Abstract

Background. 75 years passed after the Second World War finished. What do we remember about these years? What are the sources of our memories? What do we know about the life and activity of our teacher in psychology?

The Objective of the paper is to analyze the professional activity of the famous psychologists, future professors of the Moscow State University Psychology Department during the Second World War.

Design. The paper describes the professional activity of famous Russian psychologists (A.R. Luria, A.N. Leontiev, P.Ya. Halperin, A.V. Zaporozhets, B.V. Zeigarnik and others) aimed to rehabilitation of brain damaged Russian soldiers. The value of this work for the development of the psychological science and for the mentality of psychologists all over the world is underlined. 

The work of the remarkable scientists in the rear evacuation recovery hospitals is described: in a hospital organized by A.R. Luria at the sanatorium in the village of Kisegach near the city of Chelyabinsk in the Southern Urals, as well as in the hospital in the village of Kourovka near Sverdlovsk (now Yekaterinburg), whose supervisor was A.N. Leontiev. It is shown how in Kisegach they solved the problems of cognitive impairment in wounded soldiers, and in Kourovka they were engaged in the restoration of motor functions. It is emphasized that, along with enormous practical activity, psychologists conducted significant theoretical work, in which the results of practice were generalized and analyzed.

The paper informs the reader about today’s psychologists around the world and how they appreciate the contribution of Russian psychologists who worked during the World War II and honour their memory. The V International Congress in memory of A.R. Luria, dedicated to the 115th anniversary of the birth and 40th anniversary of the death of Alexander Romanovich Luria.

Conclusion. The knots of memory do not only unite the generations but also become a fulcrum for all of us in understanding the personal sense and value of the Psychological Activity.

Based on the study of rehabilitation processes, Leontyev’s theory of activity and psychological practice proved that the analysis of mental functioning disorders is impossible without a systematic approach to the facts revealed.