Theses on history in the Urals during the Great Patriotic War

The article is devoted to the problem of organizing and conducting dissertation defenses by Soviet historians in wartime conditions in the Urals. The article examines the defenses that took place at the Chkalov (Orenburg) State Pedagogical Institute and the Gorky Sverdlovsk State University. An attempt is made to reconstruct the composition of the dissertation councils in the Urals. The article identifies the features of dissertation defenses on history in the Urals during the Great Patriotic War. An attempt is made to create a socio-cultural portrait of the opponents and candidates for academic degrees. The organization and conduct of dissertation defenses are presented against the background of a wide range of factors that influenced the development of wartime historical science. The influence of historians who were evacuated to the Ural region on the organization and conduct of dissertation defenses is shown. The study is based on personal documents and materials from periodicals. The study concludes that the Soviet system of dissertation defenses was fully established during the Great Patriotic War.