Medieval flower of primrose: museum of Yakov Rubin in Dnipropetrovsk university in 1940−1950s.

Abstract

The article describes life and professional activity of Yakov Rubin, Soviet historian and pedagogue, specialist in medieval history. Special attention is given to the description of the university museum, created by Rubin in Dnipropetrovsk university in the end of 1940 – at the beginning of 1950s. Rubin is a vivid example of the intellectual of Jewish original, who started a successful pedagogical and scientific carrier in early Soviet times. He was born in Dolginovo (Vilens'ka gubernia), raised in traditional Jewish familyand presumably studied in yeshivah, but after 1917 radically casted aside the life of shtetl. He finished Kharkiv teaching seminary, and later the Minsk university, and gained the diploma of the historian. In the end of 1920s Rubin became the active participant of the korenizatsiaya campaign in Belarussian Soviet Republic, writing numerous textbooks in Yiddish for Jewish schools. He also became of research worker of the Jewish sector in Belarus Academy of sciences. The majority of his works then were devoted to the history of class struggle and promotion of antireligious propaganda. After korenizatsiya was stopped, Ya. Rubin, alongside with many other his colleagues, was criticized for "nationalistic distortions". He was forced to leave his position, though managed to avoid direct repressions and continued scientific carrier as museum worker and lecturer. In 1944 Ya. Rubin, after evacuation from occupied Belarus, arrived to Dnipropetrovsk and headed the department of world history here. He tried to support medieval studies here. One of the main steps in this direction was the creation of special didactical museum. The museum emerged from Rubin's passion for visual methods of teaching – it was expected to make middle ages more visible and vital for history students. Though the museum emerged spontaneously (from the materials, gathered by Ya. Rubin as illustrations for his lectures) and existed by bare enthusiasm of the historian and his students, by the middle of 1950s it had an integral exposition. The ideological message of the museum totally corresponded with the official Soviet historiography: the exposition focused on the glorification of the Russian military victories in the past, anti-church and anti-clergy propaganda and history of class-struggle in Middle Ages. After Rubin's retirement in 1962 the museum declined, but hadn't perished. It changed its specialization and turned into museum of Dnipropetrovsk university, which exists till now.