Background
Anatoly Shikman was born on March 12, 1948, in Moscow to Pavel Morrisovitch and Yelena Borisovna Shikman.
Anatoly Shikman was born on March 12, 1948, in Moscow to Pavel Morrisovitch and Yelena Borisovna Shikman.
After his service in the Navy, Shikman enrolled in the History Department of the Moscow State Teacher"s Training Institute, from which he graduated in 1975.
He went to school until eighth grade, after which he went to work as a driver, a loader, a librarian and as a theater stage hand, while stimultaneously studying at night school. During his time at the institute, he started working as a school teacher. Serious conflicts arose, when the school authorities insisted he taught history in accordance with party dogma, which prevailed in the Union of the Soviet Socialist Republics. The eventually led to Shikman frequently changing jobs: he taught art history and worked as a senior researcher at the Russian State Archive of Ancient Documents.
In addition to his various jobs, Anatoly began publishing articles and books on remarkable Russians, the history of Moscow, culture, pedagogy and bibliography in 1981.
In 1986, Leonid Isidorovich Milgram, the prominent director of school North°45 in Moscow, offered Shikman a job. Milgram was one of the few who managed to create a spirit of freedom in the school, and he fostered respect towards both student and teachers.
Two years later, in 1988, he wrote his first essay on classified historical archives, initiating a number of fundamental works on the history of Soviet censorship. Since 1989, he has published seven books
Health reasons caused him to stop teaching in 2008, and he is presently engaged in research and literary work.
