УДК 94(47)084.8

GORDINA E.D.,

Nizhny Novgorod, Russian Federation

WORKING WITH CHILDREN IN THE CONTEXT OF COMBATING HOMELESSNESS AMONG CHILDREN AFTER WORLD WAR II: FROM ARCHIVAL MATERIALS OF THE GORKY REGION

Abstract

The article draws on regional archival material introduced into scientific use for the first time and reviews forms of arranging work with children in order to prevent neglect of children and combat homelessness among them in the Gorky region in the first post-war years (1946-1948). On March 12, 1946 the meeting of the Bureau of the Gorkygorkom of the CPSU (b) passed a resolution "On strengthening educational work with children and on measures to combat homelessness and neglect in the city", which involved additional measures to address the problem. Various educational, cultural, sports and recreational institutions, as well as Komsomol were to involvechildren as much as possible and also organize their extracurricular time: after school hours, weekends and public holidays, vacations. The problem of neglect grew most acute during long summer holidays when the children were to fend for themselves, parents at work andunable to organize any leisure activities. Schools (or other institutions attended by the children) were to planthe events, drawup a schedule, determine events contentand have over-all charge, while other institutions were to provide the necessaries (for example, for watching a movie) or toorganizethe activities (i.e., exhibitions, tours, performances, etc.) in accordance with schedule. The article provides insight intothe particulars of this work in a case-study of the Gorky region and highlights its key trends, such as organization of children's clubs and classes, controlling attendance, academic performance, family and living conditions of children, identifying problems and solving them to the extent possiblewithinvolvement of school communities, parents, party organizations, police, mentoring enterprisesand organizations. Schooladministration and teachers monitored and took measures to raise attendance, paid close attention to poor performance and attempted to find out and remedy its causes. Overall, theseeffortshelped prevent neglect and homelessness of children.

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Keywords

Archive, archival document, fighting homelessness and neglect, children, school, children’s clubs and classes, academic performance, teacher.

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About author

Gordinа Elena Dmitrievna, PhD inHistory, Head of the Department of Methodology, History and Philosophy of Science of the R.E. Alekseeva Nizhny Novgorod State Technical University (NSTU), Nizhny Novgorod, Russian Federation, 8-910-388-18-27, This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it