Diachenko Michail Ivanovich

Michail Ivanovich Diachenko was more than a father to Olga, he was her first teacher in psychology. It was a remarkable person.

Michail Ivanovich was born on February 16th 1919 in Sednev, Chernigov oblast, Russia. He aspired after knowledge since he was a little boy, he used to read a lot and by the end of high school he knew two languages – German and French. Having had graduated with excellence from high school, M.I. Diachenko had decided to apply for University of Kiev. At admission examination he was advised to chose faculty of humanitarian sciences because of his high culture of speech, but he said “I want to be a mathematician” and was admitted to physics-mathematics faculty.

The Second World War had interrupted his education. In 1941 M.I. Diachenko had volunteered to the battlefield. He began his military service as a private but by 1942 he had been appointed to command cavalry regimen. He used to carry out various tasks but he was primarily an observation scout in rear of enemy. M.I. Diachenko often used to get into life-threatening situations but never lost his composure.

Once he got ahead of his fellow soviet troops and found himself alone in a village. He asked a local for some water and was told that there were German soldiers in that person’s house. M.I. Diachenko’s comments of this situation: “I said to him “Tell them to surrender”. I was standing there, holding a grenade in one hand and a machine gun in another. And suddenly house door opens and five armed Germans walking out with their hands above their heads. I ordered them to throw their weapons on the ground and then walked them for 6 miles to our troops post”. M.I. Diachenko went through the war from it’s beginning to it’s end, which he met at Budapest. He fought at Western, Bryansk, Don, 1-st Belarussian, and 2- nd Ukranian battlefields, at Kursk Arc, and fought for Moscow and Stalingrad. M.I. Diachenko was awarded with Order of Glory, two Orders of Red Star, two medals For Service in Battle, a medal for Courage and others.

After the war, M.I. Diachenko had decided to continue his education, but the army command rejected his retirement and only because of his forethoughtful not handing in his student's report book and ID card at recruitment, he could successfully apply to mathematics and physics faculty of M.I. Kalinin Blagoveshensk State Pedagogical Institute in 1948 and combine his military service with education. In the same city of Blagiveshensk he go married to pedagogical institute teacher Nadezhda Zakharovna. In 1948 their daughter Olga was born. In 1950 M.I. Diachenko had become a post-graduate student at Higher Military-Pedagogical Institute in Leningrad. His teachers were B.G. Ananyev and G.D. Lukov, to whom many of his works were dedicated.
 

In 1952 M.I. Diachenko had defended his PhD thesis on “Psychological analysis of soviet soldier’s act of bravery”. From 1953 he did his research and teaching at V.I. Lenin Military-political Academy, where he initiated establishment of military pedagogy and psychology department which was the first scientific school of military psychology on the USSR.

 
M.I. Diachenko is the originator of modern school of military psychology based on theoretical analysis of military’s problems as well as on actual military operation experience. In 1969 he had defended his doctoral thesis on “Psychological analysis of soviet soldiers’ military experience”.

M.I. Diachenko retired from the army in the rank of colonel. He was repeatedly offered various high posts, but he preferred teaching and research work. In his development of military psychology he considered it to be not only a branch of psychological science, but also an important part of military science in general. He believed that military psychology must be closely connected with military practice, and it should be taught by teachers with both military experience and deep theoretical knowledge.
 
During his scientific life he raised several generations of military psychologists and was a scientific tutor of over 30 PhD theses and 2 doctoral theses on problems of military psychology. M.I. Diachenko associated with all the leading psychologists of his time, was an active participant of psychological conferences. Apart from military aspects, M.I. Diachenko was interested in wide spectrum of psychology’s problems, including psychology of the Higher School. In collaboration with L.A. Kandibovich he wrote a book “Psychology of the Higher School” which circulation was reissued for 6 times. M.I. Diachenko wrote over 20 books.

All his free from work time M.I. Diachenko used to dedicate to his beloved daughter Olga. He had great many conversations with her on literature, human problems, perspectives and a meaning of psychology. He believed that only a highly educated man, who had mastered legacy of human culture, is able to be an original psychologist. For this reason he and his wife Nadezhda Zakharovna were striving to give Olga the best and most versatile education – she used to take additional English courses, graduated with excellence from musical school, had mastered a typewriter and helped him to prepare scientific works for publication while still in school. But the most valuable lesson he gave her is to cherish time and work productively.

It was her father who shaped Olga’s worldview and by the end of her school education Olga knew that she will become a psychologist.