A Man of War on the Way to Peace: Combatants in the History of Russia of the 20th Century
From the Editor
A man of war on the way to peace...”. For many people these days, the ancient dichotomy of war and peace has suddenly acquired obvious relevance. The realization that we live in a “time of war” prompts historians to pose new questions to the seemingly unchanging material of the past. The 20th century went down in the history of Russia as the century of two world wars, revolutions, and armed conflicts, in which millions of people took part. Winners and losers, active creators and passive victims of events, combatants, prisoners of war, civilians, the wounded and disabled, children and orphans, and a lot of other categories and groups generated by wartime: how did they overcome the shifting and sometimes blurry line between war and peace? What difficulties did they face and what decisions guided them? How did the state participate in the transition process? How did this transit affect the country and society? What lessons can we learn from the past to highlight the situations of today and the likely future?
Adapting to a Peaceful Life
D.O. Nikulin
Adaptation of Сombatants of the First World War to the Rear Life in the Omsk Military District in 1915−1922
On the 110th anniversary of the First World War, the topic of the return of its veterans to the rear regions of the country is especially relevant − both during the war and after. In the course of recent geopolitical challenges, Russia resorted to limited mobilization, which happened in combination with capitalism for the first time since the First World War. The article identifies a number of situations that combatants faced upon returning from the front, as well as several variations of the attitude they faced from civilians and officials.
Publishing: 28/12/2024
How to cite: Nikulin D.O. Adaptation of Сombatants of the First World War to the Rear Life in the Omsk Military District in 1915−1922 // Historical Courier, 2024, No. 6 (38), pp. 11–21.[Available online: http://istkurier.ru/data/2024/ISTKURIER-2024-6-01.pdf]
Adapting to a Peaceful Life
N.N. Ablazhey, A.S. Zhanbosinova
Prisoners of the First World War in a New Homeland: The Practices of Adaptation
The article examines the adaptation practices of former prisoners of war of the First World War who remained permanently in Russia/USSR and ended up on the territory of Kazakhstan. The study is based on archival and investigative materials from the period of the Great Terror. Researched dynamics of national status, migration and social mobility, and marriage are shown. Captivity became not only a trauma for former prisoners of war, but also a social marker that secured their status as "exes", which eventually made them marginalized in Soviet society.
Publishing: 28/12/2024
How to cite: Ablazhey N.N., Zhanbossinova N.N. Prisoners of the First World War in a New Homeland: The Practices of Adaptation // Historical Courier, 2024, No. 6 (38), pp. 22–35. [Available online: http://istkurier.ru/data/2024/ISTKURIER-2024-6-02.pdf]
Adapting to a Peaceful Life
N.S. Sklyarenko
Social Security for War Invalids in the Tomsk Province and Tomsk District during the NEP Years
The article analyzes the process of forming a system of social and medical support for war invalids on the territory of the Tomsk province (since 1925, Tomsk district) during the period of the New Economic Policy (NEP), as one of the most important periods in the history of the USSR. Despite the difficult socio-economic situation in the country, in the territories of the Tomsk province and Tomsk district it was possible to create a powerful system for providing socio-economic and medical assistance to war disabled people.
Publishing: 28/12/2024
How to cite: Sklyarenko N.S. Social Security for War Invalids in the Tomsk Province and Tomsk District during the NEP Years // Historical Courier, 2024, No. 6 (38), pp. 36–49. [Available online: http://istkurier.ru/data/2024/ISTKURIER-2024-6-03.pdf]
Adapting to a Peaceful Life
D.I. Petin
Ex-Officers in the Social Space of the West Siberian Province in the 1920s: The Example of Tara and its District
Finding oneself in Soviet society in the 1920s representatives of the ex-officers is one of the colorful aspects of social history, including the problems of small towns. Turning to unpublished questionnaire documents from the standpoint of military anthropological knowledge allows us to identify the typical features of combatant officers that influenced the existence of these people in the conditions of the new state and society using the example of Tara, the district center of the West Siberian province.
Publishing: 28/12/2024
How to cite: Petin D.I. Ex-Officers in the Social Space of the West Siberian Province in the 1920s: The Example of Tara and its District // Historical Courier, 2024, No. 6 (38), pp. 50–65. [Available online: http://istkurier.ru/data/2024/ISTKURIER-2024-6-04.pdf]
Adapting to a Peaceful Life
M.A. Semenov
Comprehensive Rehabilitation of Soldiers Wounded at the Front in Hospitals in Western Siberia during the Great Patriotic War
The article discusses the main areas of activity aimed at medical rehabilitation and social adaptation of the wounded, carried out in hospital institutions in Western Siberia during the war. It is concluded that during the war a highly effective comprehensive system of rehabilitation of soldiers wounded at the front was developed. Hospitals often faced difficulties: the novelty of the tasks set, lack of resources, negligence of the performers, but the progressive movement continued throughout the war.
Publishing: 28/12/2024
How to cite: Semenov M.A. Comprehensive Rehabilitation of Soldiers Wounded at the Front in Hospitals in Western Siberia during the Great Patriotic War // Historical Courier, 2024, No. 6 (38), pp. 66−80. [Available online: http://istkurier.ru/data/2024/ISTKURIER-2024-6-05.pdf]
Adapting to a Peaceful Life
A.D. Derendyaeva
The Specifics of Adaptation after the Great Patriotic War of the Population of the Kazakh SSR (1945–1950s)
The article examines the processes of adaptation of the Kazakh people to civilian life after the Great Patriotic War. Various archival documents, as well as other sources, have been studied: individual letters, newspaper articles, etc. It is noted that the adaptation of society took place in two key areas: socio-economic (benefits, pensions, employment, training, etc.) and socio-psychological (moral support, awarding honorary titles, etc.). Despite various types of support for combatants, women, children and other social categories, the problems that the Kazakh SSR faced after the war are identified.
Publishing: 28/12/2024
How to cite: Derendyaeva A.D. The Specifics of Adaptation after the Great Patriotic War of the Population of the Kazakh SSR (1945–1950s) // Historical Courier, 2024, No. 6 (38), pp. 81–89. [Available online: http://istkurier.ru/data/2024/ISTKURIER-2024-6-06.pdf]
Adapting to a Peaceful Life
N.M. Markdorf
Children of War: Morbidity, Mmedical Care, Staffing in Children’s Social, Educational, and Medical Institutions of Kuzbass in the 1940s−1950s
The article describes the state of medical care for children during the war and post-war years. The article examines the morbidity and mortality rates of children in Kuzbass, including minors in children’s social, educational (children’s reception and distribution centers), social (orphanages and children’s homes) institutions. The article identifies and describes the problems of providing pediatricians and shows solutions to overcome the shortage of personnel by local authorities. The author notes that during the war and throughout the post-war twenty years, the level of childhood morbidity was high and required constant and decisive measures from local party and health authorities to protect the health of children. As a result, there was a decrease in morbidity and mortality.
Publishing: 28/12/2024
How to cite: Markdorf N.M. Children of War: Morbidity, Mmedical Care, Staffing in Children’s Social, Educational, and Medical Institutions of Kuzbass in the 1940s−1950s // Historical Courier, 2024, No. 6 (38), pp. 90–106. [Available online: http://istkurier.ru/data/2024/ISTKURIER-2024-6-07.pdf]
Biographies: Life Trajectories
A.V.Dmitriev
Combatants in the Ranks of the Siberian Corps: Deviant Behavior Against the Background of the War Experience (The 2nd Half of the 18th Century)
The paper deals with cases of deviant behavior of military personnel in the army units of the Siberian corps − participants of military conflicts in the middle and 2nd half of the 18th century. The data of the formulary lists of officers in the field and garrison units of the corps are analyzed. It is shown that these officers committed either official and disciplinary misconduct, or financial and property theft. It was revealed that the war experience did not have a serious negative impact on the men of the 18th century, and the variants of deviant behavior, which they demonstrated, depended rather on their personal characteristics.
Publishing: 28/12/2024
How to cite: Dmitriev A.V. Combatants in the Ranks of the Siberian Corps: Deviant Behavior Against the Background of the War Experience (The 2nd Half of the 18th Century) // Historical Courier, 2024, No. 6 (38), pp. 107–118. [Available online: http://istkurier.ru/data/2024/ISTKURIER-2024-6-08.pdf]
Biographies: Life Trajectories
N.M. Suprun
German Captivity of the First World War in the Memoirs of the Historian M.I. Romanov
The article deals with the stay in German captivity during the First World War of the famous northern historian, folklorist and teacher Mikhail Ivanovich Romanov. The paper is based on his diaries and post-war papers, which were preserved in the family archives of M.I. Romanov’s relatives. This compendium of a multi-page diaries as well as the diaries itself, allows both to take a fresh look at the detention of prisoners of war in German camps according to their social status, the exploit of POWs at various types of work, the relationship between POWs of different nationalities, their perception of the reality… as well as it also opens new pages in the history of the First World War.
Publishing: 28/12/2024
How to cite: Suprun M.N. German Captivity of the First World War in the Memoirs of the Historian M.I. Romanov // Historical Courier, 2024, No. 6 (38), pp. 119–136. [Available online: http://istkurier.ru/data/2024/ISTKURIER-2024-6-09.pdf]
Biographies: Life Trajectories
A.E. Goncharov
The White Soviet Arctic. The role of the White Movement in Establishing Shipping on the Kara Sea Route
The article examines the role of the White movement participants in the development of the western section of the Northern Sea Route during and following the Russian Civil War. One of the issues in the historiography of the Northern Sea Route (NSR) is the problem of the continuity of this transport project between the late imperial and Soviet eras. Most historians either contrast the activities aimed at developing the sea route in these two eras, or consider this process as weakly interconnected stages. In fact, the Soviet program for developing the NSR, as well as the Arctic, as a whole, arose precisely from those initiatives that were undertaken in the last decades of the Russian Empire. Moreover, the connecting link was precisely those polar personnel who took part in Arctic expeditions and contributed to the development of shipping along the NSR.
Publishing: 28/12/2024
How to cite: Goncharov A.E. The White Soviet Arctic. The role of the White Movement in Establishing Shipping on the Kara Sea Route // Historical Courier, 2024, No. 6 (38), pp. 137–149. [Available online: http://istkurier.ru/data/2024/ISTKURIER-2024-6-10.pdf]
Biographies: Life Trajectories
D.A. Astafyev
The Fate of a Combatant in the Era of Wars and Revolutions: To the Biography of Pavel Ivanovich Astafiev (1892−1937)
The article presents the results of a historical and biographical study dedicated to the combatant Pavel Ivanovich Astafiev (1892−1937), whose fate was affected by most of the key events of the first half of the 20th century (the First World War, the Great Russian Revolution, the Civil War, political repressions of the 1930s). Now in the historiography of the Civil War in Russia there is a tendency to increase the number of scientific works devoted to ordinary participants in this conflict, which largely determines the relevance of this article. The research was carried out primarily on the basis of unpublished sources from federal, regional and departmental archives. The author relied on the following methods and approaches: analytical, biographical, microhistorical, historical and anthropological.
Publishing: 28/12/2024
How to cite: Astafyev D.A. The Fate of a Combatant in the Era of Wars and Revolutions: To the Biography of Pavel Ivanovich Astafiev (1892−1937) // Historical Courier, 2024, No. 6 (38), pp. 150–161. [Available online: http://istkurier.ru/data/2024/ISTKURIER-2024-6-11.pdf]
Biographies: Life Trajectories
K.V. Sak, N.Yu. Pivovarov
From Wehrmacht Сombatant to Soviet Agent: Interrogation Protocol of Prince N.M. Gagarin as a Source on the History of Participation of Russian Emigrants in the Great Patriotic War
The publication presents the interrogation protocol of the White émigré N.M. Gagarin, a former Wehrmacht officer and commander of the 3rd squadron of the 600th Cossack division, who went over to the Smolensk partisans on June 9, 1943. This is a unique, the only known story to date of the transition to the Soviet side of a former Russian prince. According to some sources, after the war he worked for Soviet intelligence in Europe. Close acquaintance with Soviet prisoners of war-collaborators changed the prince's attitude to the Soviet Union, influenced his desire for peace and became the main reason for his transition to the Soviet side.
Publishing: 28/12/2024
How to cite: Sak K.V., Pivovarov N.Yu. From Wehrmacht Сombatant to Soviet Agent: Interrogation Protocol of Prince N.M. Gagarin as a Source on the History of Participation of Russian Emigrants in the Great Patriotic War // Historical Courier, 2024, No. 6 (38), pp. 162−187. [Available online: http://istkurier.ru/data/2024/ISTKURIER-2024-6-12.pdf]
Peacetime War Heroes
A.V. Yurov
Society of Women War Veterans: From the History of Social Adaptation of Civil War Heroines in the 1920s
The article analyzes the social adaptation of female combatants awarded the Order of the Red Banner in Soviet society of the 1920s, with a particular focus on the activities of the veterans’ organization “Society of women participants in the Civil War”, established in 1929. The research is based on archival materials from the Russian State Military Archive, including transcripts of speeches and autobiographies of women who experienced the war and faced challenges reintegrating into civilian life. A key theme of the article is the role of awards as symbolic capital, which, however, could not always be effectively used for social mobility. The author emphasizes that professional connections and participation in veterans’ organizations often played a more significant role in the adaptation of women, especially in a Soviet society where gender roles limited their career opportunities.
Publishing: 28/12/2024
How to cite: Yurov A.V. Society of Women War Veterans: From the History of Social Adaptation of Civil War Heroines in the 1920s // Historical Courier, 2024, No. 6 (38), pp. 188–200. [Available online: http://istkurier.ru/data/2024/ISTKURIER-2024-6-13.pdf]
Peacetime War Heroes
A.G. Teplyakov
Revolutionary False Heroes: Impostor Practices Among the Nomenclature of Siberia and the Far East in 1920−1930s
The article analyzes the practices of conferring revolutionary merits by all kinds of adventurers who made in − 1920s and 1930s prosperous career. The specifics of the nomenclature of the east of Russia was a noticeable layer of former red partisans who hid modest successes in the fight against whites and the scope of social cleansing of the disloyal population. The authorities constantly identified numerous communists who, by forgery, secured their authority and subsequent prosperous existence in the rank of honored revolutionaries. Exposing people without a revolutionary past or who attributed unnecessary achievements and feats to themselves was a common practice that acquired particular relevance during the periods of purges of the ruling apparatus. But even after the terror of the 1930s a lot of similar people have survived in the party.
Publishing: 28/12/2024
How to cite: Teplyakov A.G. Revolutionary False Heroes: Impostor Practices Among the Nomenclature of Siberia and the Far East in 1920−1930s // Historical Courier, 2024, No. 6 (38), pp. 201−214. [Available online: http://istkurier.ru/data/2024/ISTKURIER-2024-4-14.pdf]
Peacetime War Heroes
A.D. Popov
Celebration of the 50th Anniversary of the Mutiny on the Battleship “Potemkin” in 1955: Official Commemoration Events and Their Inconsistency
The article analyzed the main events related to the celebration of the 50th anniversary of the armed mutiny of the crew on the Black Sea battleship “Prince Potemkin-Tauride”, which in the Soviet historical narrative was considered as one of the most important events of the first Russian revolution of 1905−1907. The content and implementation of the main decisions of the highest authorities of the USSR related to narrative, ritual-ceremonial (event), monumental commemoration of this event.
Publishing: 28/12/2024
How to cite: Popov A.D. Celebration of the 50th Anniversary of the Mutiny on the Battleship “Potemkin” in 1955: Official Commemoration Events and Their Inconsistency // Historical Courier, 2024, No. 6 (38), pp. 215–227. [Available online: http://istkurier.ru/data/2024/ISTKURIER-2024-6-15.pdf]
Combatants: Experience in Social and Political Activities
K.L. Zakharova
Military Personnel of Rear Garrisons of Siberia in March − October 1917: Experience of Political Participation
The article is devoted to the problem of military personnel participation in the struggle for democratic changes in the garrisons of the Omsk and Irkutsk Military Districts after the February Revolution victory. The study examines the main activity areas of the Soviets as representative bodies of soldiers and officers in the field of resolving a set of problems united by the concept of “military issue”, and also identifies mechanisms for involving the contingent of rear garrisons in the socio-political movement in 1917. Conclusions are drawn that the destruction of command unity as the basic principle of the troops internal structure contributed to the loss of controllability of the armed forces contingent and led to a decline in the combat effectiveness of the army and its collapse.
Publishing: 28/12/2024
How to cite: Zakharova K.L. Military Personnel of Rear Garrisons of Siberia in March − October 1917: Experience of Political Participation // Historical Courier, 2024, No. 6 (38), pp. 228–249. [Available online: http://istkurier.ru/data/2024/ISTKURIER-2024-6-16.pdf]
Combatants: Experience in Social and Political Activities
M.A. Kokorev
“The Password is One − Afghanistan”: The Social Movement of Internationalist Soldiers and Its Role in the Fate of Veterans of the War in Afghanistan
The scientific article is devoted to the study of the importance of the social movement of internationalist soldiers in the fate of veterans of the war in Afghanistan. In contrast to the military and political aspects of the war in Afghanistan, the issue of the post-war fate of veterans of the Afghan war and the activities of public associations “shuravi” has not been practically studied. However, it was the social movement of internationalist soldiers in the conditions of socio-economic and political instability, the collapse of the united Union state at the turn of the 1980s–1990s that took on the state tasks of social security for veterans, war invalids, and families of the dead. In this, the “Shuravi” saw a moral duty to their comrades-in-arms, from whom the war had forever separated, to their loved ones and relatives.
Publishing: 28/12/2024
How to cite: Kokorev M.A. “The Password is One − Afghanistan”: The Social Movement of Internationalist Soldiers and Its Role in the Fate of Veterans of the War in Afghanistan // Historical Courier, 2024, No. 6 (38), pp. 250−266. [Available online: http://istkurier.ru/data/2024/ISTKURIER-2024-6-17.pdf]
Spaces of Peace on the Brink of War
T.Yu. Tolstikov
Constructing Images of a Besieged and Resurgent City: Features of the Organization of Visits of Foreign Correspondents to Leningrad in 1943−1944
During the Great Patriotic War, besieged Leningrad was not only under military and economic blockade, but also under information blockade. The city was completely closed to foreigners and the international community was unable to obtain detailed information about the situation from eyewitnesses. Foreign correspondents applied to the Soviet government several times for permission to visit Leningrad in 1941−1942, but were always refused. The first visits by G. Shapiro and A. Werth occurred only in the second half of 1943 when the situation had somewhat normalized. After these visits, the journalists published their essays of the siege in books and articles abroad, which became an important source of information for understanding the position of besieged city in Allied countries.
Publishing: 28/12/2024
How to cite: Tolstikov T.Yu. Constructing Images of a Besieged and Resurgent City: Features of the Organization of Visits of Foreign Correspondents to Leningrad in 1943−1944 // Historical Courier, 2024, No. 6 (38), pp. 267–274. [Available online: http://istkurier.ru/data/2024/ISTKURIER-2024-6-18.pdf]
Spaces of Peace on the Brink of War
A.A. Khoroshev
Repatriation of Soviet Displaced Persons from Finland to the USSR 1944−1953
The article examines a little-studied problem of post-war history − the repatriation of the Soviet citizens from the territory of Finland to the USSR in 1944−1953. The research is based on materials from the State Archives of the Russian Federation (GARF) and other sources. This process consisted of two stages: First, from October 1944 to January 1945, when the main part of the citizens were transported; the second one is from January 1945 to 1953, associated with the residual process of repatriation of internees. The first part of article examines the problems that influenced the repatriation process, such as: identification of the Soviet civilian population in Finland; ideological work with repatriates; organization of work and interaction between repatriation bodies and the Union Control Commission (UCC).
Publishing: 28/12/2024
How to cite: Khoroshev A.A. Repatriation of Soviet Displaced Persons from Finland to the USSR 1944−1953 // Historical Courier, 2024, No. 6 (38), pp. 275–287. [Available online: http://istkurier.ru/data/2024/ISTKURIER-2024-6-19.pdf]