Elena Gorokhovskaya

From mid-1944 to 1947, an Austrian scientist Konrad Lorenz, known as one of the founders of ethology, was a prisoner of war in the Soviet Union. While in captivity, he wrote a volume of scientific and philosophical work, usually referred to by the students ofhis legacy as the “Russian manuscript.” Lorenz brought the handwritten volume home, and it became a basis of his further works, including Behind the Mirror. On demand of the Soviet authorities, he also produced a typewritten version of the manuscript, which was left in the USSR. The documents related to Lorenz’s stay in captivity - namely, his Registration File as a prisoner and two copies of the typewritten manuscript — are kept in the State Military Archives of the Russian Federation. By comparing the Registration File with Lorenz’s recollections, the author was able to reconstruct some circumstances of his life in captivity, e. g., the sequence of his transfers fi-om one prison camp to another. Having compared the published handwiitlen version of Lorenz’s “Russian manuscript” with the typewritten one, the author discovered that they considerably differ from one another. The article discusses some of the differences between the two versions, particularly those concerning their introductory sections. By juxtaposing the two texts, the author concludes that the typewritten version reveals a shift in Lorenz’s views on human behavior (dating back to 1940s) to a greater extent than the handwritten one. The typewntten version contains certain ideas quite close to those developed in his publications of 1950s. It also features some ideas not found in the rest of Lorenz's work, e. g., his thoughts about a new ethic.