The activities of the Social Security Department of the Pskov city Administration during the years of occupation (1941-1944).

Abstract

Listen

Translate article

The article examines the social practices of the civil occupation authorities of the city of Pskov in 1941-1944. The article analyzes the reasons for the provision of social assistance, its varieties, and size. Assistance was entrusted to the social department of the Pskov City Administration, which compiled survey reports, visiting the housing of the poor and disabled. Among the measures were bread and fuel cards, as well as the provision of housing and medical care. The publication is based on documents located in the State Archive of the Pskov region. The activities of the social security department of the Pskov city Administration during the years of occupation are reviewed on the basis of archive materials, the funds of which also contain data from the trade and financial departments of Pskov dealing with payments to the population. The residents who remained in the city did not represent an exceptionally able-bodied community. They were often disabled people, children and women who, for various reasons, could not evacuate. They were unable to work either for health reasons, or because of their age, or because their specialty turned out to be unclaimed by the occupiers. As a result, the author comes to the conclusion about the limited and unsatisfactory amount of social support for residents of occupied Pskov. Social support, although organized by the city administration department, was in practice coordinated with the German commandant's office, which was the source of genuine power. The funds allocated by the department were so insignificant that they did not allow them to live even for a week. The prices of groceries in stores and on the market were incredibly high. Cash flows to the department were also extremely limited. Survival in occupied Pskov, as in any Nazi-occupied city, turned into a fierce struggle for life. By the time of liberation, less than a thousand people remained in the city from the pre-war more than 60 thousand people.