Information about the author: 

Abstract:

This article attempts to explore the history of the preparation and publication of the “Znamya” magazine from the end of 1941 to August 1944. During this period, E.N. Mikhailova (nominally the executive secretary) was the actual editor-in-chief of the magazine. Special attention is given to two significant crises in the editorial and publishing process (in the winter–spring of 1942 and at the turn of 1943–1944), which caused significant delays in the publication of the magazine’s issues. The second crisis, which led to a number of political and organizational measures by the party leadership (the Department of Propaganda and Agitation of the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party (Bolsheviks) and the Central Committee itself), resulted in Mikhailova’s dismissal and the subsequent return of the pre-war editor of “Znamya”, Vsevolod Vishnevsky, and the change of the editorial board of the magazine. The article also explores the history of A. Platonov’s publications in “Znamya” and Mikhailova’s correspondence with Vishnevsky from 1942 to 1943. In addition to the article, the available part of this correspondence is published, as well as fragments of the transcript of “Znamya”’s report at the Presidium of the Union of Soviet Writers in April 1944, concerning Platonov’s literary work.

Кeywords: “Znamya”, E. Mikhailova, Vs. Vishnevsky, A. Platonov, the Great Patriotic War.