Hanseatic Documents on Russian History in the Context of the German-Soviet Exchange of Archives

Abstract

The article explores the history of a collection of German documents from the Middle Ages and Modern Era (63 items) related to the history of Russia, which is currently preserved at the Russian State Archive of Ancient Acts and constitute the fonds no. 1491. These were originally charters related to the history of Russia (Ruthenica) from the Archiv der Hansestadt Lubeck, Germany. They were taken to the Soviet Union after the WW2. Most of the archival materials and library manuscripts from Lubeck were returned to Germany at different times and by different routes, but a few of them remained in Russia, and one such example is the collection of charters in question. Thanks to a number of publications, the very fact of the existence of this fonds, as well as some specific documents, are familiar to the public. However, there are no special studies on the history of the fate of the charters on the territory of the USSR. In this article, a description of the collection is provided: it is proved that it is fully consistent with the fonds called Ruthenica from the Archives of the City of Lubeck. Then a complete history of the fate of these charters in the USSR is reconstructed: how these charters came to the territory of the USSR, how, when and why were they separated from other archival materials from Lubeck, and when and under which circumstances was it decided to keep them in the USSR and not return them to Germany.

Keywords:

Middle Ages, Modern Era, Ancient Rus’, Lubeck, archives, Germany, restitution