Egyptian history was quite well-researched at the time, as the hieroglyphic script was deciphered over 100 years earlier. Knorozov and his mother fled with the troops to the Soviet-controlled territory and, finally, he found himself in Moscow, where he managed to continue his study at Moscow State University, specializing in Egyptology. He lived in German-occupied Pivdenne until 1943 when the Soviet troops first retook the town but then had to retreat. In September 1941, the Red Army drafted Knorozov for the construction of military fortifications in the Chernihiv region, though a month later, encircled by the advancing German forces, his detachment dissolved and Yuri made his way home. In the university, Knorozov had a special interest in shamanic practices and was fascinated with the ancient Egyptian language, had excellent grades in Latin, the basics of Marxism-Leninism, and military science. In 1939, he entered the historical faculty of Kharkiv State University and finished two years by the time of the Nazi German invasion in the USSR. And a military-medical commission declared Knorozov unfit for military service, which prevented him from becoming a doctor. In the highly militarized Soviet society of the time, medical faculties and institutes primarily trained military doctors so all the university entrants had to be eligible for military duty.
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