Repatriation of Polish Prisoners of War from Camps of Central Russia (1921–1922)

The problem of prisoners of war of the Polish-Soviet war of 1919–1920 remains one of the most debatable issues in modern historiography. This topic is poorly studied in both domestic and foreign (especially Polish) historiography. The article deals with the process and mechanism of repatriating Polish prisoners from camps in Central Russia in 1921–1922. The authors note that the discussion of repatriation began at the end of 1919. Negotiations ended with the signing of a repatriation agreement between the RSFSR, the Ukrainian SSR, and Poland on February 24, 1921. In accordance with the developed normative documentation, Polish prisoners of war were subjected to sanitary treatment (baths, haircuts) before being sent; they were given underwear and uniforms; they were provided with food for the period of their journey; and they were fully paid. Sick prisoners of war were sent in special trains or in separate ambulances accompanied by medical personnel. The first echelons with Polish prisoners of war began “leaving” for Poland in March 1921. Mass repatriation was completed by the autumn of the same year. In the future, repatriation concerned only individuals and would be of a personal nature. In total, almost 35 000 prisoners of war were sent to Poland.

Response to Roundtable Comments

In her response, Neuberger elaborates and extends a few of her key arguments as discussed by Brandenberger, Kleiman, Petrone, Platt, and Tsivian. She focuses on questions involving Eisenstein’s exceptionality, the general reception of Ivan the Terrible, Stalin’s response to the film and its homoeroticism, and fundamental questions about Eisenstein’s interpretation of Ivan and his reign, its application to the present and to all rulers. She clarifies fundamental questions about Eisenstein’s conception of dialectics, and shows his commitment to dialectics as something more than more than binary conflict. Eisenstein not only saw all phenomena as “unities of opposites”, but contrasted the dialectical contradictory with a unitary definitive, giving us neither a simpler dualism nor a permanent state of contradiction. The categorical doesn’t cancel out the contested (or vice versa): together the categorical and the contested create another level of complexity, making it possible to see Ivan the Terrible as a film that repeatedly poses questions about power, violence, and human perception, and a film that is a radical critique of Stalinism and Soviet ideology. The author underlines, that in This Thing of Darkness she tried to show that the search for “meaning” in Eisenstein (and in my reading of Eisenstein) was no simple path toward a definitive truth, but is something like the way we experience films: seeing, hearing, intuiting, sensing, learning, feeling, wondering, learning a little more, and eventually thinking through what we have seen and experienced in order to make it meaningful for us.

A Productive Trinity

This Thing of Darkness by Joan Neuberger, about S. M. Eisenstein’s film “Ivan the Terrible”, is the result of enormous work by a professional historian, a serious art critic, and an experienced teacher. The most important features of this productive trinity were manifested in it: a deep knowledge of the history of Russia (equally in the 16th and 20th centuries); a subtle understanding of the specifics of art in general and cinema in particular; the ability to clearly and easily present one’s observations, hypotheses, and conclusions; and finally (last but not least), the successful penetration into the creative world of Sergey Eisenstein, a director and theoretician, draftsman and psychologist, connoisseur of classical world culture and courageous experimentalist-modernist, but at the same time an honest person and a politically minded citizen of his own country in the tragic period of its history, that of Stalin’s tyranny. The author was lucky enough to witness the long-term evolution of this work, from earliest experiments to the publication of a fundamental monograph. In the process of researching archival materials and as we penetrated into the film itself, the circle and type of questions changed. The author expresses confidence that from now on, not a single serious specialist in the history of Soviet cinema, not a single biographer or researcher of Eisenstein’s work can do without the wonderful work of Joan Neuberger.

Soviet Women in the Years of the “Khrushchev’s Thaw” in English Language Publications

The article assesses the results of studies of everyday lives of Soviet women in the 1950s–1960s in Anglo-American historiography, in which a problematic field has developed with its own boundaries, plots and search tasks, and a well-established range of sources. The peculiarity of Western scholars’ views of this issue were of considerable importance for biographical interviews, the stories of women who remember that time. (In contrast to Russian historiography, foreign scholars used an anthropological approach to study women’s history much earlier.) The authors define more clearly the successes of foreign scholars in the study of Soviet women’s history in the 1960s, as well as controversial assessments and prospects. Considered chronologically and sequentially, the assessments of Soviet life in the publications of English-speaking scholars revealed their strong dependence on the American model of everyday life for the corresponding period. The consumption system and social protection of the population, which grew sharply after the Second World War in Western countries, became the ideal that guided these scholars during the entire second half of the twentieth century. In such a comparison, Soviet women’s lives in conditions of constant deficits of goods and services, as well as other problems and shortcomings of the Soviet economic model, always seemed to be a losing battle. In the 2000s, this ideal model of American everyday life, with which scholars did not directly compare women’s everyday lives in the USSR, but which between the lines manifested itself as a standard, turned out to be somewhat squeezed by the desire to positively evaluate the achievements of Soviet social policy and the gains that it provided for women.

Russian Disabled Veterans in Poland in the 1920s – 1930s: Community, Personalities and Daily Life

The article examines the dramatic history of the survival of Russian disabled veteran emigrants in Poland in the 1920s–1930s. The main aim is to highlight issues of the financial situation of disabled veterans, their legal status and self-organization, and the humanitarian activity of the Union of Russian Disabled Veteran Emigrants in Poland. The paper reflects the adjustment difficulties of disabled veterans in Poland, aspects of the mixed attitude of the Polish authorities to Russian emigrants, and the internal problems of the emigrant community. Continuous support and assistance to disabled people and their families, and care for disadvantaged fellow countrymen are he focus. The article shows the efforts of the Board of the Union of Russian Disabled Veteran Emigrants in Poland, not only to support disabled people financially, but also to encourage the emigrant community’s morale and to oppose the marginalization of disabled veterans. The paper states the fundamental reasons for moral problems associated with the physical well-being of disabled people, the lack of prospect awareness, the loss of hope for a status change and receiving Polish citizenship, and the loss of connections with Russia. The article presents features of everyday life of the Russian disabled veteran emigrants; it observes the policy of the Union’s Board in relation both to Polish authorities and to members of the Union. In the 1920s and 1930s the Union of Russian Disabled Veteran Emigrants remained the only uniting center for disadvantaged Russian people, and its leaders honestly fulfilled their duties. The author used materials from the documents of the Russian archives (State Archive of the Russian Federation, Russian State War and Historical Archive), and newly available documents of the Lithuanian Central State Archive (LCVA).

Food Supply of Partisan Formations of Belarus During the Nazi Occupation (Based on the Materials of the Vitebsk Region)

During the Great Patriotic War, a massive and well-organized partisan movement developed on the territory of the BSSR. In the conditions of struggle behind enemy lines, the material and technical (including food) support for “forest soldiers” was of crucial importance for its quantitative and qualitative growth. The initial policy of the Soviet government to maximize the self-sufficiency of partisan detachments at the expense of trophies and food captured from the enemy was ineffective. With the creation of the Belarusian headquarters of the partisan movement, as well as with the organization of partisan airfields and sites, the supply of food (primarily salt and tobacco) became regular. The main source of food for the “forest soldiers” were products obtained during procurement and economic operations from the civilian population. Because of the “food issue.” the attitude of the local population to the partisans was not always positive. There were cases of abuses by the partisan leadership during procurement operations, as well as cases of looting. The leading partisan and party bodies actively fought against offenses among the partisans, but it was not possible to completely eradicate this phenomenon. At the same time, in some cases partisans themselves distributed food and livestock to the civilian population. In some detachments and brigades, small enterprises were organized that produced food products (creameries, small slaughterhouses, bakeries, etc.). In general, during the occupation, the partisans managed to solve the issue of food supply to one degree or another, which had a positive impact on the dynamics of growth in the number of “forest soldiers” and on the combat and moral qualities of the personnel.

Humanitarian Cooperation of Japan and the USSR in the Second Half of the 20th Century

The article provides a periodization of humanitarian cooperation between Japan and the USSR. The first stage was activity of the Press Office of the Soviet Union Council for Japan and the Soviet Information Office in the Land of the Rising Sun in 1946–1957. The second stage was the period of active policy of the USSR Embassy, together with the State Committee for Cultural Relations under the USSR Council of Ministers in 1957–1967. The third stage was defined by the activity of Soviet Embassy and Regional Authorities of Japan and the USSR in establishing cultural relations in 1967–1985. The fourth stage was humanitarian cooperation of both countries carried out under terms of the Soviet-Japan cultural agreement signed in 1986. The fourth stage covers the period from 1986 to 1991. The article identifies the main forms of humanitarian cooperation between two countries. The author believes that connections in the sphere of art were dominant. The Japanese public was an active subject of bilateral relations. The author considers the membership of the Soviet-Japan Friendship Movement and its participants (public organizations, Piece Movement, choral and musical collectives, private companies of Japan) and reveals the reasons for the Japanese public’s interest in Soviet culture based on archival documents and materials of the Japanese and Soviet periodicals. The author points out that the regional cooperation between two countries developed significantly and emphasizes the special role of the USSR Far East as a contact region with Japan.

German Bank of Soviet Russia (Activity of the German-Volga Bank of Agricultural Credit in the 1920s)

The transition of Soviet Russia from “war communism” to a new economic policy required the restoration of commodity-money exchange, the financial and tax system, credit and other market institutions. The need for rapid recovery and development of all branches of the national economy predetermined a certain departure from the “communist” views on banking and in the early 1920s. in the country, along with the State Bank, special banks appeared. These banks, being under the control of the relevant economic commissariats, ensured the implementation of the necessary financial and credit policy in this branch of the national economy. The article examines the activity of the German-Volga Agricultural Credit Bank in the ASSR of the Volga Germans during the period of the new economic policy. Special attention is paid to the bank’s issuance of a bond loan intended for placement, primarily on the foreign market. The bank bonds were supposed to be placed in Germany and among the German diasporas of the United States and Latin America. The article analyzes the activities of Nemvolbank in attracting foreign currency funds. The source base was the documents stored in the Russian State Archive of Economics in the funds of the Ministry of Finance of the USSR and the Ministry of Foreign Trade of the USSR: correspondence between the leadership of the ASSR of the Volga Germans about the issue of the loan and the terms of its placement, Regulations on the issue of bonds, etc. The role of the bank in the development of Soviet- German financial and economic relations within the framework of the diplomatic rapprochement of the two countries is traced. Shown activity Newalliance for the return of German colonists, immigrants back in the Volga region. It is concluded that the German-Volga Bank conducted quite active foreign trade activities.

Yakov Stechkin: Portrait of a Provincial Surgeon in the Realities of the 1920s

The article provides an analysis of professional formation and conditions of development of practical medicine in a provincial city of central Russia in the 1920s. For the first time, the authors introduce materials from the personal archive of surgeon Yakov Sergeyevich Stechkin, the brother and father of famous constructors Boris and Igor Stechkin. Yakov Stechkin practiced in Aleksin in 1922–1935. Based on statistical reports from his personal archive, the article reveals the peculiarities of provincial surgery. It analyzes such features as the range of operations performed, the use of anesthesia, and the level of lethality. Main attention is paid to the analysis of the mutual interweaving and transformation of various professional and cultural components in the activity of an ordinary physician: the traditions of zemstvo medicine, military surgery, and Soviet medicine of the 1920s. Each of these components made a contribution to behavioral models of the provincial doctor. Traditions of medicine with its principles of accessibility and free service correlated with the declared norms of Soviet health care system, versatility of military surgeon was more than necessary in terms of personnel lack, while material devastation was offset by broad professional freedom, permeated with the atmosphere of research and experimentation. Based on the memoir sources, the authors show the specific ways of communication between a doctor and his patients, typical of a small provincial town. The authors of put particular emphasis on the fact that an ordinary provincial surgeon resorted to trends of the time, such as experiments in eugenics, endocrinology, and rejuvenation. The article highlights factors that led the Russian physician, who treated the power of the Bolsheviks without reverence, to be integrated into the Soviet health care system.

The Petition Campaign of the Muslims of Leningrad on the Return of the Cathedral Mosque in 1946–1955

The article examines the petition campaign for the return of the Cathedral Mosque, organized by the Muslims of Leningrad in the second half of the 1940s and the first half of the 1950s. The campaign represents an example of a human rights activity (albeit in a limited sphere, for securing freedom of conscience), and should be taken into account when studying the history of the human and civil rights movement in the USSR. The language and argumentation used by authors of the petitions are analyzed. The article examines the religious life of Leningrad Muslims outside of the mosque (in particular, the holding of festive services at the Tatar cemetery in the village of Volkova). The article touches upon the problem of historical memory. The memories of the struggle for permission to build a mosque in St. Petersburg in tsarist times, preserved among Leningrad Muslims, were taken into account by officials when deciding whether to return this religious building to believers in the 1950s. The problem of returning the mosque is considered in the context of changes in the confessional policy of the country’s leadership. The article demonstrates the role of such a body as the Council for Religious Affairs under the Council of Ministers of the USSR touches upon this role in resolving issues of returning religious buildings to believers in the post-war period. Particular attention is paid to the relations within the Leningrad Muslim community. On the example of the conflict between imam-khatib Abdulbari N. Isaev and Chairman of the twenty (dvadtsatka) Usman Bogdanov, the author examines the system of power relations within religious communities in the USSR in the postwar period. In particular, the article mentions the narrative that Bogdanov proposed to subordinate dvadtsatka directly to the Commissioner of the Council for Religious Affairs in the Leningrad Region.