The material and living situation of children and adolescents under Nazi occupation: based on the materials of the North-West of the RSFSR (1941–1944)

10.54398/1818510Х_2023_3_99

Annotation

A significant territory of the USSR during the war period was occupied by Nazi troops. For a long time (from 1941 to 1944), the occupation regime existed in the North-West of the RSFSR. Not only adults, but also children became victims of the occupation policy. This determined the relevance of the study of the problem of military childhood in the North-West of Russia and caused interest in it from researchers. The purpose of this study is to show the material and living situation of children and adolescents in the conditions of the Nazi occupation of the North-West of the RSFSR. The work is based on both archival and published sources. The research was based on archival materials, periodicals, memoirs. They cover issues of the organization of labor relations, the involvement of children in them, provides information on repressive measures against children of partisans, children participating in the anti-fascist struggle or suspected of having ties with patriots, children captured during punitive operations. The methodological basis of the research is the principles and methods of scientific cognition. The historical method, the method of analysis, induction and comparison are used in the work. One of the directions of the Nazi occupation policy was the extermination of the population by starvation. Insufficient food standards and robberies by the occupiers forced residents to look for illegal ways to earn money. The children performed work for the occupation authorities, participated in exchange operations in the markets of the region, begged. Children and teenagers were involved in forced labor in the territory of the region under consideration, and also, along with adults, were hijacked to Germany and the Baltic States.

Keywords

• The Great Patriotic War
• the North-West of the RSFSR
• occupation
• Nazism
• economic policy
• military childhood
• financial situation
• hunger
• survival practices
• crimes
• forced labor
• hijacking to Germany
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Acknowledgments

this work has been supported by the grants the Russian Science Foundation № 22-28-20189, https://rscf.ru/project/22-28-20189/; this work has been supported by the grants the St. Petersburg Scientific Foundation in accordance with the agreement no. 62/2022 dated April 15, 2022.

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