Re-Adjusting to Life After War: The Demobilization of Red Army Veterans in Leningrad and The

319 Pages·2011·2.21 MB·English

by  Robert Dale

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Re-Adjusting to Life After War: The Demobilization of Red
Army Veterans in Leningrad and The Leningrad Region
1944-1950

Robert Dale

Thesis presented for Ph.D examination at Queen Mary, University
of London
September 2010
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Declaration of authorship

I declare that the work presented in this thesis is my own and all references are cited
accordingly.

.............................................................................................................................................
(Robert Dale)
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Abstract

This dissertation explores the demobilization of veterans of the Great Patriotic War in
Leningrad and the surrounding countryside between 1944 and 1950. This was a period
of immense social and economic change, as late Stalinist society struggled with the
aftermath of total war. Demobilization is examined here as the processes by which
veterans returned home and readapted to peace. Throughout the twentieth century
European and North American societies have faced difficulties reabsorbing veterans. In
contrast Soviet propaganda heralded demobilisation as a success. Veterans were
presented as exemplary citizens and beneficiaries of state support and upwards social
mobility. Based on archival research, published sources and oral history interviews, this
thesis peels back the multiple layers of propaganda woven around demobilization to
reveal a compelling tale of war‟s aftermath. It examines how veterans readjusted to a
civilian life after exposure to mass death and extreme violence, and the challenges faced
in returning to a society devastated and traumatized by war.

Veterans expected certain privileges in exchange for wartime service.
Entitlement, however, rarely manifested itself in practical advantage. Veterans were not
protected from the post-war scramble for jobs and housing. The failure to meet post-war
expectations generated enormous resentment. State assistance could never adequately
reward veterans. The physical costs and psychological trauma created by industrialized
warfare were routinely ignored. Disabled veterans were particularly angered by
inadequate state support. Many were marginalized by a society unable to provide
adequate support. Not all veterans made the transition to mainstream civilian life; a
minority became involved in crime. Violent criminality was not the result of
brutalization, but rather the product of trauma and poverty. Although the state was
unconcerned by ex-servicemen‟s criminality, it feared that veterans were a source of
anti-Soviet opposition. War transformed veterans‟ mentalities, yet the majority of
veterans were not interested in formal politics.
.
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Table of Contents

Abstract ............................................................................................................................. 3
Table of Contents .............................................................................................................. 4
List of Tables..................................................................................................................... 7
List of Illustrations ............................................................................................................ 7
Acknowledgments ............................................................................................................. 8

Introduction ................................................................................................................... 10

Prologue: The Troops Come Home ............................................................................. 35
Demobilization Legislation ......................................................................................... 38
The Soldiers‟ Return ................................................................................................... 44
Disabled Veterans ....................................................................................................... 49
Women Veterans and Technical Specialists ............................................................... 49
POWs .......................................................................................................................... 51
Demobilization Statistics ............................................................................................ 54

Chapter 1: “Homes for Heroes”: Veterans and the Post-war Housing Crisis ........ 57
Destruction, Damage and Housing Conditions ........................................................... 58
The Official Response – Law and Entitlement ........................................................... 64
Official Planning ..................................................................................................... 68
Housing Waiting Lists ............................................................................................ 70
Reclaiming Housing ................................................................................................ 73
Temporary Hostels .................................................................................................. 79
State Assistance versus Personal Initiative ............................................................. 83
Reconstruction and Repair .......................................................................................... 84
Disappointment and Resentment................................................................................. 91
Conclusion .................................................................................................................. 97

Chapter 2: “As in battle– as in labour”. The Re-mobilization of Demobilized
Veterans ......................................................................................................................... 99
Propaganda and the Duty to Work ............................................................................ 104
The Return to the Post-war Workplace ..................................................................... 111
The Mechanisms of Re-mobilisation ........................................................................ 115
One Myth – Many Realities. Veterans‟ Varied Experiences of Re-employment ..... 127
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Younger Veterans and Students ............................................................................ 131
Female Veterans .................................................................................................... 134
Officers .................................................................................................................. 137
Rural Veterans ....................................................................................................... 140
Conclusion ................................................................................................................ 142

Chapter 3: Health, Disability and Trauma ............................................................... 144
The Numbers of Disabled Veterans in Leningrad and the Leningrad Oblast ........... 152
Disability Classification and Medical Labour Expert Commissions ........................ 155
Pensions .................................................................................................................... 158
Work .......................................................................................................................... 162
Medical Assistance.................................................................................................... 171
Psychological Trauma ............................................................................................... 179
Conclusion ................................................................................................................ 191

Chapter 4: Demobilization, Crime and Violence ..................................................... 193
The Brutalization Thesis ........................................................................................... 193
Leningrad‟s Post-war Crime Wave ........................................................................... 197
Explanations for the post-war crime wave ................................................................ 207
Criminality amongst Veterans................................................................................... 215
The Lack of Fears About Brutalization ..................................................................... 228
Conclusion ................................................................................................................ 234

Chapter 5: Leningrad’s Veterans - Politics and Memory ....................................... 235
Leningrad: Site of Political Opposition and Stalinist Repression ............................. 235
The Spectrum of Veterans‟ Political Views .............................................................. 243
Leningrad‟s Veterans and Party Membership ........................................................... 250
Veterans and Anti-Soviet Opposition ....................................................................... 259
Ordinary Stalinists ..................................................................................................... 268
Conclusion ................................................................................................................ 270

Conclusion .................................................................................................................... 272
Appendix 1: Map of Leningrad, 1940. .......................................................................... 280
Appendix 2: Map of Leningrad and its surrounding territory. ...................................... 281
Appendix 3: Demobilized Veterans and Employment Levels in Leningrad ............... 282
Appendix 4: Demobilization Figures in the City of Leningrad – Gender Breakdown and
Officers .......................................................................................................................... 283
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Glossary ........................................................................................................................ 284

Bibliography ................................................................................................................ 287
1. Primary Sources .................................................................................................. 287
1.1 Archives .......................................................................................................... 287
1.1.1 Federal Archives .......................................................................................... 287
1.1.2 Local Archives ............................................................................................. 287
1.2 Published Sources, Documentary Collections, etc. ......................................... 289
1.3 Periodicals ...................................................................................................... 289
1.3.1 National Newspapers ................................................................................... 289
1.3.2 Local Newspapers ........................................................................................ 289
1.3.3. Factory / Professional Newspapers ............................................................. 289
1.3.4 Journals ........................................................................................................ 290
1.4 Statistics ........................................................................................................ 290
1.5 Memoirs and Memoir Collections .............................................................. 290
1.6 Novels ............................................................................................................ 292
1.7 Other Primary Books ................................................................................... 292

2. Secondary Sources .............................................................................................. 293
2.1 Unpublished Ph.D Dissertations .................................................................... 293
2.2 Journal Articles .............................................................................................. 294
2.3 Articles Published in Books and Edited Collections...................................... 301
2.4 Books ............................................................................................................. 307

3. Websites and Online Resources ......................................................................... 319
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List of Tables

Table 1: Percentage of Disabled veterans in employment or education by disability
grouping. ....................................................................................................................... 166

List of Illustrations

Figure 1: Leningraders meet the first troop eshelons of demobilized veterans arriving in
the city. ............................................................................................................................ 46

Figure 2: V. Koretskii, Kak v boiu - tak i v trude (As in battle - as in labour)1948. ...... 99

Figure 3: V. Koretskii, Pobezhdali v boiakh - Pobezhdaem v trude ( We were victorious
in battle - we will be victorious in labour), 1947. ......................................................... 107

Figure 4: Portrait of Alexander Podosenov, by Gennadi Dobrov, Literaturnaia gazeta,
25 May 1988, p.13. ....................................................................................................... 149
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Acknowledgments

This Ph.D thesis could not have been researched and written were it not for the
generous financial support of several organizations. A doctoral award from the Arts and
Humanities Research Council (AHRC) supported me through the first three years of this
project. The overseas research component of this award made it possible to spend a full
academic year in the archives in Saint Petersburg and Moscow. The nature and texture
of this dissertation owes a great deal to the opportunity to spend such an intense period
working with primary materials. An award from the Queen Mary, University of London
(QMUL) history department‟s Stretton Fund made it possible to make an initial foray
into the archives in the first six months of my research. A dissertation fellowship from
the Harry Frank Guggenheim Foundation provided the intellectual and financial
breathing-space to „write-up‟.
Over the past four years I have benefitted from the support of a great number of people.
First and foremost, I thank my supervisor Catherine Merridale. Her dedication to her
research students and the time she commits to supervision is remarkable. She has read
draft after draft, offering advice and criticism with astounding rapidity. Her rigourous
standards of writing have been a constant inspiration. She has made herself continually
available, even answering telephone calls whilst I was in Russia. Catherine has
continually challenged my ideas, but balanced criticism with encouragement and
enthusiasm. For this I am eternally grateful. Dan Todman, my mentor, has offerred
support and advice throughout my time at QMUL. His suggestions on how to approach
academic life have been invaluable. Dan has read an entire „final-draft‟, offering
insightful criticism.
I have also been helped by a number of very generous scholars. Geoffrey Hosking
deserves special mention for encouraging me to take on this subect. I would like to
thank Richard Bessel for sparking my interest in demobilization during my
undergraduate years, but also for our more recent discussions about veterans and
demobilization in comparative perspective. Mark Edele and Christoper Burton shared
sections of their Ph.D theses at an early stage of my research. Jeff Jones and Karl Qualls
shared thoughts about reconstruction as part of panel I organized from the Anglo-
American Conference of Historians in 2009. Mark Smith and Dan Levitsky, friends
from my MA at the School of Slavonic and East European Studies, have been good
comrades. In Saint Petersburg Tatiania Voronina, Ilia Utekhin, Nataliia Danilova and
Georgiy Ramazashvili offerred criticism and advice in equal measure. Aleksandr
Vakser deserves special mention for directing me to important materials, even though
our interpretations were likely to differ. In Moscow Vladimir Kozlov shared his team‟s
database of anti-Soviet agitation cases, and offerred helpful advice. Back on the home
front my time at QMUL was made all the more stimulating and enjoyable thanks to the
comradeship of Alexandra Wachter, Daniel Furby, Henry Miller, Ed Naylor and Dion
Georgiou. Finally, the audiences for a number of seminar and conference papers have
helped refine my arguments and approach.
I owe an enormous debt to all of the archivists and librarians in Saint Petersburg,
Moscow and Petrozavodsk. Nadezdha Cherepenina (TsGA-SPb) and Elena Chuprova
(LOGAV) deserve a special mention in dispatches. Both went out of their way to help
despite other pressures. Their willingness to entertain my hunches, and share their own,
made my time in their archives especially rewarding.
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Saint Petersburg Memorial and Viktor Beilin from the Elektrosila benevolent fund
helped put me in contact with willing oral history respondents. I owe an even greater
debt to those veterans who were prepared to spend several hours, sometimes longer,
discussing uncomfortable aspects of their past. These interviews provided insights
which simply could not have been gained from the archival record. I will never forget
their generosity of spirit, nor their remarkable stories.
In Saint Petersburg Natalia Zhitinskaia proved to be, as ever, a faithful and unfailingly
supportive friend.
Finally, my greatest source of support has been my partner Veronica Morton. Her
patience and humour have been an inspiration. She has never once questioned why I
would want to spend my life sat in cold archives, drafty libraries or surrounded by
books, even though she herself does not share these passions. My debt to her is
incaluable. Veronica has endured research trips to Boston-Spa, summers without
holidays, enforced seperation and my bad moods with remarkable good-grace. Simply
put, I could not have written or researched this thesis without her.
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Introduction
This dissertation is a study of the difficult transition from war to peace made by Red
Army veterans in the city of Leningrad and the surrounding region between 1945 and
1950. The war on the Eastern Front between 1941 and 1945, known as the Great
Patriotic War, was one of the most violent and destructive conflicts ever witnessed.
Victory was won at an enormous human, social and economic cost. An estimated
twenty-seven million Soviet citizens lost their lives during the war. This was a
demographic catastrophe. Approximately seventy-five per cent of wartime deaths were
amongst men, creating a major post-war gender imbalance. In 1946 there were ten
million fewer men aged twenty to forty-four than in 1940. In addition to the millions of
widows and orphans there were tens of millions of refugees, evacuees and displaced
people. Whole cities were left in ruins. Over 1700 towns and more than 70,000 villages
were totally destroyed.1 Those soldiers who survived the frontline carnage witnessed
terrible things and endured enormous suffering. After years of exposure to mass death
and extreme violence, returning home and rebuilding an ordinary civilian life must have
seemed an impossible prospect. Yet in the summer of 1945 millions of veterans began
flooding home. Demobilizing one of the largest standing armies ever assembled was a
colossal national undertaking. Between June 1945 and the end of 1948 over eight and
half million Soviet veterans were discharged from the armed forces, including three and
a half million soldiers by the end of September 1945 alone.2 For a war-ravaged society
re-integrating ex-servicemen and women presented an enormous social, economic,
political and cultural challenge.
Over sixty years since the end of the Red Army‟s mass demobilization we know
little about the process by which soldiers became civilians. In general historians have
devoted greater attention to questions of how wars begin and how they are fought, than
the complex ways in which societies manage the transition from war to peace in the
aftermath of conflict. Nowhere is this difference more apparent than in the fleeting

1 Nina Tumarkin, The Living and the Dead. The Rise and Fall of the Cult of the World War II in Russia
(New York: Basic Books, 1994), p.96; Sheila Fitzpatrick, „Post-War Soviet Society: The “Return to
Normalcy”, 1945-53‟, in Susan J. Linz (ed.), The Impact of World War II on the Soviet Union (Totowa,
NJ.: Rowmann & Allenheld, 1985), pp.29-56.

2 V.N. Donchenko, „Demobilizatsiia sovetskoi armii i reshenie problem kadrov v pervye poslevoennye
gody‟, Istoriia SSSR, No.3 (1970), pp.96-102; V.N. Ponomarev, et. al. (eds), Istoriia SSSR s dreveishikh
vremeni do nasshikh dnei. Tom.11. Sovetskoi soiuz na puti k ravitomy sotsializmy, 1945-1961gg.
(Moscow: Nauka, 1980), pp.53-57.