THE MAIN DIRECTIONS IN CONTEMPORARY STUDIES OF THE PROBLEMS OF THE HOLOCAUST

Abstract

The paper deals with the level of development of historiography concerning the problems of the Holocaust in the Soviet period. New directions in the analysis of the Holocaust are also pointed out. After the end of the World War II, the study of the Holocaust appeared closed for a few decades. Only some aspects of the Holocaust were discussed in the frame of the Nazi Germany, World War II, the Great Patriotic War study. The main scientists who directly or indirectly examined the Holocaust issues are determined in the article, such as I. Ehrenburg, V. Grossman, A. A. Galkin, M. I. Semiryaga, A. I. Poltorak, D. E. Melnikov and L. B. Chernaya. It is also noted that the problems of the Holocaust analysis were narrowly focused in the Soviet period, so that a gap in studies, unknown and unclosed materials etc. appeared. Thus, the basic goal of the current historiography is identified, i. e. the liquidation of the unsettled issues regarding this problem. Moreover, some changes in the historiographic science are demonstrated, i. e. the appearance of the sufficient number of researches and monographs related to the problems, access provided to archival data being out-ofuse before, the progress in collaboration of native and foreign scientists, the study of the issues on the regional level.
Finally, the conclusion is made stating that making new directions in the Russian scientists’ researches is a positive tendency, and it allows to extend the problematics and, thereafter, to get more objective and complete information regarding the analyzed events.