S.L. Frank in Archives of the World: Report by Teresa Obolevich

On February 22, 2018 within the framework of the seminar "West and East: Universalism of culture" of the International Laboratory for the Study of Russian and European Intellectual Dialogue Professor Teresa Obolevich, the Head of the Department of Philosophy of Religion of the Pontifical University of John Paul II (Krakow), made the presentation "S.L. Frank in Archives of the World: Life, Creativity, Prospects for Research".

Professor Obolevich spoke about the archives in which the manuscript heritage of the Russian philosopher S.L. Frank is kept. The reporter noted that one of the most interesting aspects of his life was correspondence with Albert Einstein, the originals of which are in the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. Sister Teresa Obolevich and A. Tsygankov received permission to publish Frank's letters to Einstein, in which the Russian thinker appears as a person immensely concerned about the fate of Russia in the post-revolutionary period. Frank convinced Einstein that enthusiasm for returning to the USSR and the possibility of scientific work there were utopian, and also indicated the real consequences of the Red Terror in the Soviet Union. 
The reporter noted that Frank's texts can be found in other archival collections as well. For example, Frank's correspondence with the German historian of religion Friedrich Hailler (Marburg) touches upon the issue of the publication of the German original of the book "Nepostizimoe" ("The unknowable: an ontological introduction to the philosophy of religion"), as well as the problems of Nazism. These letters are also prepared for publication.
The report also examined prospects for studying other foreign archives and libraries in which one can discover Frank's handwritten texts and information about his life, activities and influence that the emigre philosopher had on his contemporaries.

The seminar was conducted by the head of the International Laboratory for the Study of Russian and European Intellectual Dialogue, HSE Professor V.K. Kantor.