The People's War: Responses to World War II in the Soviet UnionRobert W. Thurston, Bernd Bonwetsch The People's War lifts the Stalinist veil of secrecy to probe an almost untold side of World War II: the experiences of the Soviet people themselves. Going beyond dry and faceless military accounts of the eastern front of the "Great Patriotic War" and the Soviet state's one-dimensional "heroic People," this volume explores how ordinary citizens responded to the war, Stalinist leadership, and Nazi invasion. Drawing on a wealth of archival and recently published material, contributors detail the calculated destruction of a Jewish town by the Germans and present a chilling picture of life in occupied Minsk. They look at the cultural developments of the war as well as the wartime experience of intellectuals, for whom the period was a time of relative freedom. They discuss women's myriad roles in combat and other spheres of activity. They also reassess the behavior and morale of ordinary Red Army troops and offer new conclusions about early crushing defeats at the hands of the Germans--defeats that were officially explained as cowardice on the part of high officers. A frank investigation of civilian life behind the front lines, The People's War provides a detailed, balanced picture of the Stalinist USSR by describing not only the command structure and repressive power of the state but also how people reacted to them, cooperated with or opposed them, and adapted or ignored central policy in their own ways. By putting the Soviet people back in their war, this volume helps restore the range and complexity of human experience to one of history's most savage periods. |
Common terms and phrases
anti-Soviet Archive arrested attack attitudes authorities began Belorussian blockade blokadniki Bolshevik Bonwetsch Brigade campaigns camps city's Civil civilians combat command commissar Communist culture death Dzeniskevich Einsatzgruppen enemy evacuated example factory fascist female fighting Finnish forces German German invasion ghetto gody groups Gulag Hitler Ibid istorii Jewish Jews July June Kirshin Komsomol Konstantin Simonov labor leadership Leningrad literature mass military million Minsk Moscow Moskvy murder Muscovites myth NKVD occupied October officers organized partisans party Patriotic War patriotism peasants percent Poland police political workers popular population POWs Pravda prewar prisoners propaganda radio Red Army regime reports RGVA role Russian siege Siege of Leningrad situation Slonim social socialist Soviet citizens Soviet soldiers Soviet troops Soviet Union Soviet Women sowjetischen SSSR Stalin Stalinist Stites survival themes thousand tion took TSGAIPD units USSR victory voiny wartime Wehrmacht winter World World War II York