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Isaak Mints

Isaak Izrailevich Mints was the leading Soviet historian in the early and mid-twentieth century. In 1949 he lost most of his academic positions as part of the campaign against the "rootless cosmopolitans", a Soviet euphemism for Jews. Nevertheless, he had eventually become an "ideal Soviet Jew" due to his adherence to the Soviet "party line".

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Isaak Mints
Исаа́к Изра́илевич Минц
Born(1896-02-03)February 3, 1896
Krinichki, Yekaterinoslav uezd, Yekaterinoslav Governorate, Russian Empire
DiedApril 5, 1991(1991-04-05) (aged 95)
Moscow, Soviet Union
OccupationHistorian
Academic background
Alma materInstitute of Red Professors

Isaak Izrailevich Mints (Russian: Исаа́к Изра́илевич Минц, Ukrainian: Ісак Ізраїльович Мінц; 3 February 1896 – 5 April 1991) was the leading Soviet historian in the early and mid-twentieth century. In 1949 he lost most of his academic positions as part of the campaign against the "rootless cosmopolitans", a Soviet euphemism for Jews. Nevertheless, he had eventually become an "ideal Soviet Jew" due to his adherence to the Soviet "party line".1

Biography

Isaak Mints was born in Krinichki in the Russian Empire.1a

Mints was the leading Soviet historian in the early and mid-twentieth century. In 1949 he lost most of his academic positions following a campaign against him by his colleague Arkady Sidorov that was part of the drive by Joseph Stalin to eliminate the "rootless cosmopolitans", most of whom were Jewish.21 Despite this, in 1953 he arranged for Soviet Jews to write a letter to Pravda condemning Zionism, Israel, and the "doctors' plot".1

Selected publications

  • Istoriia Velikogo Oktiabria (History of the Great October) (3 vols.)

Explanatory notes

References

References

  1. Mints, Isaak Izrailevich. Vera Kaplan, translated from Russian by I. Michael Aronson, Yivo Encyclopedia of Jews in Eastern Europe. Retrieved 31 December 2019.
  2. Tikhonov, V. V., "Bor'ba za vlast' v sovetskoy istoricheskoy nauke: A.L. Sidorov i I.I. Mints (1949 g.)" (The struggle for power in Soviet historical science: A. L. Sidorov and I. I. Mints (1949)) Вестник Липецкого государственного педагогического университета. Science Magazine. Humanities Series. 2011, No 2, pp. 76-80.
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