On the Institutional History of Russian Emigration: The Project of the Russian University Abroad and the Russian Cultural Institute (Vladimir Maximov and Efim Etkind)

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.22455/Emigr.3034-3518-2025-3-545-572
  • УДК / UDC: 821.054.7.0
  • EDN:

    https://elibrary.ru/HEBWJR
  • Publication Type: Research Article and Publication of Archival Documents
  • For Citation:

    Glushakov, P.S., Zaitsev D.V., and E.R. Ponomarev. “On the Institutional History of Russian Emigration: The Project of the Russian University Abroad and the Russian Cultural Institute (Vladimir Maximov and Efim Etkind).” Emigrantica. Issue 3, ed.-comp. E.R. Ponomarev, acad. ed. E.R. Ponomarev, ed. A.V. Protopopova, M.S. Shchavlinskii, D.V. Zaitsev. Moscow, IWL RAS Publ., 2025, pp. 545–572. (In Russian) https://doi.org/10.22455/Emigr.3034-3518-2025-3-545-572
  • Author 1: Pavel S. Glushakov
  • Information about the Author 1:

    Pavel S. Glushakov, DSc in Philology, Independent Researcher, Riga, Latvia.
    E-mail: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
    ORCID ID: https://orcid.org/0009-0006-5179-5458
  • Author 2: Dmitrii V. Zaitsev
  • Information about the Author 2:

    Dmitrii V. Zaitsev, PhD Candidate, Junior Researcher, A.M. Gorky Institute of World Literature of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Povarskaya St., 25A, bld. 1, 121069 Moscow, Russia.
    E-mail: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.ORCID ID: https://orcid.org/0009-0009-2235-4591
  • Author 3: Evgeny R. Ponomarev
  • Information about the Author 3:

    Evgeny R. Ponomarev, DSc in Philology, Leading Research Fellow, A.M. Gorky Institute of World Literature of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Povarskaya St., 25A, bld. 1, 121069 Moscow, Russia; Professor, F.M. Dostoevsky Russian Christian Humanitarian Academy, Fontanka River Emb., 15, 191011 St. Petersburg, Russia.
    E-mail: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.ORCID ID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5508-6532

     
  • Abstract: This article introduces the previously unpublished correspondence, preserved in Efim G. Etkind’s archive, with Kontinent editor Vladimir E. Maximov concerning two projects for institutions of Russian education, scholarship, and culture: the Russian University Abroad and the Russian Cultural Institute in Paris. Both projects may be viewed as a continuation of the efforts of the first wave of emigration to establish a system of higher education in Russia Abroad, as well as to institutionalize Russian humanities research outside the country. According to the authors, Maximov’s concept of a Russian university, is closer to the model of the people’s university, which was widespread among the first émigrés. The project for an Institute of Russian Culture, proposed by Etkind, was focused on the study of the emigration’s own culture: it was to be built on an archival collection of documents and iconography from all waves of Russian emigration. Maximov’s project was eventually realized in the form of the Andrei Sakharov Russian Free University — not in France, but in Germany. Etkind’s ideas were partially used in the formation of other European institutions for the study of the USSR (for instance, the Forschungsstelle Osteuropa in Bremen). The Russian Cultural Center at Château de Montgeron near Paris can be seen as embodying both Maximov’s plans and some of Etkind’s ideas. The correspondence itself between Maximov and Etkind — the figures far apart in their ideological and political orientations — is of exceptional interest; the projects published as appendices to the letters are extremely important for reconstructing the institutional history of Russian emigration in the 20th century.
  • Keywords: letters, projects, Institute of Russian Culture, Russian University Abroad, archival materials, Vladimir Maximov, Efim Etkind
  • Страницы / Pages: 545–572

References

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  • Received: November 12, 2023
  • Approved after Reviewing: July 10, 2024
  • Publication Date: December 29, 2025

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