Re-registration of the members of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks (VKP(b)) as a form of checking their loyalty to the Soviet power on the examples of the Krasnodar region. 1943-1944
Scientific article
doi 10.28995/2073-0101-2024-2-620-630
For citation
Ivantsov, Igor' G. (2024), “Re-registration of the members of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks (VKP(b)) as a form of checking their loyalty to the Soviet power on the examples of the Krasnodar region. 1943-1944”, Herald of an Archivist, no. 2, pp. 620-630. doi 10.28995/2073-0101-2024-2-620-630
Ivantsov, Igor' G., S. M. Shtemenko Krasnodar Higher Military School, Krasnodar, Russia
Re-registration of the members of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks (VKP(b)) as a form of checking their loyalty to the Soviet power on the examples of the Krasnodar region. 1943-1944
Abstract
The article is devoted to the disclosure of the activities of party organizations of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks in Kuban during the Great Patriotic War, mainly after the liberation of the Krasnodar region from the German invaders from January to autumn 1943. One of the tasks was to resume after the occupation the structure of party organizations of cities and districts. District committees of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks (b), party organizations at district executive committees, cells in organizations, institutions, enterprises, collective farms, village councils, primary party organizations in district departments of the NKGB and NKVD were being formed. The source base of the article was unpublished archival documents of 1943 - early 1944, stored in the Center for Documentation of Contemporary History of Krasnodar Region (CDCHKR) and representing a top-secret correspondence between the secretaries of the district party committees and the regional committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks (b). The main contents of the correspondence are materials of inspections of communists who, at the end of July and beginning of August 1942, when the unexpected and rapid attack of German troops on the cities and districts of the Kuban began, did not evacuate to the Soviet rear for various reasons. The stay of the Communists in the occupied territory became for them (as well as for the entire population, of which they were a part) a severe ordeal. Many were forced to conceal their affiliation with the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks (Bolsheviks) and destroyed their party cards. Others took jobs in enterprises controlled by the German administration, and some took the path of cooperation with the Germans. Already after the expulsion of the Nazi troops, their allies and collaborators, they were re-registered in the party and were obliged to undergo humiliating inspection procedures. All of them, without exception, wrote explanatory statements about their stay in the occupation and their occupation in the enemy-occupied territory, were massively expelled from the Party for cowardice and loss or deliberate destruction of their Party card. As a rule, most of them had no real guilt. The article uses a micro-historical approach, where the object of study is local historical events, allowing a deeper understanding of the depth of drama in the lives of people of this difficult period, accused undeservedly of collaboration when the Soviet authorities were restoring the former order. In the course of checks on loyalty to the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks (Bolsheviks) and the country, criminal acts of some Communists, which were not subject to forgiveness, also surfaced.
Keywords
Historical sources, source study, All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks, military everyday life, forced loyalty to the occupants, re-registration, betrayal.
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About the authors
Igor' G. Ivantsov, Doctor of Historical Sciences, Associate Professor, S. M. Shtemenko Krasnodar Higher Military School, 1st Department, Professor, Krasnodar, Russia, 8-861-268-368-3-18, This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
ORCID 0000-0002-3820-3642
The article was received in the editorial office on 12.01.2023, recommended for publication on 20.03.2024.