What happened before the “kremlin meeting”? formation of the soviet leadership’s “new deal” policy towards the Russian orthodox church in 1941–1943

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In the article, the author examines the formation of the “New Deal” policy towards the Russian Orthodox Church during the initial two years of the Great Patriotic War. From the author’s perspective, the conventional interpretation of the Soviet authorities’ ‘new deal’ policy towards the country’s religious associations entails the rejection of mass repression against believers (with the potential for targeted repression against hierarchs and church activists) and the consideration of the interests of religious organisations by the Soviet authorities. In the initial two years of the war, elements of the new religious policy existed concurrently with repression. The author examines three pivotal moments in the crystallisation of this policy, drawing on the correspondence of the rector of the Catholic parish in Moscow, Fr. Leopold Braun, and his communications with the United States and the Vatican. The first of them occurred in the autumn of 1941 and was connected with the efforts of the anti-Hitler coalition allies to demonstrate to the Soviet leadership the necessity of implementing changes in the religious sphere in order to address the issue of the USSR joining the Lend-Lease programme. The second occurred in the spring of 1942, when Soviet diplomacy explored the potential for improving relations with the Vatican. The third took place in 1943 and was characterised by public actions undertaken by the Soviet authorities towards the Orthodox Church. The author concludes that the mechanisms of instrumentalisation of the religious factor were known to the Soviet political system; however, the consistent replacement of the repressive course by a course of instrumentalisation became possible only in the context of the military-political crisis of 1941–1942. The forced mobilisation of religious leaders by the Soviet authorities was accompanied by steps towards the church from the second half of 1942 onwards. These steps became public in early 1943, in connection with the collection of church funds for a tank column named after Dmitry Donskoy. From the autumn of 1943, the “new deal” entered the public sphere and became a conscious strategy of the Soviet leadership.