The “Academic Case” of 1929–1931 and Its Significance for the Fate of Russian Historians

In this article, using various sources and scientific literature, we attempted to examine the case fabricated by the OGPU against a group of scientists from the Academy of Sciences and local historians in 1929–1931 in Leningrad. To reveal the problem, we have characterized the position of the “old school” historians in the Soviet state, and the transition of Russian scientific historical thought to the rails of the new Marxist ideology. We have analyzed the approaches and assessments available in modern historiography to determining the reasons for the fabrication of the political process, the course of the OGPU investigation into the members of the mythical organization “All-People’s Union of Struggle for the Revival of a Free Russia”. In conclusion, we summed up the results the results of the “Academic Case” of 1929–1931 and its influence on historical science in our country, expressed in the moral breakdown and death of talented historians of the older generation, the disruption of the continuity of generations of scientists, and the elimination of the relative independence of historical science.