Academics' Case

Categories / Social Life/Political Repressions
ACADEMICS' CASE, the accusation of a group of members and research assistants of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR of creating a counter-revolutionary organisation All-National Union of Struggle for the Revival of a Free Russia with the purpose of overthrowing Soviet power and restoring the monarchy. The charges were fabricated by the authorities to remove intellectual opposition to the Soviet regime. Attempts to establish state and party control over the previously independent Academy of Sciences had been made since the middle of the 1920s: in 1925 the Academy of Sciences was subordinated to the Soviet of People's Commissars of the USSR, in 1927 new regulations were imposed on it, in 1928 under the pressure of the authorities a number of communists were elected members of the Academy. In 1929 for the purge of the Academy of Sciences a government panel headed by Y.P. Figatner was sent to Leningrad. In June-December of 1929 by its decision 128 staff members (out of 960) and 520 supernumeraries (from 830) were dismissed from the Academy of Sciences. In December 1929 - December 1930 over 100 people (mostly scholars and humanists, many of whom were historians) were charged in what became known as the Academics' Case. Some former members of the Academy of Sciences (G.S. Gabaev, A.A. Arnoldi, N.P. Antsiferov, among others), who had already been exiled or imprisoned, were also tried in connection with the Academics' Case. Following the resolution of the Collegium of Joint State Political Administration Board issued 8 August 1931, 29 people, including S. F. Platonov, E.V. Tarle, N.P. Likhachev, M.K. Lyubavsky (died in exile in 1936), the senior scholar and curator of Pushkin House N.V. Izmaylov, orientalist A.M. Mervart , S.V. Rozhdestvensky (died in exile in 1934), Y.V. Gautier, S.V. Bakhrushin, D.N. Egorov (died in exile in 1931), V.N. Beneshevich (executed by shooting in 1938) among others were sentenced to various terms of imprisonment and exile. In February-August 1931 the Joint State Political Administration Board imposed various penalties on research officers of various establishments of the Academy of Sciences, Russian Museum, Central Archives and others (among them A.A. Putilov, S.V. Sigrist, N.S. Platonova, F.F. Skribanovich, B.M. Engelgardt, A.A. Dostoevsky, A.A. Byalynitsky-Birulya, M.D. Priselkov, S.I. Tkhorzhevsky and A.I. Zaozersky), a group of former Guards officers, who worked in various establishments of the Academy of Sciences (A.A. Kovanko, Y. A. Verzhbitsky, et al., were executed by shooting), the group of members of the Academy of Sciences, engaged in expeditionary work (N.V. Raevsky, P.V. Wittenburg, D.N. Khalturin et al.), as well as the so-called church group (priests A.V. Mitrotsky, M.V. Mitrotsky, former Professor of Petrograd Ecclesiastical Academy A.I. Brilliantov, scholar curator of the Asiatic Museum M.M. Girs et al.), the so-called German group (Professor E.B. Furman, Pastor A.F. Frishfeld, et al.) and the group of publishers (F.I. Vityazev-Sedenko, S.S. Baranov-Galperson and E.G. Baranov-Galperson).

References: Перченок Ф. Ф. Академия наук на великом переломе // Звенья: Ист. альм. М., 1991. Вып.1. С. 163-235; Его же. Я решительно настаиваю... // In memoriam: Ист. сб. памяти Ф. Ф. Перченка. М.; СПб., 1995. С. 8-18; Академическое дело 1929-1931 гг.: Док. и материалы следств. дела, сфабриков. ОГПУ. СПб., 1993-1998. Вып. 1-2.

T. V. Morgacheva, I.A.Flige. Antsiferov Nikolay Pavlovich
Arnoldi Alexey Alexandrovich
Bakhrushin Sergey Vladimirovich
Baranov-Galperson Sergey Sergeevich
Baranova-Galperson Evgenia Gavrilovna
Beneshevich Vladimir Nikolaevich
Brilliantov Alexander Ivanovich
Byalynitsky-Birulya Alexey Andreevich
Dostoevsky Andrey Andreevich
Egorov Dmitry Nikolaevich
Engelgardt Boris Mikhailovich
Figatner Yury Petrovich
Frishfeld Arnold Fridriкhovich
Furman Emmanuil Berngardovich
Gabaev Georgy Solomonovich
Gautier Yury Vladimirovich
Girs Mikhail Mikhailovich
Izmaylov Nikolay Vasilievich
Kovanko Alexey Alexeevich
Likhachev Nikolay Petrovich
Lyapunov Sergey Mikhailovich
Lyubavsky Matvey Kuzmich
Mervart Alexander Mikhailovich (Gustav-Heinrich Christianovich)
Mitrotsky Alexander Vladimirovich
Mitrotsky Mikhail Vladimirovich
Perchenok Felix Fedorovich
Platonov Sergey Fedorovich
Platonova Nina Sergeevna
Priselkov Mikhail Dmitrievich
Putilov Alexey Sergeevich
Raevsky Nikolay Vladimirovich
Rozhdestvensky Sergey Vasilievich
Sigrist Sergey Viktorovich
Skribanovich Fedor Fedorovich
Tarle Evgeny Viktorovich
Tkhorzhevsky Sergey Ivanovich
Verzhbitsky Yury Alexandrovich
Vityazev P. (real name Sedenko Feropont Ivanovich)
Wittenburg Pavel Vladimirovich (Paul Ludwig von)
Zaozersky Alexander Ivanovich
Zaozersky Alexander Ivanovich
Перченок Ф. Ф. Академия Наук на "великом переломе" // Звенья: Ист. альм. М.Вып. 1. С. 163-235, 1991
Академическое дело 1929-1931 гг.: Док. и материалы следств. дела, сфабриков. ОГПУ. СПб., 1993-1998
Перченок Ф. Ф. Я решительно настаиваю... // In memoriam: Ист. сб. памяти Ф. Ф. Перченка. М.; СПб., 1995 Russian Academy of Sciences
Russian Literature of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Institute of
Russian Museum, State
Academics' Case
1929