People create their own history. They are authors, directors, and actors of their own destiny. The first rector of the Kokchetav Pedagogical Institute is undoubtedly a legendary figure throughout the republic. In the history of the university, Ivan Stepanovich Gorokhvodatsky (1906-1978), whose fate included significant milestones in the country’s biography, occupies a special place. Even a long life is still short, and the life of this man coincided with the grandiose transformations of the era. The construction of the foundations of socialism in the Kazakh Republic is, first of all, a period of active cultural construction and an accelerated solution to its primary task - the elimination of illiteracy. At that time, competent personnel were in great demand, and as a very young 16-year-old boy, Gorokhvodatsky began teaching at the elementary school in his native village of Aiyrtau, where he was born on May 20, 1906. During the years of the first five-year plan, Ivan Stepanovich, who already at that time had experience as a director in schools in Kzyl-Orda and Almaty, was more than once nominated as a trade union leader. With an acute shortage of educated personnel, a promising young man was noticed and appointed head of the district (1928-1933). Ivan Stepanovich’s career is growing rapidly: in 1933-1938 he headed the Department of the Central Committee of Labor of the Union of the National School of Labor (1933-1938). In the fateful summer of 1941, the Great Patriotic War began. In June, the young communist completed his studies at the history department of the Kzyl-Orda Pedagogical Institute; the capable, active graduate of the university was left to teach there until 1943, the year of a radical turning point in the course of the war. During the Great Patriotic War, reservations for public education workers were maintained in Kazakhstan; men were drafted to the front, but in the deep rear, life goes on. The entire cream of the Soviet creative and scientific intelligentsia is coming to evacuate the capital of Kazakhstan. Ivan Stepanovich was included in the editorial board of the first volume of “History of the KazSSR”, published in the harsh war year of 1943, headed by the first doctor of historical sciences among the Kazakhs, the first professor of history Ermukhan Bekmakhanov. Gorokhvodatsky’s scientific activity is quite intense: he explores the problems of the agrarian movement in the period 1917-1956, having published in collaboration with P.M. Pakhmurny, B.S. Suley Menov two-volume work “The Labor and Agrarian Movement in Kazakhstan in 1907-1914.” The collection provides an opportunity to present a picture of the labor and agrarian movement in Kazakhstan at the beginning of the 20th century. The promising historian also participated in the development of the section “Political system of the Kazakh khanates. The main features of the customary law of the Kazakhs" of the second volume of the publication "History of the Kazakh SSR" edited by Mukhtar Auezov. Ivan Stepanovich, being a member of the All-Union Communist Party, and later the CPSU, was forced, like many researchers of that time, to strictly adhere to the party line. Naturally, Marxist-Leninist ideology could not help but influence the formation of his worldview and the formation of his personality. The key to understanding what was happening in the social sciences of post-war Kazakhstan is given even by just one excerpt from the resolution of a meeting of historians in May 1944, held with the participation of secretaries for ideology: “The leaders of national liberation movements should not be idealized,” that is, in fact, small oppressed peoples cannot be recognized rights neither to their heroes nor to their heroic fighting traditions of the struggle for independence. This means that during the Soviet period, historians of the national borderlands were not allowed to resurrect the names of batyrs and prominent figures in the people’s memory. We are not given the opportunity to know Ivan Stepanovich’s true position at that time, alas. He did not stop remaining devoted to the ideals of socialism until his last days of life. Since March 1950, Gorokhvodatsky has been deputy director for scientific work of the Kazakh branch of IMELS under the CPSU Central Committee (1945-1953), where, by the way, he defended his dissertation for the degree of candidate of historical sciences in 1950. In September 1957, he was confirmed with the rank of associate professor at the Department of History of the CPSU of Kazakh State University named after Kirov, where he teaches social disciplines. There was also a period in Gorokhvodatsky’s life when his practical experience and deep knowledge of history were highly valued by the authorities, who in 1953 appointed him director of the Institute of History, Archeology and Ethnography of the Academy of Sciences of the Kazakh SSR - a very significant ideological position. For three years he has been leading the research that has begun - archaeological excavations. In 1954, he sent a description of Gafurov’s Kyrgyz project on the history of the republic as a model for a similar project to the President of the Academy of Sciences of the Kazakh SSR D.A. Kunaev, noting that the study of eastern sources is of great importance for the historiography of Kazakhstan. The first attempt to identify such sources belongs to A.A. Semenov, who was involved in this in 1936-1937. Gorokhvodatsky is confident that the Kazakh project is an initiative of the Institute of History in Almaty (opened in 1945) and clarifies in detail: it was A.A. Semenov, who worked in the Turkmen group at that time, translated several passages about the Kazakhs from Arabic and Persian manuscripts of the 14th century. In 1954, Gorokhvodatsky recommended obliging the Kyrgyz group to collect materials on the history of the Kazakh SSR and sent Sapar Ibragimov, an employee of the Institute of History in Alma-Ata, to Leningrad. After the war, difficult times came for ideological sciences: the first professional Kazakh historian Ermukhan Bekmakhanov, archaeologist Alkey Margulan, and writer Mukhtar Auezov were persecuted. It is known that it was during that period that a campaign of pressure on social disciplines began in Kazakhstan. And it’s not hard to imagine how difficult it was to run an academic institute under those conditions. Suddenly, a sharp turn changes the fate of Ivan Stepanovich - moving from the sunny capital of the Kazakh SSR, blooming green Alma-Ata, to the then provincial virgin town in the north of the republic. The ministry decides to send a venerable scientist, who has considerable leadership experience as an organizer in the field of education and education, as rector of the newly opened pedagogical institute in Kokshetau. So, for a decade, from 1962 to 1971, Ivan Stepanovich headed the university. The Pedagogical Institute is rightfully considered the oldest university in the northern region: during the years of virgin land development, state farms were intensively organized, schools were opened everywhere, and a shortage of teaching staff inevitably arose. In the status of the head of the university, Gorokhvodatsky participates in the work of the All-Union Congress of Teachers, July 2-4, 1968, held in Moscow, to which the best representatives of education were delegated: Akhmadeev T., Blank E.Ya., Dzhanaev K.K., Balakhmetov K.B. ., Kashemirova M.Z., Kornilenko-Kochnova A.D., Ospanov K.O., Trofimov I.A., Sarseneva N.Zh., Shuklova R.N. The first academic year at the Kokchetav Pedagogical Institute, established by a resolution of the Council of Ministers of the KazSSR, began on September 10, 1962. The higher education institution is located in a former school building on Proletarskaya Street. Enrollment of students began on August 1, then 150 people were accepted for the first year of the full-time department, 100 for the part-time course, in the specialties: “Physics and Mathematics”, “Russian Language, Literature and History”, “Russian Languages Literature for Kazakh Schools”. Koishy Bibullaev is appointed vice-rector for scientific and educational work. The teaching staff of the first academic year consisted of 15 people, one was a candidate of sciences, an associate professor. At first, the university had only one united faculty, headed by German language teacher N.A. Chernova. The Department of Russian Language and Literature was headed by G.N. Bogdanov. Rector Gorokhvodatsky himself headed the department of Marxism-Leninism, the department of physics and mathematics A.A. Tyulebekov, physical education A.B. Abdrashitov. Ivan Stepanovich himself was directly involved in the selection of teaching staff: he sent letters to his acquaintances in Almaty with a request to recommend the best graduate students, looked closely at the experience of leading teachers of local city schools, convinced graduates of capital universities, in particular Kirov Kazakh State University, to go to the periphery, where there was a prospect of testing themselves , your strength. Since August 1963, the faculties of physics, mathematics and philology have functioned independently. In the first year of operation of the university, it is patronized by the Leningrad Pedagogical Institute. A.I. Herzen and KazPI named after. Abaya. In 1965, the Kokchetav Pedagogical Institute was named after the first Kazakh scientist Shokan Ualikhanov, and this involved a lot of effort by the first rector of the university. In the formation and development of the pedagogical institute, Gorokhvodatsky’s role is invaluable: the first director made a significant contribution to strengthening the material and technical base, 11 departments and 7 laboratories were opened under his leadership. Of course, Ivan Stepanovich was concerned about the problem of living and living conditions for students - two modern five-story dormitories were built next to the Torpedo stadium in the center of Kokshetau on what was then Uritsky Street, now Auelbekova, and a sports complex was organized. The following historical fact is noteworthy: on August 30, 1965, at the first meeting of the joint departments of German and English languages, Gorohvodatsky, in the spirit of the tenets of communist ideology, was forced to strictly highlight the emphasis: “The Ministry of Secondary and Higher Education places great hopes on the Kokchetav Department of Foreign Languages. Soon the first staff will go to school. It is necessary to more widely implement the idea of the Orsk Pedagogical Institute to introduce students to the environment where they will work. Therefore, from the 1st year, students should be sent to schools for educational work with students. There are a lot of Germans in our region, and many of them are wrong-minded. Sectarianism is widespread. In this regard, the faculty needs to engage in political mass work among the German population, attracting students. It is necessary to continue work on personnel training. To do this, we need to go to schools in the region with consultations and work with teachers in the city.” Thus, it is not difficult to imagine that the training of German language teachers comes to the fore and becomes a key task of local authorities after the above-mentioned resolutions of the governing bodies of Kazakhstan. Thus, it became possible to open a separate department of the German language at the Kokchetav Pedagogical Institute in the 1965-66 academic year. The head of the department was O.A. Palgov. The first teachers of the department are Z.I. Kuznetsova, V.N. Lezhanin, L.A. Korobova, E.A. File, L.K. Fedoseeva, S.T. Sharipova, I.A. Zeiser and others. The opening of the department of German language and literature inevitably encountered considerable difficulties, because in fact it was organized on the initiative of the institute and the faculty. In difficult conditions, the material base of the new department was created from scratch, take for example the complete lack of educational and work programs in the German language, literature on methods of teaching the German language. And although the relevant programs for any specialty came from the Ministry of Education of the Republic, this time the Ministry was in no hurry to send new programs to the institute, despite numerous requests from the university management. The only solution at the top was considered to send the rector of the institute I.S. on a business trip to Novosibirsk, Omsk, Barnaul. Gorokhvodatsky and the dean of the faculty V.S. Pochekaenkova. In these cities, the German language departments of pedagogical institutes accumulated valuable experience in creating study groups (10 people) in the specialty “German Language and Literature.” At the Kokchetav Pedagogical Institute, there was talk of creating an entire department where fifty students had to be taught. It is gratifying to realize that it was Candidate of Historical Sciences I.S. Gorokhvodatsky insisted on the need for an in-depth study of issues of history, ethnography, economics and law in the works of Shokan Valikhanov, which at that time was of undoubted interest for modern science. And naming the pedagogical institute in Kokchetav after an outstanding educator, scientist, ethnographer and traveler, whose family estate Syrymbet was located in the rector’s small homeland, also obliged us to do a lot. In the early seventies, a monument to the outstanding son of the Kazakh people was opened in Kokchetav, the author of which was his direct descendant, the sculptor and architect Shota Idrisovich Valikhanov. By the way, students from the construction team of the English department of the Faculty of Foreign Languages just took part in preparing the monument for the opening, mosaiced the mini-pools near the fountains, installed concrete slabs, and planted greenery. Old-timers of Kokshetau and veterans of teaching work who knew Ivan Stepanovich remember the first rector as a sincere, tactful and intelligent person. Of course, in times of total state control over all spheres of social life, the head of a pedagogical institute had to remain a socially active person, be able to get along with the local executive and legislative authorities, and actively participate in the public life of the city and region. In March 1963, Gorokhvodatsky was elected as a deputy of the city council. The first rector often gave lectures at regional seminars of lecturers and propagandists. The scientific heritage of Ivan Stepanovich includes the publication of 20 research and scientific propaganda works. Under his leadership, seven young scientists successfully defended their Ph.D. dissertations in the specialty “History of the CPSU.” And, of course, the hard work and efforts were not unnoticed by the authorities: the first rector had government awards and Certificates of Honor from the Supreme Council of the Kazakh SSR. According to the recollections of students, Ivan Stepanovich’s lectures awakened the mind, forced them to think, search, look beyond the horizon; if controversial discussions arose that required heated discussion and analysis, then teacher Gorokhvodatsky delicately and tactfully invited everyone to strongly argue a difficult approach, explain and defend their point of view. And this desire to intensify perception, the ability to hear and see deeper, to reflect, to seek and find fresh solutions, greatly appealed to young people. The name of Ivan Stepanovich Gorokhvodatsky, the first head of the university during its formation, was always in the thick of things, able to take responsibility for everything What happened within the walls of the institute will remain for subsequent generations an example of a person of creative work, a bearer of culture and morality, a true intellectual.
