The LSU Department of Classics in the Pre-War and Post-War Period

Abstract

This article analyzes the history of the Department of Classical Philology at Leningrad University from 1938 to 1946, except when the department was evacuated to Saratov during the Blockade of Leningrad. Documentation from the archival collections (the Central State Archive of St. Petersburg and the Joint Archive of St. Petersburg State University) and memoirs (mainly those of O. M. Freidenberg) were used. The study of the curriculum of the department, introduced in 1938, allowed us to draw a conclusion about the comprehensive historical-philological training of students, which had its roots in the pre-revolutionary times. It has been established that the policy of the head of the department, O. M. Freidenberg, of promoting young personnel in the department (with the handover of courses to them, not always rationally justified, in the main department) contributed to a conflict situation which led to a public discussion in May 1946 at the academic council of the department she headed. This meeting should not be categorized as an ideological campaign: it was based on professional disagreement. The scandalous nature of B. L. Galerkina’s and N. V. Vulich’s defense was due not so much to personal motives as to scientific differences in the views on the tasks of classical philology between O. M. Freidenberg and representatives of the “old” school. Dissertations turned out to be hastily done, the reason for which was the material factor.