Potemkin, Fedor Vasilevich

Born Feb. 11 (23), 1895, in the village of Achkasovo, Yaroslavl Province; died July 20, 1973, in Moscow. Soviet historian, professor (1938), corresponding member of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR (1953).

From 1922, Potemkin taught in institutions of higher education in Leningrad and Moscow. From 1943 to 1956 he headed the department of modern history of the Institute of History of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR. From 1953 to 1957 he was deputy academician-secretary of the Division of Historical Sciences of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR. Potemkin’s major works made use of materials from the French archives and were devoted to the modern history of France, such as the country’s economy on the eve of the Great French Revolution, the industrial revolution, the struggle of the masses during the July Monarchy, and the Revolution of 1848. Potemkin was one of the editors and authors of the collective history entitled The Revolutions of 1848–49. Some of his works have been translated into French, German and other languages. From 1955 to 1957 he was a member of the International Committee for Historical Science. He was one of the organizers of the National Committee of Historians of the USSR. Potemkin was awarded the Order of Lenin and two other orders.