Review on the monograph of B. L. Khavkin and K. B. Bozhik «The Russian mirror of German history. ХХ century» (Moscow, 2021)

This article analyzes a new book by the Russian historian-Germanist B. L. Khavkin, written jointly with K. B. Bozhik, the last postgraduate student of the famous Germanist Ilya Semyonov Kremer, to whose memory the monograph is dedicated (Moscow, 2021). The monograph focuses on little or insufficiently studied issues in the history of German-Russian relations in the 20th century, which is a logical continuation of the previous monographs by Khavkin (Moscow, 2014). The problems studied by the authors are contentious in domestic and foreign historiography and a number of them need to be rethought. The monograph is distinguished by the balance of scientific presentation and artistic narrative, which does not reduce the search for historical truth. It is based on data from Russian archives and the literature and contributes to the growth of readers' interest in the history of Germany and Russia. The scientific relevance of the monograph lies in the plots and human destinies of Germans and Russians presented in the book who demonstrated their similarities and differences at the turning points of German-Russian relations in the 20th century. The monograph makes an important contribution to forming the historical consciousness and historical memory of the peoples of the two countries.