THE VATICAN IN THE SECOND WORLD WAR THROUGH THE PRISM OF SOVIET HISTORIOGRAPHY

Abstract

The aim of the research. The article analyzes the achievements of Soviet scientists on the histo- ry of the Vatican during the Second World War. Particular attention is paid to the research of M. Sheiman, I. Lavretsky, and E. Winter. Most of the works were of a general nature, only some sections were devoted to the period 1939–1945. At the same time, Soviet scholars focused more attention on the Vatican's international policy and ignored the internal affairs and prominent figure of Pius XII. In the course of the study, the author found only some works that are directly devoted to the history of the Vatican during World War II. Only one of them – M. Sheinman's monograph – deserves to be a thorough title. The purpose of study is a historiographic analysis of the works of Soviet scientists about the Vatican in the Second World War. The relevance of the study is dictated by the lack of one general historiographical work on the Vatican in World War II. The method of research is based on a historiographic analysis of the work of Soviet scientists. Conclusions. In Soviet historiography, little attention was paid to the study of the history of the Vatican. An analysis of Soviet books gives us the oppor- tunity to argue that this topic did not really receive the proper and large -scale coverage in Soviet historiography. In the vast majority of works, it all came down to highlighting the relations of the Vatican and the Soviet Union. The author paid special attention to the fact that Soviet historians, having in their hands unique documents about the Vatican during the Second World War, did not analyze them in detail, but sou- ght in them only anti-communist character. Therefore, today all hope is placed on a new generation of historians who will carry out a thorough analysis of all these documents.

Keywords

• vatican
• soviet union
• world war ii
• historiography