Chernoperov V.L. Traditions and innovations in the study of the establishment of the Weimar republic by Russian scholars

Abstract: The author demonstrates the genetic link and differences between the Soviet and post-Soviet/Russian stages in the historiography of the Weimar republic, and also elucidates the modern trends in its study. The source base for this article is comprised of some 200 dissertations, thesis abstracts, monographs, articles and theses from mainly 1960–2010s. The author subsequently came to the following conclusions. Firstly, in the study of the early history of the Weimar republic between the Soviet and Russian epochs there is a marked continuity in the choice of scientific research topics, as well as in the training of the next generation of scholars. Secondly, while the post-Soviet/Russian period saw breakthrough results, especially in the assessment of the party-political system of the Weimar republic, Russian historiography remains on the same Soviet-era level in the study of the November revolution. Thirdly, the methodological and methodical pluralism in modern German studies expanded the research horizons in general. Among this the main line of study is dominated by the tendency to search for answers regarding the history of Weimar Germany during the processes of the First World War’s concluding stage, the time of the maturation and formation of new forces, ideas, programs and leaders that determined the development of the German state for decades to come.

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