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PHJ № 2 (50) 2026 — P. V. Krylov. REVIEW OF A MONOGRAPH WITH PUBLICATION OF SOURCES: TOKAREVA E. S. THE VATICAN IN THE FOCUS OF SOVIET POLICY AND PROPAGANDA. 1921–1941. MOSCOW, VES’ MIR PUBL., 2023. 784 P.

The present review examines the book by E. S. Tokareva, which is dedicated to the relations between the Holy See and Soviet Russia in 1921–1941, with the publication of relevant documents. The book elucidates the modus operandi of the Republic of Soviets’ non-public diplomacy towards the Roman Catholic Church in the context of overcoming the diplomatic blockade of the USSR by the leading world powers.

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PHJ № 2 (50) 2026 — L. V. Klimovich. HISTORIAN NIKOLAI IVANOVICH ULYANOV — LIFE AS AN “ADVENTURE NOVEL”. BOOK REVIEW: BAZANOV P. N. PROTECTION OF THE UNITY OF RUSSIA: THE LIFE AND WORK OF HISTORIAN NIKOLAI ULYANOV. ST. PETERSBURG: ROSTOCK PUBL., 2025. 688 P.

The reviewed book is a documentary investigation of the biography of Nikolai Ivanovich Ulyanov, a prominent representative of the Russian emigration of the second wave, a historian, cultural critic, and public figure. Drawing upon a plethora of unpublished sources, the eminent specialist in the history of the Russian diaspora, P. N. Bazanov, chronicles the life of his subject, who was born in the Russian Empire, was apprehended and incarcerated in the USSR, twice escaped from German captivity, was abducted by the Nazis to work in Germany, was designated a “displaced person”, and subsequently became a prominent researcher on the history of Russia, issues of state integrity, and problems of Ukrainian separatism. The review concludes that the book has indisputable advantages, namely reliability, maximum objectivity, consistency, correctness of presentation and conclusions drawn from a wide range of sources and research literature.

PHJ № 1 (49) 2026 — V. V. Zdanovich. NOT TO BE FORGOTTEN. A REVIEW OF THE COLLECTION OF DOCUMENTS “NO STATUTE OF LIMITATIONS. BELARUS: CRIMES OF THE NAZIS AND THEIR ACCOMPLICES AGAINST CIVILIANS IN THE OCCUPIED TERRITORY OF THE BSSR DURING THE GREAT PATRIOTIC WAR”

The article analyzes the collections of documents “No Statute of Limitations. Belarus: Crimes of the Nazis and Their Accomplices against Civilians in the Occupied Territory of the BSSR during the Great Patriotic War”, published in 2020–2024. The material contained in the collections tells about the crimes committed by the Nazis during the Great Patriotic War in the occupied territory of the regions of Belarus within their modern borders. It is noted that a large number of various documents have been introduced into scientific circulation. New documentary facts and archival sources introduced into scientific circulation allow us to take a fresh look at the problem of everyday life during the Nazi occupation, to more deeply reveal the essence of the “new order” aimed not only at moral humiliation, but also at the extermination of the local population. The collected information about concentration camps, large-scale Nazi cartel operations, places of mass executions, destroyed villages is convincing evidence that the German political leadership created a real death machine, a criminal system of extermination. In general, the issues of text transmission and archaeographic design of documents have been successfully resolved. The scientific reference apparatus of the collections includes historical and archaeographic prefaces, textual notes, comments, a geographical index, a list of abbreviated words, a list of published documents. In the geographical index, the administrative-territorial subordination of settlements is given at the time of the events. The method of reproduction is indicated only for documents that are not typewritten. Legends of translated documents include storage locations of documents in German, their translations, authenticity, presence of previous publications. Specially prepared appendices also have great informational and practical value.

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PHJ № 4 (48) 2025 — V. A. Livtsov. FOR THEM, THE WAR DID NOT END IN 1945. BOOK REVIEW: KOVALEV B. N. “THE THAW” AND HITLER’S HEIRS: FROM THE HISTORY OF THE SEARCH AND PUNISHMENT OF NAZI COLLABORATORS IN NORTHWESTERN RUSSIA IN THE LATE 50S — THE FIRST HALF OF THE 60S OF THE 20TH CENTURY. MOSCOW: ISTORICHESKAYA PAMYAT, 2025. 224 P.

“The Thaw” brought liberation not only to innocent victims. Real criminals, guilty of the death of many thousands of civilians, partisans and soldiers of the Red Army, were also released. Who is to blame for it? Many war criminals found refuge in the West — both in West Germany and in the countries allied with the USSR in the anti-Hitler coalition. How could it happen? Former collaborators of the Nazis, Vlasovites and punishers were often able to successfully hide their past. They were respected as honored veterans of the Great Patriotic War. Why did it happen? The Soviet state security agencies spent decades searching for them. What did they do to ensure that justice prevailed? Answers to these questions can be found in the new book by St. Petersburg historian Boris Kovalev.

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PHJ № 4 (48) 2025 — V. A. Berdinskikh. PROBLEMS OF HISTORY IN THE STALIN ERA AS A SUBJECT OF SCIENTIFIC REFLECTION. BOOK REVIEW: TIKHONOV V. V. THE USEFUL PAST: HISTORY IN THE STALINIST USSR. MOSCOW: NOVOE LITERATURNOE OBOZRENIE, 2024. 367 P.

The article examines the main problems of the book of the Moscow historian V. V. Tikhonov, devoted to the problems of interaction between Soviet historians and the authorities in the era of Stalinism. The book is written in the genre of scientific essay. The transformation of the ideology of Stalinism and the complex of relations between the authorities and the scientific and historical community are the focus of the author’s attention. An attempt to understand how the “historiographic vertical of power” works is clearly a success for V. V. Tikhonov. He posed important and relevant questions of the place and role of historians in historical politics.

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PHJ № 3 (47) 2025 — N. N. Smirnov. A NEW PLOT IN THE HISTORY OF THE CULTURE OF THE RUSSIAN DIASPORA. BOOK REVIEW: TOLSTOY M. LINGERING SONG. ST. PETERSBURG: ZVEZDA JOURNAL, 2025. 608 P. + INCL. (72 P.)

The book under review is a documentary investigation of the biography of an outstanding figure of Russian and foreign culture, choirmaster Vasily Fedorovich Kibalchich, a student of the famous composer and choral conductor A. A. Arkhangelsky, a colleague of I. F. Stravinsky and S. P. Diaghilev. Based on the study of a wide range of archival and published sources, periodicals, diaries and memoirs of contemporaries, the author traces the life path of his hero, who was born and educated in Russia, a participant in the revolutionary movement, widely known in Europe and the United States as a propagandist of Russian music, the founder and leader of the famous Russian Symphony Choir, which became famous in America in the 1920s and 1930s as a notable figure of the Russian musical diaspora.

PHJ № 2 (46) 2025 — T. N. Zhukovskaya, K. S. Kazakova. STUDENTS, CORPORANTS, LOYAL SUBJECTS. REVIEW ON MONOGRAPH: FRIEDMAN R. MASCULINITY, AUTOCRACY, AND THE RUSSIAN UNIVERSITY, 1804–1863 / TRANSL. FROM ENGLISH BY N. PROTSENKO. BOSTON / ST. PETERSBURG: ACADEMIC STUDIES PRESS / BIBLIOROSSIKA, 2024. 264 P. SERIES “MODERN WESTERN RUSSIAN STUDIES” // PETERSBURG HISTORICAL JOURNAL, NO. 2, 2025, PP. 250–258

The book under review is a study of the relationship between the student community and the authorities, both university and state, as well as the characteristics of the legal and corporate organisation of students at the pre-reform university. The author examines the social relations of student youth, the formation of official and alternative models of student behaviour, which at that time was an exclusively male community. The author argues that there was a significant gap between the normative gender model of the loyal subject “servant of the fatherland and the Tsar” and the ideal of the educated, emancipated young man developed by the university corporation. The article critically evaluates the ideals of masculinity reconstructed by the author for this socio-cultural group.

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PHJ №1 (45) 2025 — S. N. Iskiul. REVIEW OF THE COLLECTIVE MONOGRAPH: KANDAKOU D., STROEV A. LES RUSSES À PARIS AU XVIIIE SIÈCLE SOUS L’OEIL DE LA POLICE. PARIS: L’HARMATTAN, 2024. 736 P.

The present review is devoted to a critical analysis of the aforementioned collective monograph, which was authored by professors of general and comparative literature at the Sorbonne Nouvelle University (Paris). The authors of the monograph are D. Kondakov and A. Stroev, and the title of the monograph is Les Russes à Paris au XVIIIe siècle sous l’oeil de la police (Paris: L’Harmattan, 2024. 736 p.).

PHJ № 1 (37) 2023 – E. K. Piotrovskaya. Review of the book: Byzantinorossica. Code of Byzantine literary about Russia (until 13th century). T. IV / Author-compilaor M.V. Bibikov. The 2nd edition

The book presents the 4th tome of Corpus of Byzantinorossica. There are byzantine literary monuments (until 13th century). Among them are texts of agiography and epistolography, various memoirs, historical and nature study. The book includes translations and accompanied by commentary of all these monuments, where Russian-Byzantine relations are described. The Greek texts of the old-Russian “Vita Antonii” and the “Vita Pheodosii” are especially interesting.

PHJ № 1 (37) 2023 – Ilya N. Strekalov. The Soviet things — “characters” of our history? A review on the book: Golubev A. “‘Veschnaya zhizn’. The materiality of the late socialism”

Изучение советской истории, как показывает отечественный и зарубежный опыт науки, возможно посредством различных методологий. Историк Алексей Голубев в своей новой книге «Вещная жизнь. Материальность позднего социализма» предлагает принципиально новый взгляд на советскую (и, в частности, позднесоветскую) эпоху — через предметы материального мира, вещи.