Anna Pankratova

Anna Pankratova (Анна Михайловна Панкратова, 4 February 1897–25 May 1957) was a leading Soviet historian, educator and member of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR. A widely published author, she was editor in chief of the influential Russian historical journal Voprosy Istorii and headed the National Committee of USSR Historians. A member of the Soviet Communist Party, she became an elected member of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet.

Early life and education
Anna Mikhailovna Pankratova was born on 4 February 1897 in Odessa (now in Ukraine). Brought up in a working-class family, she graduated in history from Odessa University (1917). From 1922, she studied at Moscow's Institute of Red Professors, graduating in 1925.

Career
In the Russian Civil War (1917–22), Pankratova was active as a partisan in the Odessa region. During the same period, she also worked for the Communist party in the Ukraine and the Urals. From 1926, she taught at a variety of high-level institutions, including the Soviet Academy of Social Sciences, the Sverdlov Communist University, the Lenin Political-Military Academy, Moscow State University, Saratov State University, Moscow State Pedagogical University and at the Soviet Academy of Sciences.

Pankratova joined the USSR Academy of Sciences' Institute of History in 1939. In World War II, she was evacuated with a number of other eminent historians to Alma-Ata in Kazakhstan. Under her leadership, they wrote The History of the Kazakh SSR. Published in 1949, the work was the first of its kind, describing the history of a Soviet Republic from its origins to the start of the Second World War. Edited by Pankratova, it inspired further research into the history of pre-Soviet and Soviet peoples. From 1953 to 1957, Pankratova was the editor of the Soviet historical journal Voprosy istorii.

Throughout her career, Pankratova attended international congresses, including those in Warsaw (1934), Budapest (1953) and Rome (1955). She also chaired the Soviet branch of the Association for Cooperation with the United Nations (1955–57). She was elected a member of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union at the 19th and 20th Congresses in 1952 and 1953.

Publications
The histories written by Pankratova document in particular the development of the Russian workers' movement and of Soviet society in general. In addition to their appearance in Russian, several of her works were translated, especially into German. The three volumes of A History of the U.S.S.R. were first published in English in 1943 and reprinted in 1970.

Anna Pankratova died in Moscow on 25 May 1957.

Awards
Pankratova's awards include the USSR State Prize (1946) and the Order of Lenin.