Evacuation to Kazakhstan: S. Eizenstein. 1941–1944

Abstract

Publication is prepared in the format of an archaeographic study: archival materials dedicated to the Soviet theater and film director S. Eisenstein are presented in the form of a journal article, supplemented with an introduction and explanatory commentary. The films and theoretical works of S. Eisenstein are studied worldwide – not only by filmmakers, but also by philosophers, psychologists, historians, and cultural scholars. Documents from every period of his life and creative career hold special value, including the Almaty period (1941–1944), during which one of the masterpieces of world cinema, the film Ivan the Terrible, was created. The foreword to this publication provides a brief chronicle of S. Eisenstein’s life and work during his evacuation in Kazakhstan, along with organizational aspects related to the creation of the Central United Film Studio and the production of Ivan the Terrible. Readers are presented with the text of Eisenstein’s appeal to the Jewish people, recorded in Almaty in May 1942, urging the fight against Nazism. This may be the only surviving typewritten copy with the director’s autograph, revealing a significant aspect of Eisenstein’s social engagement. Also included is a letter from the director to Joseph Stalin, requesting an extension for completing the film, as Eisenstein argued that «it is absolutely impossible to achieve inhuman speed records when working with an exhausted and overworked team».