Штрихи до портрета дніпропетровських «всесвітників»: Сергій Плохій у спогадах учнів

Abstract

The publication presents the memoirs of the famous historian Serhii Plokhii, who worked at the Department of General History of Dnipropetrovsk State University from 1983 till 1992. During this time he passed all the steps of academic growth from a lecturer to professor, the head of the department. The Department of General History of Dnipropetrovsk State University was a powerful centre of Soviet German studies. But after the socialist camp began to disintegrate, the study of GDR history lost its political relevance. The Germanists faced a problem in which direction the further research should be continued. During the abroad internship Serhii Plokhii found out that the Dnipropetrovsk State Archive contains funds that comprise the documents related to the history of the German colonies. Having returned from the internship, he offered the department staff to develop a new research area related to German colonization. Under his guidance, students and postgraduate students began to work on archival funds which had been previously closed and contained the materials on the colonization, adaptation, economic structure of the German colonies. Due to the active organizational policy Serhii Plokhii managed to involve young researchers - students into the scientific work, the most successful of them became postgraduate students and defended their dissertations on the problems of German studies. This publication presents the memoirs of three students of the historian: Mahomet Ismailov, Nataliia Venher, Oksana Beznosova. The author of each memoir reveals the history of personal relationships with the scientific supervisor, analyzes their own research paths in science. What the memories have in common is that the students note the significant influence of Serhii Plokhii on their academic career and destiny.