Françoise Thom (born 1951) is a French historian and Sovietologist, honorary lecturer in contemporary history at Paris-Sorbonne University. A specialist in post-communist Russia, she is the author of works of political analysis on the country and its leaders.
Françoise Thom | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born | 1951 Strasbourg, France |
| Occupation | Historian |
| Spouse |
Georges Mamoulia (m. 2005) |
| Parent | René Thom |
| Academic background | |
| Alma mater | Paris-Sorbonne University |
| Thesis | De l'URSS à la Russie (1929-2011). Politique intérieure, politique étrangère, les imbrications (2011) |
| Doctoral advisor | Olivier Forcade |
| Other advisors | Alain Besançon |
| Academic work | |
| Discipline | Contemporary history |
| Sub-discipline | Sovietology |
| Institutions | Paris-Sorbonne University |
Early life and education
editFrançoise Thom was born in Strasbourg, 1951.[1] Her parents are René Thom, a mathematician known for his theory of catastrophes and winner of the Fields Medal, and of Suzanne Helmlinger. Françoise has two siblings, Elizabeth and Christian.[2]
Thom has a degree in Russian.[3]
Career
editShe lived for three years in the Soviet Union, then taught Russian in secondary schools in Ferney-Voltaire and Calais. She is a research associate at the Institut français de polémologie. In 1983, she defended a thesis entitled La Langue de bois soviétique : description, rôle et fonctionnement, directed by Alain Besançon at the School for Advanced Studies in the Social Sciences.[4]
She was then appointed lecturer in contemporary history at Paris-Sorbonne University. In 2011, she presented a dissertation entitled De l'URSS à la Russie (1929-2011). Politique intérieure, politique étrangère, les imbrications, for which Olivier Forcade was the supervisor, at the Paris-Sorbonne University.[5]
She published her thesis in a book entitled, La Langue de bois, in 1987.[6][7] She also published L'École des barbares, with Isabelle Stal, in 1985, Le Moment Gorbatchev (1989),[8] and Les Fins du communisme (1994).
In 1998, she co-authored, with Jean Foyer, Jacques Julliard, and Jean-Pierre Thiollet, the book, La Pensée unique - Le vrai procès. She collected, translated, prefaced and annotated the memoirs and analyses of Sergo Beria, son of Lavrentiy Beria, published in 1999 under the title Beria, mon père : au cœur du pouvoir stalinien.[9] In 2013, she finally published a biography of Beria, under the title Beria. le Janus du Kremlin.[10] In 2018, she published Comprendre le poutinisme (Understanding Putinism), in which she recalls Vladimir Putin's former membership in the KGB and studies the "propaganda of Russian power".[3]
Personal life
editIn April 2005, she married historian Georges Mamoulia.[citation needed]
Selected works
editBooks
edit- L'École des barbares, with Isabelle Stal, Paris, Julliard, 1985
- La langue de bois, Paris, Julliard, 1987
- Les fins du communisme, Paris, Critérion, 1994
- Le Moment Gorbatchev, Paris, Hachette, 1989
- Beria : Le Janus du Kremlin, Paris, Cerf, 2013 924 p. ISBN 978-2204101585
- Géopolitique de la Russie, with Jean-Sylvestre Mongrenier, Paris, PUF, collection "Que sais-je?", 2016
- Comprendre le poutinisme, Paris/Perpignan, Desclée De Brouwer, 2018, 240 p. ISBN 978-2-220-09426-7
- La Marche à rebours. Regards sur l’histoire soviétique et russe, Paris, Sorbonne Université Presses, collection "Mondes contemporains", 2021, 724 p. ISBN 979-10-231-0686-2
- Poutine ou l'obsession de la puissance, Litos, 2022, 248 p.
Articles
edit- "Les Occidentaux devant la fin de l’Union soviétique", Commentaire, no 118, February 2007, pp. 373-382
- "Le parti russe en France", Commentaire, February 2016, pp. 432-436
Editor
edit- Beria, Sergo, Beria, mon père : au cœur du pouvoir stalinien, Plon/Critérion, 1999, 448 p. ISBN 9782259190169
References
edit- ^ "FRANÇOISE THOM - Rencontres et débats". rencontres-et-debats-autrement.org. Retrieved 28 January 2023.
- ^ Who's who in France. J. Lafitte. 1997. p. 1634. ISBN 978-2-85784-035-0. OCLC 1604694.
- ^ a b Mandraud, Isabelle (21 October 2019). "Françoise Thom, la procureure de Poutine". Le Monde.fr (in French). Retrieved 28 January 2023.
- ^ Thom, Françoise (1983). La Langue de bois soviétique: description, rôle et fonctionnement (Thesis) (in French). Retrieved 28 January 2023.
- ^ "Mme Françoise Thom Mamulia - De l'URSS à la Russie (1929-2011). Politique intérieure, politique étrangère, les imbrications. [HDR]". lettres.sorbonne-universite.fr (in French). 2011. Retrieved 28 January 2023 – via archive.wikiwix.com.
- ^ Tinguy, Anne de (1989). "Basile Kerblay. La Russie de Gorbatchev ; Françoise Thom. Le moment Gorbatchev". Politique étrangère (in French). 54 (4): 788–790. Retrieved 28 January 2023.
- ^ Lenclud, Gérard (1987). "Parler bois. A propos d'un ouvrage de Françoise Thom". Études rurales (in French). 107 (1): 257–68. doi:10.3406/rural.1987.3217. Retrieved 28 January 2023.
- ^ Gourg, Marianne (1993). "Françoise Thom, le Moment Gorbatchev,1991". La Revue russe (in French). 5 (1): 101–104. Retrieved 28 January 2023.
- ^ Chesnais, Jean-Claude (1999). "Beria, mon père. Au coeur du pouvoir stalinien, éd. Françoise Thom". Politique étrangère (in French). 64 (3): 752. Retrieved 28 January 2023.
- ^ Paoli, Paul-François (20 November 2013). "Les mystères Beria". LEFIGARO (in French). Retrieved 28 January 2023.