The 'Best Years' of Stalin's Church Policy (1942-1948) in the Light of Archival Documents

Abstract

"The general information in this paper has been common knowledge for students of Soviet church-state relations for some time. Its contribution to the field lies in details found in formerly unavailable archival documents which in some cases correct earlier understandings, present documentary proof of what used to be scholarly hypotheses, shed light on some formerly inexplicable twists and turns in Soviet policy, or add logical links between what seemed to be unrelated series of events. Of course archival documents do not necessarily contain the truth. Many of them are reports and notes by Soviet officials who wrote them with self-serving interests in mind. Hence they become an important source of information only in the hands of a scholar knowledgeable in the field who juxtaposes them with the relevant known events."