The work of the Karelian-Finnish State University in the evacuation (1941-1944)

in 1941-1942 more than 250 universities were evacuated from the front line of the USSR to the east. Their work in evacuation has been studied mainly on the materials of educational institutions in Moscow, Leningrad, and the largest centers. However, the strength and flexibility of the Soviet system of education were presented via the fact that even small regional universities that did not have academic traditions showed resilience in critical conditions. The author analyzes the work of the Karelian-Finnish State University that was established in 1940 in Petrozavodsk and forced to stay in Syktyvkar in 1941-1944. Due to the partial evacuation of the university property, material support from regional authorities, and the managerial efforts of K. D. Mitropolsky the rector, Karelian-Finnish State University did not interrupt its work during the war. The university managed to form a qualified staff of teachers, specialists from the Komi Pedagogical Institute, scientists from the Base of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR for the Study of the North named after A.I. CM. Kirov and researchers evacuated from other cities. For example, 13 Ph.D. theses were successfully defended at the meetings of the Academic Council of Karelian-Finnish State University. During the evacuation period, geologists, biologists, and philologists intensified expeditionary work to study the natural resources and traditional culture of the European North. The maximum number of Karelian-Finnish State University students during the evacuation reached 200 people. The student environment became dramatically feminized. In the article the role of mobilization practices and measures of social support for teachers and students of Karelian-Finnish State University for the is described for the first time; much attention is paid to their daily life. The source base for the study was the administrative and reporting documents of the fund of Petrozavodsk State University in the National Archives of the Republic of Karelia. The work used genetic, historical-critical and specific-problem methods, contextual and systemic approaches.