Evacuation of Population from the Kursk Region in Summer – Autumn, 1941: Aspects of Source Study
| 15 October 2024
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Publication of archival documents
Afanasyeva Yu.L., Kursk, Russian Federation
Evacuation of Population from the Kursk Region in Summer – Autumn, 1941: Aspects of Source Study
Abstract
This article is a result of studying population flow in the days of the Great Patriotic War (a case study of theKursk region). The issueisof great significance in todayRussia, sinceabout a million displaced personsarrived in the countryover therecent year.An integral part of the wartime economic conversion was large-scale evacuation of population and material values, which began in the first days of the war. Evacuation from theKursk region territory was conducted in several stages due tothe situation at the fronts, and the greatest difficulties it encountered in August - November, 1941. During this period 72 thousand people were evacuated from the Kursk region.The author studies regulatory documents concerning evacuation, including those of the State Defense Committee (GKO), the Evacuation Council, as well aslocal acts. The article analyses activity of the bodies of state authority involved in the relocatingat most diverse levels. It ascertains population categoriesthat qualified for evacuation; describes social policy regardingevacuees to the rear and stages of relocation, reports difficulties faced by evacuation operations offices and citizens. Losses and damages to the national economy coming from miscalculationsduring evacuation have been estimated. The research is based mainly on the materials from regional archives: the State Archive of the Kursk Region, the Center for Documentation and Recent History of the Kursk Region, Archive of the Federal Security Service Directorate of the Russian Federation for the Kursk Region, as well as those fromthe Russian State Archive of Socio-Political History. The study also uses published sources: documents, memoirs, and letters.Absence of a realizable plan of evacuation by the beginning of the war resulted in numerous miscalculationsand led to failureof maximum relocation of people from the occupied areas.
Keywords
Great Patriotic War, Kursk region, evacuation, Evacuation Council, Resettlement Directorate, Evacuation Committee, Kursk Defense Committee, refugees, evacuation centre, evacuees identity papers, occupation.
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About the authors
Afanasyeva Yulia Leonidovna, PhD in History, assistant professor at the Kursk State Agricultural Academy, Kursk, Russian Federation, +7-904-520-89-59, This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it