scholarly journals Religious policy of the Soviet authorities during the Second World War

Author(s):  
T. Zholdassuly ◽  
◽  
K.M. Ilyassova ◽  

This article intends the change in the Soviet Religion Politics during the World War II. At first the Soviet Religion Politics and the Soviet opression against religion after the WWII is explained. It reveals how the Soviet Religion Politics changed abruptly, futhermore their appeal to clergy to unite the believers against enemy. The formation of the Russian Orthodox Church and four Spiritual Administrations of Muslims has also been mentioned in this work. Besides, it explains that The Soviets had to give freedom to religion in order to get foreign and local Muslims’ support and did every possible means to raise people’s spirit. The information that all believers, especially Muslims contributed to the victory also that they financially and materially supported the soldiers, families is given with archive documents. This contribution lasted after the war. Accordingly Muslims were praised for it, resulting in Islam and State reconciliation.

Author(s):  
Konrad Kuczara

Relations between the Ukrainian Church and Constantinople were difficult. This goes back as far as 988, when the Christianisation of the Rus created a strong alliance between Kiev and the Byzantine Empire. There were times when Constantinople had no influence over the Kiev Metropolis. During the Mongolian invasion in 1240, the Ukranian region was broken up and Kiev lost its power. The headquarters of the Kiev Metropolis were first moved to Wlodzimierz nad Klazma in 1299 and then to Moscow in1325. In 1458 the Metropolis of Kiev was divided into two; Kiev and Moscow, but Kiev still remained under the jurisdiction of the Patriarchate of Constantinople. Since that time, the orthodox hierarchs of Moscow no longer adhered to the title Bishop of Kiev and the whole of Rus and in 1588 the Patriarchate of Moscow was founded. In 1596 when  the Union of Brest was formed,  the orthodox church of the Polish Lithuanian Commonwealth was not liquidated. Instead it was formally revived in 1620 and in 1632 it was officially recognized by king Wladyslaw Waza. In 1686 the Metropolis of Kiev which until that time was under the Patriarchate of Constantinople was handed over to the jurisdiction of Moscow. It was tsarist diplomats that bribed the Ottoman Sultan of the time to force the Patriarchate to issue a decree giving Moscow jurisdiction over the Metropolis of Kiev. In the beginning of the 19th century, Kiev lost its Metropolitan status and became a regular diocese of the Russian Orthodox Church. Only in the beginning of the 20thcentury, during the time of the Ukrainian revolution were efforts made to create an independent Church of Ukraine. In 1919 the autocephaly was announced, but the Patriarchate of Constantinople did not recognize it. . The structure of this Church was soon to be liquidated and it was restored again after the second world war at the time when Hitler occupied the Ukraine. In 1992, after the dissolution of the Soviet Union, when Ukraine gained its independence, the Metropolitan of Kiev requested that the Orthodox Church of Ukraine becomes autocephalous but his request was rejected by the Patriarchate of Moscow. Until 2018 the Patriarchate of Kiev and the autocephalous Church remained unrecognized and thus considered schismatic. In 2018 the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople looked  into the matter and on 5thJanuary 2019, the Orthodox Church of Ukraine received it’s tomos of autocephaly from Constantinople. The Patriarchate of Moscow opposed the decision of Constantinople and as a result refused to perform a common Eucharist with the new Church of Ukraine and with the Patriarchate of Constantinople.


Author(s):  
Marina V. Kochergina

The article is devoted to the difficult fate of the old believers' priests of the Russian Orthodox Church of Old Believers in the period of Stalin's repression, the events on the World War II East Front and the postwar period, associated with a new oppression against the Church. The author restores the fate of old believers' priests from the ancient centres of Starodub and Vietka, who managed to preserve, despite the repression by the Soviet authorities, the faith of their ancestors, to show selflessness in relation to their flock, love for the Motherland, patriotism. The analysis of published biographies of old believers' priests of the Russian Orthodox Church of Old Believers, the memories of old believers themselves, recorded by the author, allow tracing the difficult way of restoring the spiritual life of old believer communities of Starodub and Vietka in this period, to show the regional aspects of the activity of old believers' priests in the field of state-confessional relations, their interaction with members of communities.


2011 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
pp. 31-40
Author(s):  
Jordan Hupka

It has been said that the Second World War saved the Russian Orthodox Church from extermination. Ever since the Revolution of 1917, the religious peoples of Russia were constantly persecuted by Soviet ideologists and politicians. Prior to Operation Barbarossa, in 1941, it seemed that the days of the Russian Orthodox Church, the largest religious institution in the Soviet Union, were numbered. However, the unique climate of the Second World War forced the Soviet government to end its war against the church. The Kremlin soon saw the Church as a useful tool to help aid in the re- occupation of Eastern Europe.


2019 ◽  
pp. 52-66
Author(s):  
Glushaev ◽  
Goleva

the publication presents documents from the collections of the State Archive of the Perm Krai – SAPK. The documents deal with the genesis of the institution of the commissioner Council for religious cults in the Molotov region during the Second world war. The relevance of the study is to study the Soviet state-confessional policy in 1944–1946 years. The main aspects of reforming the anti-religious policy of the USSR in the conditions of the Second world war are considered in substantial monographs. The attention of most researchers is focused on the relations between the state and the Russian Orthodox Church and the activities of the Council for the Affairs of the ROC. To a lesser extent, the formation of the institution of commissioners of the Council for religious cults in the regions has been studied. Archival materials show the practices of the authorities with the help of which the organization of the institution of the commissioner took place. The commissioners were to control local religious associations. Documents from the Fund of the commissioner Council for religious cults (SAPK F. r–1204. Op. 2. D. 9) have been prepared for publication in accordance with the existing rules.


Istoriya ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (8 (106)) ◽  
pp. 0
Author(s):  
Maksim Kail

The article analyzes the practice of restoring church contacts between the Russian Orthodox Church and the patriarchs of the Orthodox East and the reconstruction of the church infrastructure in the Holy Land after the break in the Second World War in 1943 until the end of the Stalinist era. Russian Orthodox Christianity was able to regain its presence in the Holy Land through the organization of diplomatic visits and gifts to the new head of the Russian Church, Patriarch Aleksei I, with the support of the Soviet government. This "return" after the formation of the State of Israel and with its support was accompanied by the displacement of the structures of the Russian Orthodox Church Abroad and the redistribution of church property in the region. The restoration of the presence of the USSR and the ROC in the region had long-term consequences for state-church relations in the USSR.


2021 ◽  
pp. 1123-1160
Author(s):  
Daniel Hedinger ◽  
Moritz von Brescius

This chapter provides an analytical overview of the German and Japanese imperial projects from the mid-nineteenth century to the end of World War II. It shows how Germany and Japan—two imperial latecomers in the late nineteenth century—redefined imperialism and colonialism in the first half of the twentieth century. In order to realize their dreams of a new imperial world order, both countries broke with what had come before, and their violent imperial projects turned out to be radically new and different. While Europe had never seen an empire like Hitler’s, the same is true of East Asia and the so-called Co-Prosperity Sphere during the Second World War. In the end, it was their wars for empire and brutal legacies that not only profoundly shaped their respective national histories, but also undermined the legitimacy of imperialism after 1945. The chapter, which focuses on a series of important moments from a trans-imperial perspective, highlights two points. First, it stresses that the German and Japanese empires had a shared history. Second, it shows that by their emergence as colonial powers, Japan and Germany first fundamentally challenged and later changed the very rules of the “imperial game” and the existing global order. Their histories are central to understand great power competition in the first half of the 20th century as well as the imperial nature of the World Wars.


Bastina ◽  
2020 ◽  
pp. 363-376
Author(s):  
Bajram Haliti

World War II is considered to be the largest and longest bloody conflict in recent history. It began with the German attack on Poland on September 1, 1939. The war lasted six years and ended with the capitulation of Japan on September 2, 1945. The consequences of the war are still present in many countries today. "German, Italian and Japanese fascists waged a war of conquest with the aim of dividing the world and creating a New Order in which it would have economic, political and military domination, establish a rule of terror and violence and destroy all forms of human freedom, dignity and humanism. Only a few thousand Roma in Germany survived the Holocaust and Nazi concentration camps. Trying to rebuild their lives, after losing so many family members and relatives, and after their property was destroyed or confiscated, they faced enormous difficulties. The health of many was destroyed. Although they have been trying to get compensation for that for years, such requests have been constantly denied Based on established facts, eyewitnesses, witnesses, historical and legal documents, during the Second World War, the crime of genocide against Orthodox Serbs, Jews and Roma of all faiths except Islam was committed. The attempt to exterminate the Roma during the Second World War must not be forgotten. There was no justice for the survivors of the post-Hitler era. It is important to note that the trial in Nuremberg did not mention the genocide of the Roma at all. The Nuremberg trial is basically the punishment of the losers by the winners. This is visible even today because these forces rule the world. Innocent victims, primarily Roma, have not received justice, satisfaction or recognition from the world community. The Roma were further humiliated because they were not given a chance to speak about the few surviving witnesses about the victims and the horrors they survived. The Roma for the Nuremberg International Military Court and the Nuremberg judges simply did not exist, which called into question the legal aspect of the process, which has not been corrected to date. The Roma national community is committed to revising history, to reviewing the work of the Nuremberg tribunal.


Author(s):  
Ruslan Rustamovich Ibragimov ◽  
Aivaz Minnegosmanovich Fazliev ◽  
Chulpan Khamitovna Samatova ◽  
Boturzhon Khamidovich Alimov

The objective of the research was to study Russian State and Orthodox church relations in the context of world war II and the early post-war years. The line of this article is due to the important role of the Russian Orthodox Church in the history, modern political and cultural life of Russia. In this sense, the period of State-Church relations in the USSR during world war II, known in Russia as a great patriotic war, is of great scientific interest because it was the time when the government was forced to make adjustments to its religion policy. Methodologically based on a wide range of documentary sources, the authors of the article have identified the place and role of the Russian Orthodox Church in the foreign policy of the USSR during the approach. In this sense, it is felt that the role of the Russian Orthodox Church in building relations with the allies of the anti-Hitler coalition and its place in the expansion of the Soviet political system in Eastern Europe was of paramount importance as a foreign policy factor.


Author(s):  
Sergey M. Zinchuk

The author describes in the article some important components and features of Church life in the period initiated by Nikita Khrushchev and known as the parish reform, which, among other things, was aimed at undermining the fi nancial base of the Russian Orthodox Church (hereinafter referred to as the Church) in the USSR. It is noted that Stalin's post-war system of state-Church relations had a serious defect in the form of ineffective legal consolidation: in addition, after the end of the World War II, the question if the Soviet power praised Orthodoxy and other religions stood no longer disappeared. All this allowed Stalin's successors carrying out a number of serious measures aimed at weakening the Church. Khrushchev's religious policy differed from the persecution of the 1920s-1930s, because it included measures aimed at indirect destruction of Orthodoxy, primarily through administrative pressure on the clergy and laity. The parish reform, aimed at depriving deans of fi nancial powers and handing them over to churchwardens, appointed, in fact, by local authorities, which allowed to ruin churches and monasteries with compliance with the formalities of the regime's toleration, can be considered to be a typical manifestation of that trend.


Author(s):  
Marko Nikolic

The issue of primacy divides Roman Catholic (RCC) and Serbian Orthodox Church (SOC) in theological field. Painful historical heritage from Second World War is also the great obstacle. Yugoslav atheistic state supported development of inter-church relations in acceptable proportion that would increase national relations in Yugoslav federation. Its fear was related to possible 'common front' against ideological system. Regional inter-church relations were initiated by Vatican and Pope Paul II, while SOC accepted it particularly in the social field. Both agreed on common responsibility for the evangelization an atheistic society. The variety of institutional forms of cooperation was also agreed, Common Commission for dialogue of SOC Council and Yugoslav Bishop Conference, and Theological Faculties Conferences in Post World War II Vatican period. In post-conflict Balkan Societies, RCC and SOC agreed to continue common activities for post-conflict rehabilitation and evangelizational purposes.


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