Tartu Riikliku Ülikooli esimese nõukogude semestri õppe- ja teadustöö kajastamine ülikooli ametlikus aruandes

Abstract

Description of the first Soviet semester (1941) in the official instruction and research report of Tartu State University

Urmet Paloveer, University of Tartu History Museum

After the forceful joining of the Republic of Estonia to the Soviet Union, immediately in the summer of 1940 large scale reorganisation of Tartu University started. The university was renamed Tartu State University. In the present paper, on the basis of the official report of the autumn semester of the university, the author observes how the introduction of Soviet reorganisation in instruction and research took place and which difficulties accompanied the process and to which extent the problems related to teaching new and ideological general subjects were dealt with. It is revealed that the part of the official report reflecting instruction and research was of most general character and not exact especially concerning research. In the field of instruction much attention was devoted to the problems and obstacles: difficulties in the transfer to the system of courses, the later beginning of lectures and earlier finishing than planned, the problem of lecture rooms which was caused by making attending of lectures obligatory. In comparison with other faculties, institutes and chairs most of the space of the report was given to the Chair of Fundamentals of Marxism-Leninism as the main introducer of new ideology. Consequently, it may be stated that the studies of the speciality and the related problems were considered second-ate by the then university administration and the problems of research even third-rate in comparison with the ideological education which was obligatory to everybody. The assessments in the report that students’ opposing attitudes to ideological subjects became mostly positive of even supportive during the semester should be viewed with doubts because in the memoirs of the then students it cannot be seen. As always, the researcher should analyze the Soviet period resources carefully and critically.