Students and Teachers of the State University of Chișinău, 1946-1987: Mentalities, Daily Life and Ideology

Abstract The article takes a longue durée perspective on the history of the State University in Chișinău. More exactly, it sheds new light on the relations between students and the teaching staff at the first Moldavian Bessarabian university created by the Soviet regime in the aftermath of World War II. Based on new archival documents, it revolves around three main subtopics. The one focused on mentalities, the second one on everyday life, and the third one on ideology. The article tackles sensitives issues such as amoral or illegal actions by both students and professors, including corruption affairs and sexual scandals, how the Communist regime dealt with them and how these phenomena are connected to the ultimate goal, and failure, of the Soviet higher education, in creating the New (Wo)Man.