studies at Lviv University. The author investigated the specifics of the staff of the Chair of Oriental Studies (in particular, the influence of the national-political factor on it), with an emphasis on the characteristics of the employees of the new Oriental Studies Department, and the directions of its activities. The author emphasizes that the core of the department’s staff was made up of S. Stasiak’s students, in particular, Indologists-Sanskritologists V. Shayan and Ya. Kessler, expert in New Indian philology and culture E. Gruber. In addition, the professor recruited to the unit specialists, who were to develop traditional for the Lviv University Hebrew studies (M. Goliger), Arabic studies, Iranian studies and Turkology (M. Sadyk Bej Agabekzadeh, Ye. Zavalynskyi), Mongolian studies (R. Wilbach-Stark). Sinology became a new direction that was presented at the Chair of Oriental Studies (it was represented by M. Knoroz, who in the future could also develop Japanese studies). Thus, S. Stasiak, who had the opportunity to continue the organizational development of Oriental studies at Lviv University during the first Soviet occupation of Western Ukrainian lands in 1939–1941, tried to develop a unit focused on comprehensive training of Orientalists. However, taking into account the fact that the Indological subdivisions of Lviv University became the basis of the new department, the predominant attention was paid to the languages and culture of India.

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