Projects / Programmes
RUSSIAN INTELLECTUALS IN SLOVENIA IN THE PERIOD AFTER THE OCTOBER REVOLUTION
| Code |
Science |
Field |
Subfield |
| 6.01.00 |
Humanities |
Historiography |
|
| Code |
Science |
Field |
| H250 |
Humanities |
Contemporary history (since 1914) |
| Code |
Science |
Field |
| 6.01 |
Humanities |
History and Archaeology |
Slovenia, Slavs, Russian, intellectuals, intelligence
Researchers (9)
Organisations (2)
Abstract
Even before the end of World War II, in the first half of 1918, Russia was confronted with a bloody civil war. In February, Lenin anticipated the possibility of an immediate cleansing of the enemy. The Bolsheviks attempting to implement the Marxist doctrine into economy caused a severe economic collapse, and soon faced resistance from the desperate people. They responded by tightening the terror. On the night of July16th in 1918 the former Emperor Nicholas II, together with his family, was cold-bloodedly murdered.
In response to the terror of the Bolsheviks, the people's resistance to the new government gradually strengthened. Adherents started fighting against the ruling communists – adherents being not only the overthrown supporters of the monarchy and constitutional democrats, but critical socialists as well. In the provincial centers they have launched provisional governments, trying to save Russia - and their lives. When in the late autumn of 1919 the balance between Lenin and those armies shifted in favor of the former, it became clear to many of the Russians that they will have to seek shelter abroad.
The Kingdom of Serbs was in addition to Germany, Czechoslovakia, France and China (Manchuria) in the ranks of refugees considered as the most desirable new or temporary home. This is particularly true for monarchists that saw a guarantee for their security in the reigning dynasty of Karadjordjević family, even though the constitutional democrats were frequent enough in the new south Slav state. Russian emigrants in the Kingdom SHS represented a significant intellectual strength and this is particularly true for teachers of Kyiv University; many of them got work at the newly founded University of King Alexander of Ljubljana. They have developed a rich intellectual activity, while also establishing their organizations (Ruska matica), thereby linking the old and new homeland. During the World War II at the Slovenian territory, where already before was no important military emigration (refugees from the army of General Wrangel) Russian emigration except of individuals didn't cooperate with the occupier. Units of the Russian Liberation Army by General Vlasov have only emerged in Slovenian territory at the end of the World War II. This helped the Russian community to survive once the communists took over the Slovenian government in 1945. Some prominent figures from the Russian emigration had gone to the West (A. Bilimovič, E. Spektorski), but some stayed in their new homeland (Admiral A.D. Bubnov, although he was known as a big fan of the administrator of Russia after the World War I, Admiral A.V. Kolčak, and A. Maklecov). It has been fatal for the Russian community, when there was a break between the Yugoslav and Soviet communists in 1948. Then it became suspicious highlighting any connections with Russia, which hasn't been granted from authorities. Since then, the history of Russian emigration in Slovenian territory is history of individuals. Some of them gained acceptance in the Slovenian public space, already from the time of communist Yugoslavia (the Admiral Bubnov, scientist and entrepreneur Kansky and others), which is a significant feature of the destinies of Russian emigrants in the socialist countries.
Significance for science
A systematic research into the impact of Russian intellectuals in Slovenia was until now not conducted. Comprehensive study of Russian emigration in Slovenia was before also not completed. The research project thus filled the existing gap in the knowledge on the fate of Russian emigration and examined the impact of the newcomers from the territory of the Russian Empire in science, culture and everyday life in the part of present-day Slovenia within the framework of the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes and later Yugoslavia. The importance of the completed project is large in the areas of registration of sources (unfortunately, also their sometimes not very careful retention as in the case of E. Spektorski’s diaries) and their use in scientific research. The filling of this kind of knowledge gaps is an important and permanent task of every historical research. Research of Russian emigration can serve as a “case study” for the study of other cultures connecting with Slovene culture, since intellectuals that came in Slovenia from the Russian Empire brought with them different working paradigms. They lived in their imagery that met with different representations. The newcomers connected two cultural spaces - that before that knew each other only partially and one-sided - with their work. The realization of the project also represents the study of the influence of one culture on the other. The implementation of the project showed that the settlement of the members of the Russian community took place relatively quickly, but did not result in their complete assimilation. The situation could be described as relatively successful form of integration, which raised the reputation of the Russian culture in the Slovenian area. Noticeable influence of intellectuals, members of Russian emigration, on science and art (especially performing art) has enabled the possibility of comparing the ways of penetration of paradigms from one cultural environment to another in several areas within the specified time frame. In this way were obtained results that are important for the development of a comparative approach in historiography and in research of the development of individual scientific disciplines and branches of art. Research has shown and demonstrated the importance of a transnational approach in historiography, as advocated by Marc Bloch. Science and art were in the period, covered by the project, despite nationalist policies already internationally intertwined in a sense that research and artistic paradigm was not limited with the space. It is true that certain understandings prevailed in specific environments, but they could not remain totally exclusive. The realization of the project on Russian intellectuals in Slovenia demonstrated the usefulness of interdisciplinary paradigm of research. Classical historical research interweaving with media and military studies and of course cultural historical conceptions. At the same time the research group was very careful to ensure that there was no mixing of different methodologies. Even in this the project can represent an exemplary "case study". Research of the Russian emigration community in Slovenia contributed to revealing the history of the individual scientific disciplines and branches of the arts, and explains why the subsequent development trends were changing the base in a very specific way: some disciplines that emerged have their prehistory in Russia (criminalistics, strategy and tactics of maritime warfare, and to a large extent, economic studies). With the completed project research team set the ground for a comparative study of the development of individual fields of science and art in Slovenia/Central Europe and Russia. In individual research segments such comparative studies already took place (at the symposia, which were attended by researchers from Bryansk, Moscow and Ukraine).
Significance for the country
The importance of implementation of the project for the development of Slovenia is large. ICK and AMEU-ISH established strong research connections with institutions in Russia, which study the fate of Russian emigration and specific areas of science and arts and culture. New opportunities are being created by bringing together scientists from Slovenia and Russia for further fruitful cooperation and for the successful implementation of the transnational approach to scientific research. The study pointed out the importance of gathering information from different traditions within a specific cultural environment. Slovene professors at the University of Ljubljana were mainly educated at German-Austrian universities; the arrival of colleagues from the territory of the disintegrated Russian Empire, mainly Kiev, widened the horizons and introduced new perspectives. That enabled Slovene space - especially in the intellectual sphere - for a broader dialogue with other scientific and artistic centers than would be possible if the Russian refugees went to western Europe and the United States after the First World War. Implementation of the project filled important gaps in knowledge and clarification of the development of individual scientific disciplines and branches of the arts in Slovenia. That enabled clarification of subsequent developments and ways of adopting new initiatives. In the particular case (the Russian community in Slovenia was numerically relatively weak and therefore manageable to research on in a relatively short period of time) the relationship between scientific disciplines and politics in history was presented. The Russian community in Slovenia did not tend to act highly politically, specially not in party politics, but the politics continuously sought to exploit its presence. Therefore, the study also brings typologically broadly interesting findings about the time when the politics due to rapid modernization, part of which was democratization, became a human destiny (as Ivan Hribar noted just before the First World War). This explains the starting point of later – also contemporary - conditions in the Slovenian area. Research provided a firm basis for a thorough discussion of the state of the art of individual disciplines and branches of art in the period after the 1945th for the understanding of the developments in various fields from historical perspective. The project is an important contribution to the knowledge on the establishment of Slovene intellectuals. Russian newcomers, who avoided being political activity due to their experience from the period before the First World War and as a result of their initially quite uncertain status in the Kingdom of SHS and Yugoslavia, specially strengthened specialist and professional understanding of science, technology and art. This did not prevent the politicization of these areas in the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes and Yugoslavia. The successful integration of the Russian community in the Slovenia and its culture is an example of migration, which largely meet the expectations of the host country and emigrants themselves. This is important for the study of migration and their circumstances in the diachronic and synchronic perspective; subsequent large population movements were much more turbulent. This does not mean that the problems in the integration of the Russian community and its structure in the reality of life in Slovenia did not occur, but they were relatively small. The reason for this is in the low number of Russian emigrants as well as in professional and educational structure of the Russian emigration. Intellectuals who came from the territory of the Russian Empire to Slovenia largely fulfilled the expectations of the population of the host country.
Most important scientific results
Annual report
2013,
2014,
2015,
final report
Most important socioeconomically and culturally relevant results
Annual report
2013,
2014,
2015,
final report
