Project «Reevacuation of the civilian population to Moscow: a housing problem, 1942-1948».
According to various estimates, from 10 to 16 million Soviet citizens were evacuated to the rear at the beginning of the Great Patriotic War in 1941. After the stabilization of the situation at the front in 1942 the authorities initiated the process of reevacuation of the civilian population, in other words, returning to their former places of residence. Moscow, as a capital of Soviet Union, has become the largest re-evacuation center. The priority for the Soviet government was the rapid recovery of the capital's economy. For this purpose, it was necessary to return workers to the city as soon as possible. However, due to air raids, the lack of funds for repairs of buildings and for several other reasons, the city's housing stock suffered catastrophically during the war. This escalated one of the most acute problems both for the Soviet government and for people returning to the capital — the housing problem.
This paper will examine different aspects of the housing problem of citizens returning from evacuation to Moscow, its causes and consequences. Special attention will be paid to the the analysis of court housing proceedings of the reevacuees.
A separate part of the study will be devoted to the ambiguous situation with the reevacuation and housing problem of Jews because they accounted for about 25% of all evacuees. The paper will analyze whether the increased level of antisemitism during the war years influenced the solving of the housing issue of Jews in Moscow.
The research will be based on different sources, including materials from the State Archive of the Russian Federation (GARF).
Author of the project - Vladislav Tyurin, Higher School of Economics (Moscow).
Image: A house destroyed by an air raid. Moscow. 1942. Source: Kammerer Yulij. Moskve - Vozdushnaya trevoga. – Moscow: Agar. – 2000.According to various estimates, from 10 to 16 million Soviet citizens were evacuated to the rear at the beginning of the Great Patriotic War in 1941. After the stabilization of the situation at the front in 1942 the authorities initiated the process of reevacuation of the civilian population, in other words, returning to their former places of residence. Moscow, as a capital of Soviet Union, has become the largest re-evacuation center. The priority for the Soviet government was the rapid recovery of the capital's economy. For this purpose, it was necessary to return workers to the city as soon as possible. However, due to air raids, the lack of funds for repairs of buildings and for several other reasons, the city's housing stock suffered catastrophically during the war. This escalated one of the most acute problems both for the Soviet government and for people returning to the capital — the housing problem.
This paper will examine different aspects of the housing problem of citizens returning from evacuation to Moscow, its causes and consequences. Special attention will be paid to the the analysis of court housing proceedings of the reevacuees.
A separate part of the study will be devoted to the ambiguous situation with the reevacuation and housing problem of Jews because they accounted for about 25% of all evacuees. The paper will analyze whether the increased level of antisemitism during the war years influenced the solving of the housing issue of Jews in Moscow.
The research will be based on different sources, including materials from the State Archive of the Russian Federation (GARF).
Author of the project - Vladislav Tyurin, Higher School of Economics (Moscow).