Historical memory takes us to the difficult 30-40s. of the 20th century, in which both the sublime heroism of the labor enthusiasm of the builders of the “new system - socialism” and the tragic paradigms of the Stalinist regime were intertwined, which resulted in the deprivation and death of hundreds of thousands of people. In these difficult years, the needs of the economic and cultural development of Kazakhstan, with all their relevance, put on the agenda the issue of the formation of qualified human resources, one of the important components of this process was the training of historians. Soon after the founding of the Kazakh State University, on April 17, 1934, the Academic Council decided to organize the Faculty of History, and the People's Commissariat of the RSFSR agreed in principle. But for a number of reasons, among which was the incomplete staffing of the teaching staff, the lack of classrooms, dormitories for students, the opening of the Faculty of History was postponed. However, the issue was not removed from the agenda, since the need for personnel of highly qualified specialists - historians was significant, they were not enough not only for schools and higher educational institutions of the republic, but also in research institutions of Kazakhstan.
In the difficult years of the Great Patriotic War, on the initiative of KazGU with the support of the famous academician A.M. Pankratova, the People's Commissariat of Education of the Kazakh SSR decided to reorganize the Faculty of Philology into the Faculty of History and Philology from September 1943 with a recruitment plan for the historical department of 30 people. “The opening of this department,” says the KazGU report, “was timely and extremely necessary to meet the cultural needs of Kazakhstan, the department begins to provide qualified personnel.”
By order of the Moscow Military District dated January 6, 1948 No. 19, the historical department from September 1, 1948 was transformed into an independent faculty, the structure of which then included three departments: History of the USSR, General History and History of the Kazakh USSR.
The Department of History of the USSR was organized back in 1938. The first head of the department during the academic year was Professor Favorsky Vladimir Evgenievich. From 1939 to 1951 the department was headed by Professor Pokrovsky Sergey Nikolaevich.
S.N. Pokrovsky invested a lot of work and energy in the organization of the historical department, and then the faculty, in the formation of the department with personnel, in improving the scientific qualifications and pedagogical skills of teachers, in establishing the educational process at the faculty.
In 1941-1944, Professor Pakul Nikolay Makarovich worked at the department, since 1940. before joining the army in 1941, Abo Arkadyevich Lozinsky, a lecturer of the CC CP(b)K, worked part-time. In 1946, he was demobilized, reinstated as a senior teacher of the department, in 1942 M.B. worked at the department. Akhinzhanov, since 1945. A.A. Goryachev, since 1946 K.P. Korzhev. In this composition, the department was at the time of the transformation of the historical department into a faculty and provided lectures on the history of the USSR and world history.
In the year of the transformation of the historical department into a faculty, two departments were divided: history of the USSR and general history. The Department of History of the USSR continued to be headed by Professor S.N. Pokrovsky until his election as an academician, chairman of the department of social sciences in 1951. Then he began to work part-time. The heads of the departments were associate professors: M.B. Akhinzhanov (1951-1952), N.P. Kalistratov (1952-1957), N.N. Daulbaev (1957-1964), T.A. Naizagarin (1964-1968), Prof. S.B. Zhantuarov (1968-1971), prof. N.N. Daulbaev (1971-1981) prof. S.K. Zhakupbekov (1981-1995), prof. M.K. Koigeldiev (1995-2003).
In the 1948-1949 academic year, the staff of the department consisted of 6 people: including 1 professor, 1 candidate of historical sciences, 3 senior lecturers and 1 assistant.
In 1992, the Department of History of the USSR was first formed into the Department of History of the CIS (Head of the Department, Doctor of Historical Sciences, Grofessor S.K. Zhakypbekov), and since 1994, the Department of Modern and Contemporary History of Kazakhstan (the heads of the departments were Doctor of Historical Sciences, professors M. K. Koigeldiev and K.S. Karazhan).
The university management created favorable conditions for improving the qualitative and quantitative composition of the department. So, in 1949 N.N. Daulbaev defended his Ph.D. thesis, A.A. Goryacheva was sent to a one-year graduate school at Moscow State University, where in 1952 she defended her thesis. The graduates left for teaching work are: I.G. Pichugin, M.F. Puzikov, T.A. Naizagaria, H.H. Khabiev, S.K. Zhakypbekov. They not only successfully conducted educational work, but also improved their scientific qualifications. In different years, I.G. Pichugin, S.K. Zhakupbskov, H.Kh. Khabiev, K.L. Koshanov, M.K. Ermakova and graduate student R.F. Smirnova.
The structure of the faculty has always adapted to the spirit of the times and the tasks set. If in the 70-80s of the twentieth century, we are seeing an expansion of specialization and an increase in the number of departments. For the first time in the decades of the 21st century, you can see the process of optimizing the departments.
