“There’s an Inspector-General Coming”: Prosopographic Portrait of the Staff of the RSFSR Administrative Justice Authorities during the Great Patriotic War

Abstract

Based on documents from the State Archive of the Russian Federation (GA RF), the article analyzes the educational level, professional experience and party affiliation of operational staff of the RSFSR administrative justice authorities from 1941 to 1945. Using the prosopographic method, it is created a collective portrait of employees who worked in the RSFSR People’s Commissariat for Justice and its regional bodies. The main characteristics of the staff were a low educational level and little professional experience compensated by party affiliation, which played a key role in the Soviet system of appointment to positions. The indicators of professionalism of the average operational employee, including often the inspector who checked the court work, were lower than ones of the average judge. The consequence of this was the inability to provide qualified assistance to judges, which led to disorientation and low quality of court work.