The image of Russia and the phenomenon of historical memory in the memoirs of F. A. Stepun and E. V. Spectorsky

The author of the article considers the memoirs of F. A. Stepun and E. V. Spektorsky from the point of view of personal historical and cultural worldview. He analyzes the image of Russia in these memoirs, the conclusions and generalizations of F. A. Stepun and E. V. Spektorsky. F. A. Stepun pays attention to the processes that led to the revolution of 1917. The revolution is spontaneous phenomenon that did not have rational logic, but Stepun tried to reveal in his memoirs the main directions in its development. According to Stepun, the essence of Russian revolution was chaos and destruction, but the revolutionaries, destroying old Russia, began to create state order built on new social principles. E. V. Spektorsky differs from Stepun, he less interested in socio political problems, and the main attention in his memoirs directed to scientific and university life. Spektorsky describes in detail his way in science, activities in the universities of Warsaw and Kyiv. Spektorsky’s memoirs do not end in 1920, the year of his departure from Russia, but describe the life of Russian emigration in Yugoslavia. According to the author, F. A. Stepun and E. V. Spektorsky presented not only memoirs, but showed two directions in the study of historical memory.