Три истории России = Three „Histories of Russia”

Szvák, Gyula (2025) Три истории России = Three „Histories of Russia”. RUSSIANSTUDIES.HU, 7 (2). pp. 13-36. ISSN 2677-1640

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Abstract

This essay is about the genesis of three “Histories of Russia” written by Hungarians in the twentieth century. The first history of Russia in the 20th century to be written by a Hungarian author was published in 1943. It was ostensibly written by Kálmán Rátz, a retired second lieutenant. This article traces the story of this former soldier and, drawing on both published and unpublished sources, sets out, for the first time in academic history writing, to disprove his claim to be considered the author of this monumental, professionally executed work. In 1971, István Dolmányos was the first Hungarian historian to write a history of the Soviet Union. His career took him on a trajectory that led from Stalinism through approval and then rejection of Khrushchev’s de-Stalinization and then back to Stalinism. This article, which is based on mostly newly discovered archival sources, shows how a reformist monograph on the history of the USSR in the context of Brezhnev’s re-Stalinization provoked a reaction in the political world at an international level. The third “History of Russia”, which still functions as a university textbook, was first published in 1997. This book, written by four university professors, is a product of the period after the regime change

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