Postwar Years Research Articles

The Fate of Employees of the Lithuanian Forest Industry 1939–1953

The article explores the fate of employees of the Lithuanian State Forest Industry, a separate branch of the economy, between 1939 and 1953, the staffing policy in this industry and specific features and results of its implementation. The forest was the location closely associated with the post-war resistance struggle, because a large number of partisan headquarters and hideouts were located in the forests. As a result, the work of forestry professionals and foresters and their attitude to events of that time were very important both to resistance fighters and the occupational government structures. The majority of them were under pressure to ‘double deal’, with the result that many left their jobs voluntarily as such conditions were not acceptable to them. The article explores all the events related to the turnover and fate of staff in chronological order: their deaths due to all possible reasons, including at the hands of their own partisans or the collaboration of foresters with the Nazis and the Soviet forces; various reprisals – from deportations and labour camps to violence; emigration to the west and the east due to political reasons; repatriation; peculiarities of employment of people who returned after deportation and imprisonment; the extent of employment of staff of Russian and other nationalities in the post-war years in the Lithuanian forestry system, etc. If the number of full time employees of the industry at the beginning of the Second World War (3,900 people) is held as a point of reference, major losses of the industry can also be expressed in the following figures: one in every eleven employees of this industry was killed; one in four employees suffered reprisals and were sentenced for various periods of time; and one in three suffered physical or moral violence. In the post-war years, only 75 Russian-speaking employees were recruited to the Lithuanian State Forest Industry and after Stalin’s death, over 1,000 of people who returned after deportation and imprisonment were employed.

LOSSES OF THE WEST RUSSIAN VILLAGE DUE TO THE AXIS AGGRESSION: SCALE AND CONSEQUENCES

The article analyses the impact of human and material losses of the village of the West of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic (the RSFSR) on the peculiarities of reconstruction processes in the first post-war years in terms of the diverse sources, many of which have recently been introduced into the scientific turnover. The deficit of manpower, equipment, and capital investments in the region’s agriculture, including one due to wartime losses, significantly slowed down the agricultural production industrialisation completion, predetermined inability to solve key problems of life and labour of the population, became one of the important causes of low incomes of many collective and state farms, the reduction of arable land since the early 1950s, and the long dominance of extra-economic coercion and its supporting structures in the countryside. The consequences of the war devastation combined with the unpopular agrarian policy of the first post-war years brought to life the improvement of adaptive behaviour by the village, which the authorities spent a lot of energy and resources to combat. The losses of the war years and harsh agrarian policy were also the key reasons for the undermining of the preserved elements of traditional culture of the village of the West of the RSFSR.

Characteristics of banditry and illegal arms trafficking during the Civil War and the first post-war years in the Belgorod district of the Kursk province

Characteristics of banditry and illegal arms trafficking during the Civil War and the first post-war years in the Belgorod district of the Kursk province

Peculiarities of Organising Events under Martial Law Conditions

The aim of the article is to analyse the social purpose and to ground peculiarities of organising events under martial law conditions. Results. To achieve the goal of the scientific research, the comparative and systematic methods are used. They allowed to identify and substantiate the specifics of organising events in Ukraine after the Russian full-scale invasion, as well as to outline main directions of functioning and prospects for the development of events in the post-war time. The events are viewed as a symbolic capital of culture, its social marker, a universal means of realising the culture creating potential of the public, which stimulates the study of organisational features of events under martial law conditions. The article traces the relationship between social tendencies and event formats during the Russian aggression; specifies the problems that accompany the process of organising events since the beginning of the full-scale invasion; grounds their content and thematic direction; outlines the directions of functioning of events in the post-war time. Scientific novelty. It is proved that events held in Ukraine during the martial law go through a few stages of functioning: the stage of stagnation and re-profiling, which is inherent to event agencies in the first months of the war; the stage of a peculiar revival, which begins in the summer of 2022 and lasts until the end of 2023; the stage of adaptation and recovery, which begins in early 2024 and continues to nowadays. These periods differ in terms of event formats, target audience, and functional focus. Conclusions. It is proved that the specifics of event organisation under martial law conditions are relevant goals and objectives of a certain event; theming and structure of the event, innovative approaches to the format of the event and the way of its implementation. Such a vision is substantiated that in the post-war years the Ukrainian event industry will be characterised by a symbiosis of international, Ukrainian and local tendencies in the development of the event industry with an emphasis on the cultural ecosystem and public activity

Effects of Conflicts on Labor Market Outcome and Intimate Partner Violence: Evidence from Nepal

This study investigates the impact of conflict intensity on married women’s employment and intimate partner violence (IPV) in Nepal during and after the civil conflicts. Analyzing five waves of the Nepal Demographic and Health Survey, it reveals a negative short- and long-term effect of conflict on work probabilities for women facing reduced economic opportunities and delayed human capital accumulation. However, this result masks substantial heterogeneity by subgroups. The older cohort experiences a temporary negative effect, while the impact is enduring for younger cohorts. The long-run effect of conflict intensity was more sustained for married women who were children or teenagers at the onset of the war compared to older cohorts. These results hold under IV regressions. Data availability restricts our analysis of IPV to the post-war years. The study does not find a direct impact of conflict on the stated IPV experiences of married women but identifies an indirect effect. HIGHLIGHTS Conflict in Nepal affects women’s employment and intimate partner violence. Women’s employment increased during the conflict but declined post-conflict. Conflict intensity in Nepal reduced long-term employment, particularly for younger women Intimate partner violence shows indirect rise due to reduced women’s employment. The added-worker effect in Nepal was weak, with conflict disrupting labor opportunities.

Inner Prison of the NKGB (MGB, KGB) of Lithuanian Soviet Socialist Republic 1944–1959

This study discloses the 1944-1959 period history of the inner prison of NKGB (Narodny Komissariat Gosudarstvennoy bezopasnosti, English translation – The People‘s Commissariat for State Security) of Lithuanian Soviet Socialist Republic, including MGB (Ministerstvo Gosudarstvennoy Bezopasnosti, English translation – the Ministry for State Security) and KGB (Komitet Gosudarstvennoy Bezopasnosti, English translation – Committee for State Security) as users of this prison. The significance of this prison in the common system of prisons under State Security Institutions is analysed as well as the cases of collaboration with the prisons operating under Ministry of Internal Affairs. Inner prison routine is analysed: living conditions of prisoners, regime, etc. Direct links between the work of the Interrogation Division of the NKGB (MGB, KGB) of Lithuanian Soviet Socialist Republic and inner prison are disclosed, as well as the procedure of execution at the inner prison. The inner prison was the most important prison of the Soviet secret police organization (Cheka) in Lithuanian Soviet Socialist Republic – political prisoners of special importance were imprisoned there and interrogated in the Interrogation Division located in the same building. In the first post-war years, the inner prison was overcrowded, and prison conditions were poor. They improved just at the end of the fifth decade, because the number of imprisoned persons decreased, and bunks were installed in the cells. In the first post-war decade, during interrogation sessions, employees at the Interrogation Division used to apply not only psychological violence against prisoners, but physical violence as well. In 1953, officially, physical torture measures were prohibited, still cases of physical torturing of prisoners happened even much later. In the period 1944–1969, death sentences were carried out in the inner prison. Over one quarter of the last century, 1 019 persons were executed. Although an official method of carrying out the capital punishment used to be squad firing, the investigation of remains of those executed and buried in the burial grounds in Tuskulėnai, show that people who had been sentenced to death penalty, sometimes, during first post-war years at least, were just tortured to death.

Collectivisation in Lithuania 1947–1952: Decisions and Control by the CC of the All-Union CP

The profound Soviet economic, social and cultural transformation of the rural life was supposed to take place in agrarian Lithuania as well, but in the first post-war years it was postponed for some time because of the strong anti-Soviet armed resistance and the weakness of the communist government in the province. By the beginning of 1949, the guerrilla movement had already weakened considerably, the authorities in the rural areas had become stronger, the radical land reform of 1944–1948 had been completed, and in 1948 the buožės (wealthy farmers) were exiled from the villages. The conditions were favourable for the big break, i.e. the general forced collectivisation.

Building “Something That Lasts”

Abstract This article analyses Jewish reactions to post-Holocaust hostility and discrimination in Norway, through three case studies: (1) Trials against Nazis and Norwegian collaborators in the National Legal Purge of the immediate postwar years. (2) The 1960 ‘Swastika Epidemic,’ characterized by graffiti on properties and threats against Jewish individuals, which prompted Jewish community efforts to promote an anti-racist bill. (3) The trial against neo-Nazi high school teacher Olav Hoaas in 1976, among the first to be convicted in accordance with the new Article 135a of the law against incitement to racial hatred. Using archival records from the Jewish community and press material, this study explores how the actors defined and developed response strategies against antisemitism. The article explains the integrationist function of combatting antisemitism, as individuals asserted themselves as part of the national community by defending Norway’s democratic values. It highlights collective action and alliances in countering antisemitism, marking Norway as an early example legislating against racism in Europe after 1945.

Features of the organization and activities of the military college of the supreme court of the USSR during World War II

Without pretending to be exhaustive, the authors aim to focus on the organizational features of the functioning of the Military Collegium of the Supreme Court (MCSC) of the USSR during the Second World War and the specifics of its punitive practice in the specified period in the western regions of Ukraine. The purpose of the task is to clarify the powers, the circumstances of the struggle for the strengthening of the monopoly in the control of military tribunals (MT) between the MCSC and the People's Commissariat of Justice (PCJ) of the USSR, highlighting the role of the Military Board in passing judgments, the implementation of absentee justice, as well as the details of the preparation and conducting field sessions in the west of Ukraine. The research methodology combines the tools of historical and legal analysis and social anthropology. The scientific novelty consists in posing and revealing the problem of conceptualization and practical implementation of the punitive policy of the Soviet state with the participation of the highest military judicial institution. The material introduced into scientific circulation makes it possible to focus research optics on the issues of interaction and parallelism, the struggle between various departments for control over special courts, to create a more complete picture of the arbitrariness that unfolded in the last war and post-war years in the western Ukrainian lands. It was established that the Military Collegium of the Supreme Court of the USSR was an integral part of the political terror implemented both in the armed forces and against the civilian population. Created in 1939, the parallelism in the control of the VT by the People's Commissariat of Justice and the MCSC caused a confrontation between these bodies. The top of the USSR used this in their interests to maintain their own undivided control over the judiciary. The content and methods/forms of the punitive practice of this institution (customary nature, absentee justice, etc.) remained intact since the Great Terror and were fully controlled by the highest political leadership of the USSR. This was clearly confirmed during the work of field sessions in the western regions of the Ukrainian SSR.

The statue of Matron Alice Cashin (1870-1939).

Alice Alanna Cashin (1870-1939) was a pioneering Australian nurse whose career spanned both conflict and humanitarian service. Born to Irish immigrants in Australia, Cashin trained at St. Vincent's Hospital, Sydney, before expanding her expertise in London and joining the British Red Cross during World War I. Her service included critical roles in France and Egypt, and she was eventually promoted to 'seas-matron' on the HMHS Gloucester Castle. During a torpedo attack by a German U-Boat, Cashin displayed extraordinary bravery, overseeing the evacuation of over 399 patients and ensuring their safety before leaving on the last lifeboat. After the war, she managed a military hospital in England before returning to Australia to care for her ailing father and later her elderly uncle. Cashin's post-war years included a modest stint running a stationery shop and her retirement in Victoria Road. Her exemplary service earned her multiple accolades, including the Star Medal and the Royal Red Cross Medal, the latter being the first awarded to an Australian. She was also honoured with multiple mentions in dispatches and personal invitations to Buckingham Palace. Alice Cashin's legacy is memorialised at the Woronora Cemetery, with her medals and accolades displayed at the ANZAC Memorial in Sydney, reflecting her enduring impact on the nursing profession and her remarkable dedication to service and care.

Navigating futures past: colonialism, nationalism, and the making of post-Ottoman order in Kilis, 1919–1926

ABSTRACT In the early 1920s, Kilis was a mid-size town situated in the north of the Ottoman province of Aleppo. The border introduced in October 1921 between Turkey and French Syria passed right to the south of Kilis, leaving the landowning elites who lived in the city detached from their lands located in Syria. This article reconstructs the complex episodes that unfolded both before and after the introduction of this border, as the territorial future of Kilis’ agricultural hinterland intimately shaped how the town’s landed notables interacted with the coming of colonial rule to the region and the ensuing resistance efforts. In tracing these post-war developments in Kilis, this study is an attempt to come to terms with the complex ways in which historical actors operated in a world that was increasingly defined by the uncertainties of the future, and hopes to show how historians could best approach such key moments while navigating the study of futures past. As we will see, the immediate post-war years in Kilis not only led old problems to flare up with greater intensity, but also quickly resulted in the consolidation of new discursive positions in line with the emerging post-Ottoman order across the region.

The state of the property insurance market of Ukraine in the conditions of war

Introduction. The paper highlights the theoretical and methodological foundations of the functioning of the property insurance market in Ukraine. It was determined that property insurance is of crucial importance for raising the standard of living of the population and creating a strong system of protection of state finances, ensuring the stability of the country's economy. The purpose of the paper is to determine the essence of insured property and research the state of the property insurance market of Ukraine during the period of martial law. Results. The current trends in the development of property insurance in Ukraine are considered. The paper examines and analyzes the current state of the property insurance market of Ukraine and the main indicators of insurance activity for 2021-2023. It was determined that property insurance is the largest branch of the insurance market of Ukraine, and despite all the problems related to the war, the Ukrainian insurance market continued active recovery in 2023. The main problems of the property insurance market, which restrain its development, are identified, directions for its improvement and further development are proposed. In order to develop the insurance property of Ukraine after the war, it was proposed to soften the regulatory requirements for calculating contributions, reduce the tax burden on insurance activity, strengthen the control of insurance payments, and ensure the possibility of preferential lending. Conclusions. Analysis of the development of property insurance in Ukraine in recent years allows us to come to the disappointing conclusion that the war significantly affected the development of property insurance, there was a significant decrease in insurance premiums and insurance payments in 2020. But in 2023, the property insurance market of Ukraine began to grow, which indicates its readiness for adaptation and recovery in the post-war years.

Проблема привлечения несовершеннолетних к восстановлению народного хозяйства СССР в первые послевоенные годы (на материалах Донбасса)

The purpose of the study is a comprehensive analysis of the problem of attracting minors to the restoration of the national economy of the USSR in the first post–war years (based on the material of the Ukrainian SSR). The article examines the main forms and methods of involving children and adolescents in the rehabilitation process, analyzes the material, household and regulatory support for the work of young workers. The scientific novelty of the study consists in the fact that for the first time, based on the material of the Ukrainian SSR, a complex of historical sources and scientific literature is analyzed and systematized in order to highlight the problem of attracting minors to the restoration of the national economy of the USSR in the first post-war years. As a result of the study, it was found that the large losses of the population following the Great Patriotic War and the need to implement state plans led to such a policy of the Soviet leadership, which was aimed at increasing the quantitative indicators of the attracted workforce, designed to restore the industrial potential of the state. Therefore, minors have become one of the most important labor reserves in the process of restoring the national economy. This program was implemented in two directions: in educational institutions of labor reserves and short-term training of underage workers directly at work. Despite the clear regulatory and legal regulation of the issue of attracting minors to work, this process often occurred with significant violations.

Solidarity and Suppression: The Power Struggle Between Labour and the State in Canada, 1914-24

During and after the First World War, labour groups in Canada mobilized to ameliorate their position as members of the working class. In their struggle to secure better hours, improved working conditions, and the right to collective bargaining, union activists resorted to increasingly radical measures to achieve their goals. These actions, however, were soon met with swift opposition from the state. Through restrictions on unions, crackdowns on strikes, and surveillance of their activities, labour faced formidable opposition from the economic and security apparatus of the state in the immediate postwar years. Since then, the struggle between workers and the state has called into question the collective solidarity of the Canadian labour movement. To answer that question, this article comparatively evaluates the strength of the labour movement to the strength of the state in Canada from 1914 to 1924. In so doing, it demonstrates that while the state was successful in its efforts to suppress labour, the extremity of this reaction testifies to the power that labour ultimately commanded at this time.

Legal regulation of the activities of Soviet and party bodies in the fight against the fascist-nationalist underground in the Baltic States (1944-1953)

The relevance is due to the theoretical and practical significance of scientific problems related to the study of the legal regulation of the activities of Soviet and party bodies in the fight against the fascist-nationalist underground in the Baltic States in the last years of the Great Patriotic War and the post-war years. The experience of fighting nationalism in the post-war decade, when the Soviet state managed to cope with the fascist-nationalist underground in a relatively short time, seems instructive at the present time.Purpose. Сlarification in the historical and legal aspect of the peculiarities of the struggle of Soviet and party organs, as well as organs and troops of the NKVD-NKGB of the USSR with the fascist-nationalist underground in the Baltic States in 1944-1953.Objectives: to analyze the main normative legal documents regulating the fight against the fascist-nationalist underground in the Baltic States in 1944-1953; to determine the features of the counteraction of Soviet and party organs, organs and troops of the NKVD-NKGB to the activities of participants in the fascist-nationalist underground in Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia in the last years of the Great Patriotic War and the first decade after the end of the war.Methodology. The dialectical, historical, comparative legal method was used as the methodological basis of the study due to the historical and legal nature of the article.Results the research was of a historical and legal nature and made it possible to identify the specifics of the activities of the Soviet authorities in the fight against the fascist-nationalist underground in the Baltic States. Not only operational-Chekist, military operations were carried out, but also criminal and repressive measures were carried out, but also administrative, agitation and propaganda measures corresponding to the "current moment" were applied. The struggle against the fascist-nationalist underground was led by party and Soviet bodies, both at the republican and all-Union levels.Conclusion. The complex of measures carried out in 1944-1953 in order to combat the fascist-nationalist underground in the Baltic States has historical and legal significance. The experience of its implementation can be used by the troops of the National Guard of the Russian Federation, state security agencies and other law enforcement agencies, both now and in the future, including as part of a special military operation.

La Narrativa Española de Posguerra

With the Spanish Civil War (1936-1939), a new era began in Spanish literature. New promotions undertook the hard and difficult task of rebuilding the cultural life of the country even if they had to face different kinds of obstacles. The new poetic or novel productions were, without a doubt, the work of another generation. However, the literature of the first post-war years cannot be reduced to the production of those who joined it after 1939, given the invaluable contribution of highly distinguished personalities belonging to previous generations. If during the first post-war years, poetry had reached a certain development, the novel, already little cultivated in the preceding stage, remained stagnant in Spain until approximately 1945, at which time, for a series of reasons, among which we could mention the establishment of several literary awards, it began to replace translations of foreign authors. The political, economic, social and ideological consequences, in addition to the difficulties imposed by censorship, will influence the literary work of the moment and will, undoubtedly, constrain the creation of the novel

The life path of G.H. Bumagin

Importance. In 2024, G.H. Bumagin, secretary of the Leningrad and Novgorod regional Committees of the CPSU(b), who played a very important role in many events of the Battle for Leningrad, as well as in the restoration of the Novgorod region in the first post-war years and actively studying the activities of the partisans and underground workers of the Leningrad region in the last years of his life, will turn 120 years old. Now, there are no biographical fundamental works about him, and in books and articles, researchers most often described his work during the Great Patriotic War and in the first post-war years. The purpose of the study is to examine in detail his life path. Its tasks are to establish life periods and their chronological framework, to determine the criteria for choosing chronological frameworks, to describe each life period and its features, to establish the results and contribution of G.H. Bumagin to the events that he participated in.Materials and Methods. The research is based on archival materials from the Central State Archive of Historical and Political Documents of St. Petersburg and the Novgorod Museum-Reserve. A descriptive-narrative, biographical methods, analysis and periodization are used for it.Results and Discussion. Based on archival materials, it is possible to describe the formation of G.H. Bumagin as the party leader of the Leningrad region before the outbreak of the Great Patriotic War and the development of his career path. In addition, his work on the formation of the resistance movement in the first months of the Battle for Leningrad, the leadership of the Commission of the eastern districts of the Leningrad region and the leadership of the Novgorod region in the first post-war years is described.Conclusion. G.H. Bumagin had a difficult fate. A guy from a poor family who lived almost halfstarved, made every effort to get out into the world. He decided to do this by serving in the Red Army. Thanks to her, he was able to develop a political career in Leningrad and became secretary of the Leningrad and then Novgorod Regional Party Committee. They tried to blacken his name during the Leningrad case. Even though he was imprisoned without any evidence, he endured adversity with his family and, after rehabilitation, adjusted his life. When he retired, he had another front of work – studying the Resistance movement, which he led in the first months of the war. His accumulated material and work experience were subsequently useful for compiling memoirs and reports on the history of the partisan and underground movements of the Leningrad, Novgorod and Pskov regions. He left valuable materials after his death, which formed the basis not only for this article, but also for other historical works.

Каторжники в местах заключения Вологодской области (1943–1954 годы)

This article studies the penitentiary treatment during the war and post-war years in the Vologda Region penal institutions of a specific category of convicts, namely, those sentenced to hard labour (katorga) for aiding the fascists by the Decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR No. 39 of April 19, 1943. Based on the analysis of archival documents and published sources, the following are considered: prisoner transport, placement of disabled and diseased convicts of this category in the region’s prisons, their material and living conditions as well as medical care during the sentence period. Moreover, attention is paid to the specifics of intelligence and operational work among the prisoners and additional regime restrictions applied to them. It is concluded that, since these people presented a particular threat to the state, irrespective of their physical condition they were kept in close confinement and deprived of a number of privileges given to the less dangerous categories of prisoners. The legal status of convicts during their sentence was determined by departmental normative legal acts; how well their requirements were met by the region’s penal institutions was continuously monitored by the local and central authorities of the NKVD–MVD of the USSR. In 1950, the convicts were relocated from Vologda Prison No. 1 due to its repurposing. The special penitentiary treatment of those sentenced to hard labour in Camp Department No. 6 in Novozero village, Belozersk district, was abolished in 1954 due to the revision of the punitive policy after Joseph Stalin’s death.

Reception of the figure of Mykhailo Hrushevskyi in diasporic historiography: a new historiographic meaningful

The article analyzes the first monograph of the historian Mykhailo Sabinskyi “The figure of Mykhailo Hrushevskyi in Ukrainian foreign historiography of the 1940s-1980s.”. The book highlights the complex processes of formation and disciplinary complication of diasporic Hrushevskiana. First of all, the author investigated that the period 1940-1965 is an important stage of Ukrainian diaspora historiography, which marked a gradual departure from the concepts and practices of mainland Ukrainian studies of the previous era and convergence with Western socio-humanitarianism. Next, M. Sabinskyi proved that the centenary anniversary of M. Hrushevskyi was a significant event in the intellectual life of Ukrainians abroad. Despite the stereotyped thinking of some diaspora figures, thanks to extensive media promotion and numerous public and scientific initiatives, it was possible to turn the personal date of the distinguished scientist into a holiday of Ukrainian culture, which is important for the consolidation of the emigrant community. The researcher showed that all this made possible the emergence of L. Vynar's disciplinary initiative to start scientific Hrushevskyi’s studies. The modern historian emphasized that the dynamism of the progress of this field of Ukrainian studies in the following decades allows us to confirm the power of the historiographical impulse given by the anniversary events. In conclusion, the author noted that the diasporic Hrushevskiana appears as a historiographical phenomenon that is complex in its ideological nature and diverse in its forms of realization and stylistic practices. Being a means of inter-party emigration confrontation in the first post-war years, it went through the stages of institutionalization and disciplinary formation during the following decades. As a result, a respectable field of Ukrainian studies emerged, whose representatives systematically interpret the national phenomenon of M. Hrushevskyi in the broad context of his time. It was the solid academic level of diaspora Hrushevskyi’s studies achieved at the end of the 1980s that enabled the significant achievements of mainland historiography in its study of the legacy of the historian after independence.

The rise of inflation targeting

AbstractThis paper discusses the interactions between politics and economic ideas leading to the adoption of inflation targeting in the United States. In the gold standard era, farmers' vulnerability to falling prices made price‐level stabilization a salient political and social concern. Economists of the progressive era honed in on price‐level stabilization as a key to promoting prosperity and social justice. Irving Fisher, in alliance with farm interests, helped members of Congress introduce price‐level stabilization bills that, while unsuccessful, introduced the possibility that a price‐level stabilization mandate might be a viable alternative to a gold standard. In the postwar years, the Great Inflation and Volcker disinflation set the stage for the rise of inflation targeting by highlighting the benefits of credibility, transparency, and expectations management. Tensions inherent in the implementation of inflation targeting—including its position in the “rules versus discretion” debate—have become more pronounced since the post‐COVID run‐up in inflation.