GEORGY FORSTMAN: A MAN AT THE ORIGINS OF CHELYABINSK STATE UNIVERSITY

Georgy Vasilyevich Forstman (1930-2015) is a mentor, historian, and teacher who stood at the origins of Chelyabinsk State University (ChelSU). The article examines the main stages of his party and scientifi c biography associated with the main higher education institutes of the Southern Urals, they were pedagogical and polytechnic ones as well as the academy of mechanization and agriculture electrifi cation. It reveals his role in establishing the fi rst university in the Southern Urals as a secretary of the party committee and professor of the party history department. The work dwells on the range of the his scientifi c interests, from the history of the city’s “patronage” over the village and the formation of the military-industrial complex of the region during the Great Patriotic War to the history of the Orenburg Cossacks. The historian paid special attention to the study of the history of ChelSU, which was refl ected in his latest works.