ON THE 100th ANNIVERSARY OF VASILY DIMITRIEVICH DIMITRIEV

Abstract

The relevance of studying the biography of a prominent Soviet and Russian scientist, Honored Scientist of the RSFSR, Doctor of Historical Sciences, Professor Vasily Dimitrievich Dimitriev is due to the growing interest in representatives of the second post–war generation of historians who made a great contribution to the development of historical education and to studying the problems of national history in the second half of the twentieth – early 21st century. The purpose of the study is to reconstruct the biography of V.D. Dimitriev, who, mastering and successfully implementing research practices, in his writings focused on studying the medieval history of the Chuvash people and the Chuvash region, as well as problems of ethnography, demography and historical memory. Materials and methods. The analysis of V.D. Dimitriev’s organizational, pedagogical and scientific activities is based on the study of the historian’s scientific heritage, historiographical literature, memoirs and Internet sources. When writing the article, the principle of historicism, the historiographical approach, the biographical method, as well as methods of systematic and comparative analysis were used, which made it possible to reveal the scientist’s diverse activities during the longitudinal period. Study results. Three stages of V.D. Dimitriev’s life were established. During the first stage (1924–1942), his personality was developing, his studies at the historical faculty of the Chuvash Pedagogical Institute were effective, during which he was elected secretary of the Komsomol committee of the university. The second stage (1942–1945) was conditioned by the Great Patriotic War, during which, after graduating from military school, he showed heroism defending the Soviet Homeland. The talent of the prominent Soviet and Russian historian Vasily Dmitrievich Dimitriev was fully revealed in the post-war period. Completing his studies at the Chuvash Pedagogical Institute, working at the Chuvash Research Institute of Language, Literature and History, and studying at the postgraduate training program of Lomonosov Moscow State University gave a powerful impetus to his organizational, scientific and pedagogical activities, which significantly influenced the effectiveness of his research practices in studying the medieval history problems of the Chuvash people and the Chuvash Region. An assessment of the historian’s scientific heritage and his contribution to the development of historical education in Chuvashia in the second half of the twentieth century and the beginning of the 21st century is also presented. Conclusions. The role of V.D. Dimitriev in the development of the Chuvash Research Institute of Language, Literature, History and Economics, historical education in Chuvashia in the modern period is revealed. He is proved to be one of the leaders of historian’s scientific school of the Chuvash Republic.