Reparations Withdrawals Of Metallurgical Equipment in Central and Eastern European Countries at Final Stage of Great Patriotic War (1944—1945)

Abstract

This article is dedicated to the lesser-known aspects of Soviet policy regarding the compulsory seizure of industrial equipment in territories liberated by the Red Army from the fascist bloc states in 1944—1945. Based on an analysis of decrees by the State Defense Committee, the principles of interaction between representatives of industrial People’s Commissariats and military authorities in liberated territories are revealed, with the aim of dismantling and transporting the most promising industrial assets back to the USSR for the needs of restoring the country’s metallurgical complex. The paper provides examples of property disputes among leading economic entities — the industrial People's Commissariats of the USSR — over the right to dismantle industrial facilities for their own benefit. It also sheds light on the activities of Special Assembly Managements under the People’s Commissariat for Construction of the USSR and their authority in the process of seizing industrial assets in territories freed from German control in Eastern Europe. Using the case studies of non-ferrous and ferrous metallurgy enterprises located in territories of fascist bloc countries (Germany, Hungary) liberated by the Red Army, typical approaches to organizing the compulsory dismantling of their equipment are analyzed. The research conducted vividly demonstrates the significance of reparations seizures of industrial equipment in Eastern Europe for the modernization and recovery of the USSR’s metallurgical complex during 1944—1945.