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Register of the Pavel Timofeevich Filip'ev Papers
2000C117
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Title: Pavel Timofeevich Filip'ev papers
Date (inclusive): 1925-1981
Collection Number: 2000C117
Contributing Institution:
Hoover Institution Archives
Language of Material:
Russian
Physical Description:
(2.4 linear feet)
16 microfilm reels
Abstract: Writings, notes, correspondence, and printed matter, relating to the authenticity of the Vlesova Kniga, the early history
of Russia and the Slavs, and Russian émigré affairs.
Creator:
Filip'ev, Pavel Timofeevich, 1896-1981
Collection is open for research.
For copyright status, please contact the Hoover Institution Archives.
[Identification of item], Pavel Timofeevich Filip'ev Papers, [Box no.], Hoover Institution Archives.
Acquired.
Originals in: Museum of Russian Culture, San Francisco.
P. T. Filip'ev was born in Ekaterinodar on 14 December 1896 (O.S.). He graduated from the Ekaterinodar School of Arts in 1915,
was drafted into military service the same year, and commissioned as an officer following training at the Tiflis Military
School in May 1916. He saw action in the Caucasus during the First World War, and served in Siberia and South Russia during
the Civil War, eventually being evacuated with General Baron P. N. Vrangel's army. From 1920 to 1925, he worked as a painter
and draftsman in Yugoslavia.
In 1925, Filip'ev moved to Prague, Czechoslovakia, to continue his studies at the Russian Higher School of Transportation
(Russkoe vysshee uchilishche tekhnikov putei soobshcheniia), graduating in 1928 as a transportation technician. This gave
him the opportunity to find employment as a surveyor, project manager and auditor in the highway section of the Czechoslovak
State Construction Department, where he worked until 1941. With the advent of the Second World War, Filip'ev was forced to
change employment several times, working as an artisan and a teacher at a high school in Klatovy, Czechoslovakia, before illegally
crossing the border into Allied-occupied Germany in January 1947. After working there at a variety of jobs, including policeman,
tanner and toymaker, he left for the United States in 1951.
In America, he became intensely interested in the so-called "Vles-Kniga," devoting most of the remainder of his life to examining
and deciphering it and attempting to prove its veracity, although it has long been dismissed as a forgery by all competent
scholars. Filip'ev died in San Francisco in September 1981.
| 1896 December 27 (N.S.) | Born, Ekaterinodar, Russia |
| 1916 | Graduated, Tiflis Military College |
| 1920 December | Arrived in Yugoslavia, employed as a draftsman, and artist |
| 1925 May | Arrived in Czechoslovakia as an engineering student |
| 1928-1941 | Served as a highway engineer in the service of the Czechoslovakian government |
| 1947-1950 | Employed as a policeman, tanner, draftsman, sculptor and in various other capacities in Munich, Germany |
| 1951 | Emigrated to the United States |
| 1981 September | Died, San Francisco, California |
The centerpiece of this collection is Filip'ev's research material: clippings, correspondence, notes, printed matter, and
writings associated with his interest in early Russian history, particularly the so-called "Vles Kniga" or "Doshchechki Izenbeka,"
a forged series of writings alleged by believers to have been produced on the territory of Russia prior to the introduction
of the Cyrillic alphabet. Filip'ev expended an enormous amount of time and energy deciphering these writings and attempting
to prove their veracity, as well as arguing that they represented an entirely new vision of early Russian and Slavic history.
His correspondence and notes on this and related topics shed light on the story of the emergence of this forgery and its effect
on the émigré community as well as on believers in the Soviet Union.
Detailed processing and preservation microfilming for these materials were made possible by a generous grant from the National
Endowment for the Humanities and by matching funds from the Hoover Institution and Museum of Russian Culture. The grant also
provides depositing a microfilm copy in the Hoover Institution Archives. The original materials remain in the Museum of Russian
Culture, San Francisco as its property. A transfer table indicating corresponding box and reel numbers is available at the
Hoover Institution Archives.
The Hoover Institution assumes all responsibility for notifying users that they must comply with the copyright law of the
United States (Title 17 United States Code) and Hoover Rules for the Use and Reproduction of Archival Materials.
Subjects and Indexing Terms
Forgery of manuscripts.
Russia.
Russians--United States.
Slavs--History.
Ukraine--History--To 862.
Ukraine.
United States.