TEN YEARS OF THE INSTITUTE FOR THE STUDY OF THE USSR

1950—1960

On July 8, 1950, a group of eight emigre scholars from the Soviet Union met in Munich and organized the Institute for the Study of the Culture and History of the USSR, later renamed the Institute for the Study of the USSR. In December of the same year the Institute was incorporated as a German Academic Corporation.

The basic aim of the Institute at the time of its founding was to conduct research into the theory and practice of various aspects of the state and social order of the USSR and the problems of its constituent peoples. The program was to be carried out by building up a library, developing a staff, conducting research studies, maintaining contact with other scholarly organizations, holding conferences, and preparing and distributing publications—all for the purpose of providing the non-Soviet world, and to the extent possible the Soviet world as well, with reliable information on developments in the Soviet Union.

Under its first director, Boris A. Yakovlev, the Institute found modest quarters at Augustenstrasse 46, assembled a small research and secretarial staff of 12 persons, began to gather a library, which by March 1951 consisted of 119 books, and held a few public lectures. In 1951 the Institute held a conference on methods of studying the Soviet Union, and published the conference report, seven small brochures, and the first issue of the Institute Vestnik.

From these small beginnings the Institute, by the time of its tenth anniversary, in July 1960, has developed into a firmly established research institution. As it grew in size, the membership was increased to the present 46, and a Learned Council was created to guide the scholarly activities. The first president of the Learned Council, Prof. Boris N. Martos, was followed by Mirza Bala and Dr. Stanislav Stankevich. Mr. Yakovlev's successors as director have been Prof. Vladimir S. Mertsalov and Dr. Gennady E. Schulz.

In 1956 the Institute moved to its present spacious quarters at Mannhardt-strasse 6. The principal aims and activities of the Institute have remained those set forth by its founders, but the scope of the Institute's work has vastly increased in the course of its ten years' existence.

The library, consisting mainly of Soviet materials, now numbers 45,000 volumes and is one of the most comprehensive libraries in Europe specializing in Soviet materials. Visiting researchers are welcome and the library has come to be used not only by Institute researchers but by scholars from many countries making use of its resources for periods lasting from a few days to a semester.

During its ten years" history the Institute has located and trained a staff which has increased from the original group of 12 to 70 persons, chiefly emigres whose first-hand knowledge of life in the Soviet Union, together with long acquaintance with the languages and source materials of the area studied, make them unusually qualified for research in this special field. The resident staff is supplemented by several hundred emigre scholar contributors scattered throughout the non-Soviet world.

Research activity has been expanded and, with increased experience, the 17 members of the research staff are now able to conduct current studies on most of the major aspects of Soviet life. In addition to research done by the staff, the Institute has become so well known among emigre scholars that it receives hundreds of manuscripts yearly from outside contributors.

Contact with other scholarly institutions conducting studies on the Soviet Union has grown in the course of the years, particularly as scholars have become acquainted with the Institute library and research staff and have participated in the Institute conferences. The Institute conducts a large-scale correspondence with scholars, journalists, and other readers of its publications. Institute staff members are frequent participants in conferences on Soviet subjects organized by other institutions. The Institute itself has held a total of twelve major conferences, including regular conferences in Munich, an occasional special conference there, and two conferences in New York. The subjects have ranged from methods of Soviet research to such specific topics as "The Twentieth Party Congress and Soviet Reality" or broader subjects such as "Forty Years of the Soviet Regime," or "Aspects of Soviet Foreign Policy." The Conference reports are published in English and Russian.

Publication of the results of Institute research is done chiefly in periodicals and monographs published by the Institute itself or in cooperation with established publishing houses. This publishing activity has assumed large proportions in the course of the past ten years. The English-language Bulletin, now in its sixth year and with a world-wide distribution, carries brief authoritative articles on current developments in the Soviet Union. Other Institute periodicals appear in English or in such other languages as Arabic, Turkish, German, French and (in preparation) in Spanish, published for the convenience of the large numbers in various parts of the world interested in reliable material about the Soviet Union, but for whom English is not a native language. Occasional reviews are published in Russian or one of the other major languages of the Soviet Union for the use of emigre or non-emigre scholars for whom it is important to read materials in the language of the original sources. Periodicals dealing chiefly with general Soviet problems are supplemented by less frequent reviews of such specific areas or peoples as the Ukraine, Belorussia, the peoples of the Caucasus, and the Soviet East-Turkic peoples, chiefly Mohammedans. Publication of monographic studies and handbooks has also developed. Some 50 printed books and 75 mineographed studies have been published in the course of the past decade, including such a major reference work as the Biographic Directory of the USSR (in English), with more than 2,000 biographies of leading Soviet figures. Monographs which have been particularly well received include: M. Miller, Archeology in the USSR; A. Lebed and B. Yakovlev, Soviet Waterways; A. von Kultschytskyj, Die Marxisti-sche-sowjetische Konzeption des Menschen im Lichte der westlichen Psychologie; A. Adamovich, Opposition to Sovietization in Belorussian Literature (1917-1957); V. Holubnychy, The Industrial Output of the Ukraine, 1913-1916; Genocide in the USSR; and A. Avtorkhanov, Stalin and the Soviet Communist Party. Two useful services for journalists and other publicists are provided—a weekly Analysis of Current Developments in the Soviet Union (in English and Russian), and a semi-monthly Portraits of Prominent Personalities in the Soviet Union (in German). Institute publications are widely cited, reprinted, and reviewed.

On the basis of its ten years of experience, the Institute looks forward to the next decade with confidence that its contributions to a knowledge of developments in the Soviet Union will continue to be of value.

CONTRIBUTORS TO THIS ISSUE

Anthony Adamovich: Born in 1909 in Minsk. Graduate of the Pedagogical Faculty, Minsk University. Former member of the Uzvyssa literary club in Minsk. Now chairman of the White-ruthenian Institute of Arts and Sciences, New York. Author of several publications on Belorussian literature and history. Resident in New York.

U. Hlybinny: Author of various works on Belorussian art, literature and the theater, including The Belorussian Theater and Drama (Research Program on the USSR, New York, 1955) and of several publications on Dostoevsky in English and Russian. Graduated from the Philological Faculty of Leningrad University (Doctor of Philological Sciences, 1941). Taught Belorussian language and literature in Minsk. Now resident in the USA.

Alexis Paramonov: Former senior scientist of the Ukrainian Central Forest Station and lecturer at the Forestry Institute in Kiev. He is author of twenty-six papers published mostly by the Academy of Sciences of the USSR, the Ukrainian Technical University, and the Institute for the Study of the USSR.

Simon Kabysh: Born in Belorussia in 1895, he worked as economic advisor in Soviet agriculture and the food industry and is at present an associate of the Institute for the Study of the USSR.

H. Kostyuk: Born 1902 in the Ukraine. Graduate of the Kiev University. Taught history of literature in Kharkov. Professor of the history of literature at Lugansk Pedagogical Institute. Author of numerous studies and articles, among them The Fall of Postyshev. Since World War II has lived and worked in the West. Resident in New York.