INTERNATIONAL SEMINARS ON THE MUTUAL REVIEW OF HISTORY AND GEOGRAPHY TEXTBOOKS (1968–1989) AS A TOOL OF SOVIET CULTURAL DIPLOMACY
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.17072/2219-3111-2026-2-179-191Keywords:
Soviet cultural diplomacy, history textbooks, textbook revision, international cooperation, USSR, Poland (PPR), USA, Austria, FinlandAbstract
This article examines the work of bilateral seminars on the analysis of history and geography textbooks involving the USSR and Poland (PPR), Finland, Austria, and the United States. Using archival documents, textbooks, periodicals, and reports from seminar participants, the article explores which topics were particularly often the subject of recommendations by Soviet delegates. The study analyzes the tactics used by Soviet seminar participants to promote their preferred version of the historical narrative, which, in their view, correctly covered the history of Russia and the Soviet Union, and how these tactics differed depending on the country. It also examines which issues were particularly important to representatives of other countries and how Soviet historians reacted to the principled positions of experts from other countries. An analysis of the work of the textbook commissions shows that Soviet experts paid particular attention to topics related to the myths of the founding of the Russian and Soviet states: Russian Revolution, World War II, and the origins of the Russian state (the Norman theory). Soviet recommendations on these topics for textbooks in other countries were related both to correcting errors and to disagreement with the interpretation of the nature of the revolution or, in some cases, its absence from textbooks. Recommendations on the topic of World War II concerned the insufficient coverage in textbooks of the experiences of Soviet soldiers and the course of military operations on the Eastern Front in general; representatives of other countries noted a similar problem in Soviet textbooks.
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