Red Cross

The article, relying upon unpublished archival sources, analyzes the use of the healthcare potential as an additional means of creating a positive image of the Soviet Union abroad. The contribution of both the People’s Commissariat for Health and the All-Union Society for Cultural Relations with Foreign Countries (VOKS) to the organization of Soviet medical diplomacy in the Iranian direction is demonstrated.

In the article the life of the Saratov University during the First World War (before 1917) is examined. The changes in the activity of professorial and students’ corporations connected with the war’s tasks are analyzed. The special emphasis is made on indices of growth and development of this higher school.