Five years of the Summer School by History Department “Topography of imperial power: the political and cultural space of St. Petersburg”

The summer school of the HSE’s Department of History, St. Petersburg, with the support of the German Academic Exchange Service DAAD, was held for the fifth time this year and attracted an international group of students from Germany and the USA to participate.

Despite the fact that participants of the V summer school have different educational tracks (history, political science, anthropology, literary studies or even Japanese studies), they all took part in a contest where they demonstrated their interest in getting acquainted with the cultural and historical context offered in the school program.

Over the course of three weeks in September, students studied the Russian language and attended lectures on the history of Russia and St. Petersburg. Some of these lectures were held in places of historical interest - Alexander Park, Peter and Paul Fortress, building of the former Main Post Office and Russian Museum. Academic work was carried out by professors of the Department of History: Dietmar Wulff (academical supervisor), Anton Kotenko, Tatyana Borisova, Marina Loskutova, Nikita Balagurov, Alexandra Bekasova, as well as Russian language teachers Yevgeniya Dobrenko and Leyla Afonko. What is more, like every year, excursions to Pavlovsk, Veliky Novgorod and Kronstadt were an important part of the summer school.

The school was also assisted by volunteers from among students of the HSE's Department of History.

In the anonymous survey conducted at the end of the summer school participants highly praised the educational program. All of them were very impressed with the history and culture of St. Petersburg. We asked students to describe their summer school experience in three words and received the following answers: “catchy”, “enlightening”, “fascinating”, “inspiring”, “authentic”, “diverse” (erinnernswert, bereichernd, spannend, inspirierend, authentisch, abwechslungsreich). It is very nice to see that students were able to gain new knowledge and relax - as intended!

We thank all participants, teachers and volunteers for their contribution to the success of the V Summer school! See you next year!