NIU’s Albert Resis received new information on a historical mystery while in Russia last month at a 10-day international symposium.

The information came regarding the 12-day “disappearance” of Joseph Stalin when Hitler invaded Russia in 1941. Nikita Khrushchev reported the Soviet leader had a nervous breakdown. However, the associate professor of history heard a different story from a high-ranking Russian historian commissioned to write the first official Russian biography about Stalin.

Resis will divulge this information in his speech, “Moscow, Leningrad, October 1988: Glasnost and Perestroika in Action,” at 9 p.m. Thursday in the Moot Court Room in Swen Parson Hall. The NIU History Club is sponsoring the speech.

From June 22 to July 3, 1941, Stalin was not publicly seen or heard. Many historians have accepted the Khrushchev explanation “that Lenin was immobilized,” Resis said. But the version given by Russia’s chief of Military History, Col. Gen. Dimitri Volkogonov, is “quite different.” Resis will spell out those differences in his speech.

Resis said Volkogonov told him that “nothing was barred” during research of the two-volume biography to be published in May 1989. Resis said Volkogonov responded openly to his queries. “I asked him about several episodes in Stalin’s life. He was absolutely candid.

“Volkogonov said he had access to all materials … he saw all archive materials dealing with Stalin.”

Resis’ paper on postwar Germany was scrutinized at the conference on Soviet relations and the history of World War II. Discussion on the paper, “Allied Policy Toward the Future Germany, 1942-1944,” went overtime.

“About two years ago, Gorbachev said (that) in Soviet history, there were too many blank spots and prohibited zones,” according to Resis. “What I was touching upon was a blank spot—a very sore spot … “

Resis, who has taught Soviet history, Soviet foreign relations and Soviet culture at NIU since 1964, was one of 10 American historians chosen to attend the symposium. The conference was the third of its kind sponsored by the Soviet Academy of Sciences and the American Council of Learned Societies.

Resis credits Gorbachev’s policy of Glasnost, or “openness” for the Soviets’ renewed interest in their own history. Soviet historians are trying to rewrite their history textbooks and have much more contact with other historians.

“This is something entirely new in Soviet publications. It’s exciting. One waits impatiently for each issue of the most important Soviet historical journals. There’s no telling what will be in them. Each issue becomes more open, more candid, more professional, rather than propagandistic.”

Resis’ speech will focus on the Glasnost policy and its implementation, or Perestroika.

While Glasnost is an openness, a “bringing things into the open,” Resis defined Perestroika as a restructuring of the Soviet economy, society and polity to resolve identified problems. Lack of proper food, housing and consumer goods continue to be urgent problems in Russia.

“Glasnost is thriving, Perestroika is having a hell of a bad time,” Resis said. “They can’t really stop talking about what’s wrong, what needs change—but how to go about it is another matter.

“No one is starving in the Soviet Union. There is plenty of cheap bread and cabbage. Certain staples are cheap. Everyone’s getting plenty of calories, probably too much, but it’s an unbalanced diet.”

Resis took advantage of another educational opportunity on the streets and subways of Moscow and Leningrad. Because Resis can speak and read Russian, he mingled with Soviet citizens whenever he could. He discovered them to be intensely interested in the United States. “The curiosity there about this country is so intense—it kind of bowls you over.”

While most officials Resis encountered were brusque, Russia’s people are “warm, friendly, hospitable. They are dying to get to know and form friendships with Americans.”

Many Russians know more about America than Americans know about Russia, he said. The Soviets almost are obsessed with learning about the United States, Resis said.

Literature, rather than politics, was one of the most frequent topics.”They read far more than Americans do. They read an enormous amount of American literature. They are crazy about American writers—James Fenimore Cooper, Mark Twain, Jack London, (Earnest) Hemingway, (John) Updike. They just can’t get enough American novels to read.”

A lengthy discussion with a Soviet professor of modern literature is one of Resis’ favorite memories of the trip. The professor’s job involved selecting American novels to be translated. His knowledge of the writings of Americans was “impressive,” Resis said.

Resis said little had changed since his last trip to Russia in September of 1987. Moscow is dull visually, but Leningrad remains “one of the most beautiful cities in the world.”

Despite fairly comfortable hotels, the food still left much to be desired. “There’s good bread there, the vodka’s fine, the caviar is great, but, oh, fresh fruit, vegetables and salad just are not there.”