Françoise Thom (born 1951) is a French historian and

Sovietologist Kremlinology is the study and analysis of the politics and policies of the Soviet Union while Sovietology is the study of politics and policies of both the Soviet Union and former communist states more generally. These two terms were synonymous unt ...

, honorary lecturer in contemporary history at

Paris-Sorbonne University Paris-Sorbonne University (also known as Paris IV; french: Université Paris-Sorbonne, Paris IV) was a public research university in Paris, France, active from 1971 to 2017. It was the main inheritor of the Faculty of Humanities of the Universit ...

. A specialist in

post-communist Post-communism is the period of political and economic transformation or transition in former communist states located in Eastern Europe and parts of Africa and Asia in which new governments aimed to create free market-oriented capitalist economi ...

Russia, she is the author of works of political analysis on the country and its leaders.

Early life and education

Françoise Thom was born in

Strasbourg Strasbourg (, , ; german: Straßburg ; gsw, label=Bas Rhin Alsatian, Strossburi , gsw, label=Haut Rhin Alsatian, Strossburig ) is the prefecture and largest city of the Grand Est region of eastern France and the official seat of the Eu ...

, 1951. Her parents are

René Thom René Frédéric Thom (; 2 September 1923 – 25 October 2002) was a French mathematician, who received the Fields Medal in 1958. He made his reputation as a topologist, moving on to aspects of what would be called singularity theory; he became w ...

, a mathematician known for his theory of catastrophes and winner of the

Fields Medal The Fields Medal is a prize awarded to two, three, or four mathematicians under 40 years of age at the International Congress of the International Mathematical Union (IMU), a meeting that takes place every four years. The name of the award ho ...

, and of Suzanne Helmlinger. Françoise has two siblings, Elizabeth and Christian. Thom has a degree in Russian.

Career

She lived for three years in the

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national ...

, then taught Russian in secondary schools in

Ferney-Voltaire Ferney-Voltaire () is a commune in the Ain department in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region of eastern France. It lies between the Jura Mountains and the Swiss border; it forms part of the metropolitan area of Geneva. History Ferney was first n ...

and

Calais Calais ( , , traditionally , ) is a port city in the Pas-de-Calais department, of which it is a subprefecture. Although Calais is by far the largest city in Pas-de-Calais, the department's prefecture is its third-largest city of Arras. Th ...

. She is a research associate at the Institut français de polémologie. In 1983, she defended a thesis entitled , directed by Alain Besançon at the

School for Advanced Studies in the Social Sciences The School for Advanced Studies in the Social Sciences (french: École des hautes études en sciences sociales; EHESS) is a graduate ''grande école'' and ''grand établissement'' in Paris focused on academic research in the social sciences. The ...

. She was then appointed lecturer in

contemporary history Contemporary history, in English-language historiography, is a subset of modern history that describes the historical period from approximately 1945 to the present. Contemporary history is either a subset of the late modern period, or it is ...

at Paris-Sorbonne University. In 2011, she presented a dissertation entitled , for which was the supervisor, at the Paris-Sorbonne University. She published her thesis in a book entitled, , in 1987. She also published , with Isabelle Stal, in 1985, (1989), and (1994). In 1998, she co-authored, with

Jean Foyer Jean Foyer (21 April 1921, Contigné, Maine-et-Loire – 3 October 2008, Paris) was a French politician and minister. He studied law and became a law professor at the university. He wrote several books about French Civil law. Political care ...

Jacques Julliard Jacques Julliard (born 4 March 1933) is a French historian, columnist and essayist, and a former union leader. He is the author of numerous books. Life Early years Jacques Julliard was born on 4 March 1933 in Brénod, Ain. His father and grandfa ...

, and

Jean-Pierre Thiollet Jean-Pierre Thiollet (; born 9 December 1956) is a French writer and journalist. Primarily living in Paris, he is the author of numerous books and one of the national leaders of the European Confederation of Independent Trade Unions (CEDI), a ...

, the book, ''La

Pensée unique "''Pensée unique''" ( French for "single thought") is a pejorative expression for mainstream ideological conformism of any kind, almost always opposed to that of the speaker. Originally, it is a French expression and referred to claims that neol ...

- Le vrai procès''. She collected, translated, prefaced and annotated the memoirs and analyses of Sergo Beria, son of

Lavrentiy Beria Lavrentiy Pavlovich Beria (; rus, Лавре́нтий Па́влович Бе́рия, Lavréntiy Pávlovich Bériya, p=ˈbʲerʲiə; ka, ლავრენტი ბერია, tr, ; – 23 December 1953) was a Georgian Bolshevik ...

, published in 1999 under the title . In 2013, she finally published a biography of Beria, under the title . In 2018, she published ''Comprendre le poutinisme'' (Understanding

Putinism Putinism (russian: путинизм, translit=putinizm) is the social, political, and economic system of Russia formed during the political leadership of Vladimir Putin. It is characterized by the concentration of political and financial powe ...

), in which she recalls

Vladimir Putin Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin; (born 7 October 1952) is a Russian politician and former intelligence officer who holds the office of president of Russia. Putin has served continuously as president or prime minister since 1999: as prime min ...

's former membership in the

KGB The KGB (russian: links=no, lit=Committee for State Security, Комитет государственной безопасности (КГБ), a=ru-KGB.ogg, p=kəmʲɪˈtʲet ɡəsʊˈdarstvʲɪn(ː)əj bʲɪzɐˈpasnəsʲtʲɪ, Komitet gosud ...

and studies the "propaganda of Russian power".

Personal life

In April 2005, she married historian Georges Mamoulia.

Selected works

Books

* ''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. * ''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. * ''La Marche à rebours. Regards sur l’histoire soviétique et russe'', Paris, Sorbonne Université Presses, collection "Mondes contemporains", 2021, 724 p. * ''Poutine ou l'obsession de la puissance'', Litos, 2022, 248 p.

Articles

* "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

* Beria, Sergo, ''Beria, mon père : au cœur du pouvoir stalinien'', Plon/Critérion, 1999, 448 p.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Thom, Francoise 1951 births Living people People from Strasbourg 20th-century French historians 21st-century French historians Historians of Russia Paris-Sorbonne University alumni Historians of communism Academic staff of Paris-Sorbonne University