Народное ополчение в СССР в 1941 г.: трудности процесса формирования. По архивным документам партийных органов Ростовской области

The publication contains an analysis of an original archival document from the collections of the Center for Documentation of Contemporary History of the Rostov Region. The document, introduced into scholarly circulation for the first time, provides information about little-known and insufficiently studied aspects of the partisan movement in the USSR during the Great Patriotic War. This is a memorandum, “On the issue of relationships in the leadership of the Upper-Don district [Rostov Region]”, addressed to B. A. Dvinsky. the first secretary of the Rostov regional committee of the All-Union Communist Party(Bolsheviks) and compiled by the deputy secretary of the regional committee, Gorshkov, in early December 1943. The report describes in detail the acute interpersonal conflict that flared up within the leadership of the Upper-Don district of the Rostov region in August 1943. The root cause of the conflict was the reluctance of the district prosecutor, Onushko, to join the partisan detachment formed from local communists when Nazi troops approached the Upper-Don region in the summer of 1942. Onushko’s inappropriate behavior provoked criticism from other members of the district leadership, for which the prosecutor tried to take revenge using his official position. Thus, Gorshkov’s memo allows us to consider the partisan movement in the light of interpersonal relationships, which creates opportunities for a more in-depth study of the moods of Soviet partisans, their conflicts and contacts, everyday life, etc.

The aim of the work was to study the features of the rabies epizootic process manifestation in the territory of the Rostov region. To achieve the intended aim the comprehensive epizootological research and the retrospective epizootological analysis were carried out based on the veterinary reports of the Rostov Region State Budgetary Institution «Rostov Regional Station for Animal Diseases Combating, with Anti-Epizootic Squad» and the Rostov Region Veterinary Medicine Directorate. In the result of research it was found that for the period from 2018 to 2021, 35 rabies epizootic foci were registered within the territory of 24 municipalities of the Rostov region. During this period of time the disease was detected in 8 species of domestic and wild animals. The main reservoir and source of rabies infection causative agent in this territorial entity of the Russian Federation are dogs (31.4 %), foxes (22.8 %), cats (14.3 %), cattle (14.3 %) and jackals (8.5 %); single cases of the disease (8.7 % in total) were detected among wolves, martens and horses. When analysing the annual dynamics of the rabies incidence in animals, the clear-cut seasonality of the disease is discovered. The disease is mainly recorded in the autumn-spring period, whereby the seasonal dynamics has the two-peak character with two highest points in April and November. Such seasonal fluctuations are explained by the breeding biology of wild carnivores, such as foxes and jackals, with wolves and martens involved in the epizootic process. The unstable and tense rabies epizootic situation in the Rostov region indicates the need to regulate the number of wild carnivores on its territory and to carry out planned activities on their immunization.

IntroductionThe Rostov region was one of the largest centers of coal mining in Russia during XIX–XX centuries. The long-term effects of work in coal mines were investigated with the use...

In Russian historiography, it is generally believed that the change in government policy towards religious organizations during the Great Patriotic War was caused primarily by the patriotic activities of various faiths. In the regional dimension, the situation was somewhat different. Contrary to the established historiographical tradition, the author shows the circumstances of the change of political course in the war and post-war period using the example of the Nizhny Don area. The application of general scientific and socio-humanitarian methods and approaches makes it possible to present the religious life of rural and urban populations in institutional (organization of the religious organizations functioning) and non-institutional (everyday religiosity) aspects. The policy of the Nazi invaders leadership in the Nizhny Don area was characterized by its selectivity, explicitly reflected in the restoration of the church institute, and expressed in the scale of the religious sites opening under occupation. We have established that about 50 religious objects (churches, houses of worship) were opened in the geographic area under consideration during the period 1942-1943. At the same time, it is known that many religious buildings became strategic targets, some of which have never been revived. This study localized the main centers of church revival. In 1944, representatives of religious organizations turned to the Commissioner for the Affairs of the Russian Orthodox Church at the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR for the Rostov Region to register their societies with unprecedented energy. The tendencies of legalizing church-public initiatives were spontaneous, but they did not become comprehensive. The district and regional committees and the Commissioner for the Russian Orthodox Church in the Rostov Region skillfully maneuvered between the political need to register religious organizations and the deliberate rejection of requests from the rural population, awaiting new orders from the "center." It did not take long to wait, since 1948 the contours of state policy returned to the previous anti-religious course. The main focus of attention in the context of the new deal was on the members and leadership of the Kommunist Party organizations, with the insufficient level of anti-religious propaganda in rural areas being noted.

This study examines the economic aspects of the volunteer movement in rural areas of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic (RSFSR) during the Great Patriotic War, focusing on the Rostov region as one of Russia's historically agrarian territories. The research is grounded in both published and archival materials. It explores the influence of the collective farm system, established in the USSR throughout the 1930s, on the volunteer movement. The findings reveal that collective farms emerged as a crucial factor in wartime volunteering. The significance of these collective enterprises is highlighted in their role in organizing and supplying volunteer Cossack cavalry units formed in the Rostov region during the Great Patriotic War. Unlike pre-Soviet practices, collective farms enabled the provision of essential equipment and supplies to Cossack cavalrymen without causing significant material hardship for the families of volunteer Cossacks. The study notes that, thanks to the high mobilization potential of collective farms, Cossack cavalry units received necessary reinforcements in personnel and horses, maintaining their combat effectiveness throughout the war years. The role of collective farms in organizing voluntary material support for the front is highly valued, with collective farmers processing additional “defense hectares” and collecting donations for the active army in the form of money, food, clothing, and other goods.

Introduction. During the Great Patriotic War, in the general context of a significant mass volunteer movement of Soviet people, the volunteer movement of the Don Cossacks arose and developed quite actively. It manifested itself in various organizational and structural forms as common, in the form of the voluntary entry of the Don Cossack men and women into fighter battalions, regular and irregular military units, partisan detachments, and special in the form of separate volunteer Cossack cavalry divisions.Materials and Methods. Documents and materials containing information on various aspects of the volunteer movement during the Great Patriotic War in the Rostov Region were identified, analyzed and used. Various research tools are used: complex and multifactorial approaches, descriptive, comparative-historical and historical-systemic methods.Results. The participation of the Don Cossacks in the volunteer movement during the Great Patriotic War was very significant. The Cossack volunteer movement began almost immediately after the outbreak of war. In the Don villages, at numerous rallies of local residents, resolutions were adopted calling on the Cossacks to enlist in the ranks of volunteers of the people’s militia. Two Cossack cavalry divisions were formed from the Don Cossack volunteers. During the war, fighters of Don volunteer Cossack units and formations demonstrated personal courage and bravery, high morale and level of combat training, sustained power and response to orders, were awarded a great number of military orders and medals.Discussion and Conclusion. The volunteer movement of the Don Cossacks was considered in a number of monographic studies and scientific articles devoted, in general, to the study of events during the Great Patriotic War on the Don and the participation of its inhabitants in the war. In historiography, there are also some works in which some aspects of the formation of Cossack regular and volunteer military units were studied. In this study, on the basis of a complex and multifactorial approach, a comprehensive analysis of the participation of the Don Cossacks in the volunteer movement during the Great Patriotic War as part of special Cossack cavalry formations was carried out.

The article deals with the organization and functioning of the Nazi brothels in the occupied territory of the Rostov and Stalino (Donetsk) Oblasts during the Great Patriotic War. In the conditions of the “war of annihilation” and the “new order”, Soviet women found themselves in an exceptional situation of double gender discrimination: as “Untermensch” and as “trophies”. One of the forms of sexual collaboration was working in legal “brothel houses”. Formally “girls” were considered one of the most protected groups of the population in the occupation: they received significant income, rations, medical care, and a guarantee from being sent to Germany. In Soviet society, such women became outcasts. The authors analyze the opening of brothels in the Rostov region in and in the city of Stalino, their organizers, main and attendant staff, working conditions and venereal diseases of women. The study is based on the documents from two state archives: the State Archive of the Russian Federation (fund of the Extraordinary State Commission for the Establishment and Investigation of the Atrocities of the German Fascist Invaders and Their Accomplices and the Damage They Caused to Citizens, Collective Farms, Public Organizations, State Enterprises and Institutions of the USSR) and the State Archive of the Rostov Oblast (fund of the Commission for Accounting for Damage and Atrocities inflicted by the German Fascist Occupants on Institutions, Enterprises and Citizens of the City of Rostov-on-Don and the Rostov Oblast). These documents are introduced into scientific circulation for the first time. The authors relied on the approaches of gender history, military daily life and historical anthropology.

This article examines the organization and activities of volunteer assault units in the Rostov region during the Great Patriotic War. It discusses the regulatory framework for their establishment, the specifics of their formation and staffing, levels of armament and equipment provision, as well as material, technical, and financial support. A number of archival documents are introduced into scholarly discourse. The source base includes both published regional collections of documents and archival materials identified by the author. The distinctions between militia units and other volunteer structures are highlighted, noting their differing chains of command. It is reported that immediately following the outbreak of war, in accordance with decisions made by the Soviet government, the party and Soviet leadership in the Rostov region swiftly initiated extensive efforts to form assault battalions across all cities and districts of the area. The article demonstrates that a significant number of these units were established in a remarkably short timeframe, with necessary personnel for both rank-and-file and command positions, as well as armament and equipment provided. The critical role of these assault units in maintaining public order, safeguarding vital industrial and transportation infrastructure in the frontline zone, and participating in defensive battles during the autumn of 1941 and summer of 1942 in the Rostov region is emphasized. It is noted that while the personnel of these units were not trained for direct combat on the front lines, they provided invaluable assistance in the initial phase of the war.

Polymorphism of Shereshevsky-Turner syndrome (STS) was studied in 233 patients who were examined at medical genetic services of the Research Institute of Obstetrics and Pediatrics (Rostov-on-Don) and Rostov Regional Hospital from 1978 to 1998. The subjects examined were residents of the Rostov oblast (administrative region) (RO) and some settlements in the northern Caucasus (NC). The mean incidence rate of STS was 3.8 per 10,000 newborns in this region in the period studied. Most STS cases were accounted for by the X trisomy (60 and 66.6% in the RO and NC, respectively). The mosaic form of STS was found in 25% of cases in both RO and NC. Other cytogenetic forms were found in 13.5 and 8.33% of patients from the RO and NC, respectively. The clinical polymorphism of STS, dynamics of its manifestation during ontogeny, and anthropometric parameters of the patients were studied. The effects of the age of parents, the season and month of conception, occupational hazards at the parents' workplaces, and the place of residence on the risk of STS were analyzed. Factor analysis was used to determine the sets of the main clinical signs characteristic of different STS cytogenetic forms in the RO and NC populations.

Introduction. Transportation to forced labor is a special stage of a kind of “initiation” of Soviet citizens into slaves of the Third Reich, “Untermenschen,” associated with violent separation from their home, relatives, and established way of life, with a one-time transition to a destructive situation of loss of personal freedom, humiliation of human dignity, and physical and psychological exhaustion. Methods and materials. The author relied on the approaches of historical anthropology, historical psychology, and the history of everyday life. The source base of the study was formed by the documents of the Rostov Regional Commission for the Accounting of Damage and Atrocities Inflicted by the Nazi Occupiers on Institutions, Enterprises, and Citizens of Rostov and the Rostov region and the memories of natives of the Don who survived Nazi slavery. Analysis. The article describes the key stages of organizing the transportation of “Eastern workers”: from collections in the region to the distribution point in the Third Reich. The first psychological shock was caused by the forced separation from home and relatives, which “Eastern workers” experienced during the departure from the collection points of the cities and districts of the region. During transportation, people entered the stage of psycho-emotional overload associated with both psychophysiological stressors (hunger, lack of sleep, pain) and with the experience of aggression and violence, humiliation of personal dignity, perception of their own and others’ suffering, death of other people, group isolation, and uncertainty of the future. The article also reflects forms of resistance through escapes during stops at stations and the possibility of rescue by partisans during combat operations. Results. The transportation of residents of the Rostov region in 1942–1943 to Nazi Germany was one of the first stages of the psychological and physiological breakdown of Soviet citizens by the Nazis, who were destined to become “slaves” of the Third Reich.

The history of the Great Patriotic War has always remained an urgent topic of scientific research. Particularly important is the appeal to military history 75 years after the Victory, when the memory of it requires additional rethinking due to the appearance of previously unknown sources and the consolidation of the results of the battles in the public mind in connection with the death of their participants and witnesses. The liberation of the territory of the Rostov Region in 1943 also belonged to the list of most significant battles of that period. The western regions of the Rostov Region along the Mius River, which received the German name Mius Front, became the most fierce border of bloody battles on the Don. Among the little-studied pages from the history of the battle of Soviet troops on the Mius Front in February 1943, the participation in it of the 33rd Guards Rifle Division, which suffered the most difficult fate of all the rifle formations of the Southern Front during the Rostov offensive operation in 1943, deserves special research attention.

This article examines the volunteer partisan movement in the Rostov region during the Great Patriotic War. It analyzes its content, as well as the general and specific regional characteristics. The sources for this study include both published and newly identified archival materials, some of which are introduced into scholarly discourse for the first time. The author substantiates the conclusion that the local steppe landscape and the lack of natural shelters had a profoundly negative impact on the scale and nature of the partisans’ military operations. It is established that partisan units, under local conditions, were small in number and could only conduct localized military operations. Many operated solely as reconnaissance and sabotage groups. The analysis conducted by the author leads to the conclusion that the primary tactical forms of combat employed by local partisans were swift and brief military raids and strikes, sabotage actions, as well as military incursions. The author identifies that one of the significant features of the partisan movement in the Rostov region was the Cossack factor. It is argued that the majority of Don Cossacks did not embark on a path of collaboration and actively participated in the partisan movement.

This article explores the motivations behind citizens joining volunteer formations during the Great Patriotic War. The study relies on archival and published sources on the history of volunteer movements in the Rostov region. The research is based on a military-anthropological approach, aiming to understand the worldview of volunteers and the qualitative and quantitative parameters of volunteer movements in the Don region. The relevance of the study lies in the necessity of attracting more attention from researchers to understand what drove individuals to act during wartime. A detailed analysis of the archives at the Center for Documentation of Recent History of Rostov Region revealed characteristic models of voluntarism. The author concludes that the mechanism of agitation and propaganda intertwines with deeply personal motives of resistance against the enemy. A classification of tools influencing participants’ motives is proposed, including visual imagery, state symbolism, the work of agitators and propagandists, and oath-taking. The novelty of the research lies in the author’s exploration of the mechanism influencing public consciousness in a specific region with limited time to prepare the population for resistance against the adversary.

The authors accomplished the bibliographic study of the reminiscences on the Great Patriotic War, published within the chronological framework of two qualitatively different historical stages of Soviet and post-Soviet Russia. The bibliographic review of memoirs on the history of the volunteer movement in the Don region enables to problematize the value of memoirs as the source for studying the motives, actions and social practices of volunteers during the Soviet period. The relevance and novelty of the study are determined by the extensive gaps in the regional historiography and the absence of contemporary bibliographic review of this topic in the regional dimension. The materials used are the memoirs and reminiscences on the events of 1941–1945, published in the Soviet and post-Soviet periods, which authors are the veterans of Rostov region volunteer troops. The memoirs of the veterans of the Fifth Don Cossack Guards Cavalry Corps’, that took over Don region volunteer Cossack units, make the core of the bibliography. The collections of Don State Public Library provided the basic materials for the study.Based on the comparative analysis of memoirs and reminiscences by Rostov region volunteers, the authors conclude that there are significant qualitative differences in the content of these types of sources about the Great Patriotic War. The authors argue that personal publications of the Soviet post-war period offer some limited information value due to the political, ideological and censorship restrictions of the era. The memoirs and reminiscences of this period emphasize the leading role of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks in 1941–1945 and heroic patriotic themes, while overlooking diverse stories of everyday front life, experiences and feelings of soldiers, etc. On the contrary, the memoirs and reminiscences published in the post-Soviet period are free from ideological and censorship restrictions and look much more enlightening. While they are still calling for the careful critical analysis, they are extremely important for the historical reconstruction of everyday military life, thoughts, opinions, and the psychology of Soviet soldiers, in particular the Don volunteers.

Relevance. Late-onset vitamin K deficiency bleeding is considered a successfully preventable condition, however, current data on morbidity in the group of children who received prophylactic administration of menadion are missing, and the effectiveness of the drug is questionable. At the same time, late diagnosis of this disease often leads to disability and death of patients.The purpose of the study – to demonstrate the high prevalence of late vitamin K-dependent coagulopathy in a group of healthy full-term infants who received prophylactic administration of menadione sodium bisulfite.Materials and methods. The retrospective analysis included all children who had an established diagnosis of late-onset vitamin K deficiency bleeding and were treated at the Rostov Regional Children’s Clinical Hospital. All patients underwent an assessment of their medical history and necessary laboratory examinations. The diagnosis was made on the basis of the following criteria: spontaneous bleeding occurring between day 8 and month 6 of life; and characteristic changes in the coagulation parameters, with no evidence of hereditary coagulopathies.Results. The diagnosis of late-onset vitamin K deficiency bleeding was established in 13 children. 11 of them received prophylactic menadione administration in the hospital. Out of the 8 full-term healthy children who received the prophylaxis, 3 developed spontaneous intracranial hemorrhages and one patient died. In all cases, after the administration of menadione, coagulation parameters returned to normal.Conclusion. Prophylactic administration of menadione is probably not effective enough in preventing late-onset Vitamin K deficiency bleeding. Further research into the effectiveness of this medication may allow us to revise the current recommendations and lower the incidence of this condition.