Professor Polivanov came to Kyrgyzstan at the personal invitation of the then-disgraced researcher of the Institute of Cultural Construction, former People's Commissar of Education of the Kyrgyz ASSR K. Tynystanov. They were acquainted in Tashkent, and Tynystanov decided to lure the famous linguist, creator of textbooks for Uzbek schools, to scientifically strengthen his native institute and revive the work on creating Kyrgyz and Dungan textbooks. Order No. 22, issued on July 21, 1934, by the Institute, stated: “To enroll Professor Polivanov as of 7/VII as a research associate of the institute in the position of an active member of the Dungan sector with a salary of 600 rubles per month. Probation period with the conclusion of a personal contract. Basis: Polivanov's report with the director's resolution of the Institute.”
The director at that time was Shikhalov. Thus, unexpectedly, a linguist of world stature shone in Frunze.
It should be noted that by this time, the name E. D. Polivanov was indeed widely known in scientific circles, and perhaps even more so abroad than in the Soviet Union.
Evgeny Dmitrievich Polivanov lived a short but bright life.
He was born in Smolensk on February 28, 1881. In 1908, he graduated with a silver medal from the Riga Alexandrov Gymnasium and enrolled in St. Petersburg University. After a brilliant graduation in 1912, E. D. Polivanov received two invitations to stay at the university and chose the Department of Comparative Linguistics of Professor I. A. Baudouin. As we would say now — in graduate school. The fact is that alongside his studies at the university, he attended the Practical Oriental Academy, graduating with a specialization in Japanese. Thus, E. D. Polivanov became a representative of a special direction in Oriental studies, combining the roles of a philologist and a theoretical linguist.
In 1914, Polivanov passed his master's exams, defended his dissertation, and became a privat-docent of the Eastern Faculty, teaching courses in Japanese and Chinese languages. He published works on the Japanese language and studied the dialectal features of the indigenous people of Japan three times (in 1914, 1915, and 1916). During those same years, he visited Korea and China. Soon, Polivanov became a professor at his alma mater. Although he was non-partisan, Polivanov actively collaborated with the Bolsheviks.
He published in the Gorky legal newspaper "Novaya Zhizn," and during the elections to the Constituent Assembly, he voted on the Bolshevik list. From September 1917, Polivanov headed the press department in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. He is credited with the deciphering, translation, and publication of the secret treaties of the tsarist government.
Professor Polivanov immediately and unconditionally accepted the October Revolution. As a specialist in Eastern languages (primarily Japanese and Chinese), he worked in the People's Commissariat for Foreign Affairs (and at one time worked under the direct supervision of Lev Troitsky, which would later play a role in the scientist's fateful destiny).
37 YEARS IN KYRGYZSTAN