Mark Von Hagen
Encyclopedia
Mark von Hagen teaches Russian, Ukrainian, and Eurasian history at Arizona State University
. He was formerly at Columbia University
. He is the author of Soldiers in the Proletarian Dictatorship: The Red Army and the Soviet Socialist State, 1917-1930 (Cornell, 1990); co-editor (with Andreas Kappeler, Zenon Kohut and Frank Sysyn) of Culture, Nation, Identity: the Ukrainian-Russian Encounter, 1600-1945 (Toronto, 2003); and is currently co-editing (with Jane Burbank and Anatoly Remnev) the title Geographies of Empire: Ruling Russia, 1700-1991 (Indiana, 2004). He has written articles and essays on topics in historiography, civil-military relations, nationality politics and minority history, and cultural history.
Von Hagen was educated in Georgetown University
, Indiana University-Bloomington, and Stanford University
, where he received his Ph.D. He has also taught at Stanford University
, Yale University
, the Free University of Berlin
, and the Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales
(Paris). He served as Associate Director and then Director of the Harriman Institute
(1989–2001). In the School of International and Public Affairs at Columbia, he chaired the task force on review of the school’s curriculum, headed its Inter-regional Council, and served as director of the master’s program in international affairs.
He is on the editorial boards of Ab Imperio and Kritika. Von Hagen serves (and has served) on several professional association boards (the National Council for Eurasian and East European Studies, the American Association for the Advancement of Slavic Studies, and the Association for the Study of Nationalities, among others). He is also a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and the Human Rights Watch Eurasia Steering Committee. He serves as a consultant for the Russian Archives Project of Primary Source Microfilms (Gale Group). From 2002 to 2005 Von Hagen was president of the International Association for Ukrainian Studies.
Prof. Mark von Hagen was also commissioned by The New York Times to write an independent assessment of New York Times correspondent Walter Duranty
and his reporting on the Soviet Union
after the newspaper received a letter from the Pulitzer Prize
Board regarding allegations of Duranty's cover up of communist genocide.
The "Ukrainian Weekly" reports as follows:
In the letter, the board said it was responding to "a new round of demands" that the prize awarded to Mr. Duranty in 1932 be revoked, The New York Times reported. The letter asked the newspaper for its comments on Mr. Duranty's work.
As part of its review of Mr. Duranty's work, The New York Times commissioned Dr. von Hagen, an expert on early 20th century Soviet history, to examine nearly all of what Mr. Duranty wrote for The New York Times in 1931.
"After reading through a good portion of Duranty's reporting for 1931, I was disappointed and disturbed by the overall picture he painted of the Soviet Union for that period," Dr. von Hagen wrote. "But after reading so much of Duranty in 1931 it is far less surprising to me that he would deny in print the famine of 1932-1933."
Asked if his opinion of Mr. Duranty's reporting would change if he were to examine only those 13 articles for which Mr. Duranty won the Pulitzer Prize, Dr. von Hagen replied with a resolute no. The reporting for which he won the Pulitzer Prize was "quintessential of the problems of Mr. Duranty's analysis," Dr. von Hagen said. The professor said that Mr. Duranty's award "diminishes the prize's value."
Arizona State University
Arizona State University is a public research university located in the Phoenix Metropolitan Area of the State of Arizona...
. He was formerly at Columbia University
Columbia University
Columbia University in the City of New York is a private, Ivy League university in Manhattan, New York City. Columbia is the oldest institution of higher learning in the state of New York, the fifth oldest in the United States, and one of the country's nine Colonial Colleges founded before the...
. He is the author of Soldiers in the Proletarian Dictatorship: The Red Army and the Soviet Socialist State, 1917-1930 (Cornell, 1990); co-editor (with Andreas Kappeler, Zenon Kohut and Frank Sysyn) of Culture, Nation, Identity: the Ukrainian-Russian Encounter, 1600-1945 (Toronto, 2003); and is currently co-editing (with Jane Burbank and Anatoly Remnev) the title Geographies of Empire: Ruling Russia, 1700-1991 (Indiana, 2004). He has written articles and essays on topics in historiography, civil-military relations, nationality politics and minority history, and cultural history.
Von Hagen was educated in Georgetown University
Georgetown University
Georgetown University is a private, Jesuit, research university whose main campus is in the Georgetown neighborhood of Washington, D.C. Founded in 1789, it is the oldest Catholic university in the United States...
, Indiana University-Bloomington, and Stanford University
Stanford University
The Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University or Stanford, is a private research university on an campus located near Palo Alto, California. It is situated in the northwestern Santa Clara Valley on the San Francisco Peninsula, approximately northwest of San...
, where he received his Ph.D. He has also taught at Stanford University
Stanford University
The Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University or Stanford, is a private research university on an campus located near Palo Alto, California. It is situated in the northwestern Santa Clara Valley on the San Francisco Peninsula, approximately northwest of San...
, Yale University
Yale University
Yale University is a private, Ivy League university located in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701 in the Colony of Connecticut, the university is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States...
, the Free University of Berlin
Free University of Berlin
Freie Universität Berlin is one of the leading and most prestigious research universities in Germany and continental Europe. It distinguishes itself through its modern and international character. It is the largest of the four universities in Berlin. Research at the university is focused on the...
, and the Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales
École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales
The École des hautes études en sciences sociales is a leading French institution for research and higher education, a Grand Établissement. Its mission is research and research training in the social sciences, including the relationship these latter maintain with the natural and life sciences...
(Paris). He served as Associate Director and then Director of the Harriman Institute
Harriman Institute
The Harriman Institute, the first academic center in the United States devoted to the interdisciplinary study of Russia and the Soviet Union, was founded at Columbia University in 1946, with the support of the Rockefeller Foundation, as the Russian Institute....
(1989–2001). In the School of International and Public Affairs at Columbia, he chaired the task force on review of the school’s curriculum, headed its Inter-regional Council, and served as director of the master’s program in international affairs.
He is on the editorial boards of Ab Imperio and Kritika. Von Hagen serves (and has served) on several professional association boards (the National Council for Eurasian and East European Studies, the American Association for the Advancement of Slavic Studies, and the Association for the Study of Nationalities, among others). He is also a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and the Human Rights Watch Eurasia Steering Committee. He serves as a consultant for the Russian Archives Project of Primary Source Microfilms (Gale Group). From 2002 to 2005 Von Hagen was president of the International Association for Ukrainian Studies.
Prof. Mark von Hagen was also commissioned by The New York Times to write an independent assessment of New York Times correspondent Walter Duranty
Walter Duranty
Walter Duranty was a Liverpool-born British journalist who served as the Moscow bureau chief of the New York Times from 1922 through 1936. Duranty won a Pulitzer Prize in 1932 for a set of stories written in 1931 on the Soviet Union...
and his reporting on the Soviet Union
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
after the newspaper received a letter from the Pulitzer Prize
Pulitzer Prize
The Pulitzer Prize is a U.S. award for achievements in newspaper and online journalism, literature and musical composition. It was established by American publisher Joseph Pulitzer and is administered by Columbia University in New York City...
Board regarding allegations of Duranty's cover up of communist genocide.
The "Ukrainian Weekly" reports as follows:
In the letter, the board said it was responding to "a new round of demands" that the prize awarded to Mr. Duranty in 1932 be revoked, The New York Times reported. The letter asked the newspaper for its comments on Mr. Duranty's work.
As part of its review of Mr. Duranty's work, The New York Times commissioned Dr. von Hagen, an expert on early 20th century Soviet history, to examine nearly all of what Mr. Duranty wrote for The New York Times in 1931.
"After reading through a good portion of Duranty's reporting for 1931, I was disappointed and disturbed by the overall picture he painted of the Soviet Union for that period," Dr. von Hagen wrote. "But after reading so much of Duranty in 1931 it is far less surprising to me that he would deny in print the famine of 1932-1933."
Asked if his opinion of Mr. Duranty's reporting would change if he were to examine only those 13 articles for which Mr. Duranty won the Pulitzer Prize, Dr. von Hagen replied with a resolute no. The reporting for which he won the Pulitzer Prize was "quintessential of the problems of Mr. Duranty's analysis," Dr. von Hagen said. The professor said that Mr. Duranty's award "diminishes the prize's value."