“The Oldest and Incomparable Historiographer of Our Time”: Student’s Memories of Professor Sigizmund Valk (Parts II–V)

Abstract

The second part of the memoirs of Gennady Leontyevich Sobolev, Russian historian, Doctor of Historical Sciences, honorary professor of St. Petersburg State University, Honored Scientist of the Russian Federation, specialist in the history of Russia of the 20th century, founder of the scientific school of historians of the Russian revolutions and the Civil War, the most authoritative researcher of the history of the blockade Leningrad, dedicated to his teacher Sigismund Natanovich Valk (1887–1975). G. L. Sobolev describes the initial stage of his work in the system of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR — as a secretary in the group of history of the USSR of the Soviet period, talks about the employees with whom he communicated, about the beginning of the development of a large topic about scientists of Leningrad during the years of the siege, about the consequences of the “Leningrad Affair” for the university. A special place in the scientific biography of G. L. Sobolev was occupied by participation in the preparation of volume 5 of “Essays on the History of Leningrad” and joint work with a leading specialist in the history of the 1917 revolution, Yu. S. Tokarev. With warmth, the author of the memoirs writes about the participation in his professional career of the Moscow historian A. V. Karasev, the author of the book “Leningraders during the Siege”, which has not lost its scientific significance even today. The publication in the mid-1960s of new data on the mortality rate of the population in the blockaded city marked the beginning of a revision of data on total losses in the Battle of Leningrad. The text of the article notes the fact of the deep influence of S. N. Valk on the historical education and moral education of many generations of historians.