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The Soviet Union and World War II

Biggest National Trauma• World War II was worse than everything that came

before• 27 million Soviet citizens were killed (13% of

population)• compare to U.S.– less than 0.5 million

• Britain– less than 0.5 million

• Germany– 8.7 million

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Nazi Invasion• Shock invasion on early morning of June 22,

1941– Operation Barbarossa

• Stalin had ample hints from many sources– refused to believe– thought this was misinformation– thought that Hitler could be trusted for time being

• Stalin personally shocked, depressed for days• Finally, gave speech to nation, nearly 2 weeks

after invasion

Background to Invasion• In 1939-41, Germans had conquered huge area

of Europe

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Operation Barbarossa• Largest invasion in human history– fast, massive

• Hitler believed that Soviets would surrender by winter 1941

• Massive attack, deep into Russia• Soviets were completely unprepared– Molotov-Ribbentrop pact had lulled Stalin– Purges had decimated top command

• no strategic plans to repel a surprise attack• tactics were outdated (Tukhachevsky vs. Voroshilov)

– inferior quality of Soviet armaments• Germans quickly advanced hundreds of miles

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Unprecedented Brutality of the Wehrmacht• German troops had specific instructions not to

consider needs of Soviets– marked for extermination:

• Russian Jews, Communists, Partisans were to be killed– Soviet soldiers arrested as POWs

• POW deaths was a ‘second’ Holocaust• 57% of all Soviet POWs were killed under German custody• compare w/ 3.5% of British and American POWs killed

– Massive civilian casualties, especially during invasion• attitude was based on racial notion of Slavs– Untermenschen (“subhuman”)

• Hitler about Russians– “We are obliged to exterminate the population—this is part

of our mission to protect the German population. I have the right to destroy millions of people of a lower race who breed like worms”

Come and See (1985)

• on Nazi invasion of Soviet Union (area called Belarus)

• main character: Flyora– becomes a partisan– ‘Partisans’ – fighters on

Soviet side not formally in Red Army• guerillas

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• Flyora conscripted into partisan group– but then left behind

• meets a girl, Giasha• they go back to Flyora’s village• Flyora meets another partisan, Roubej• Roubej killed in attempt to steal a cow• Flyora finds himself in a village occupied by SS• Barn episode• Giasha reappears in village• SS troops captured

• About 600 villages burned down

• most notorious case: village of Khatyn– in 1943– c. 150 people trapped in

barn, 6 people

• in 3 years of Nazi occupation, 2 million Soviets killed

Khatyn Memorial“Cemetery of Villages”

https://vimeo.com/80267729

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1st Major Turning Point of War• Battle of Moscow (late 1941)–Marshal Zhukov successfully repelled German

advance– helped by:• Hitler focusing on south (Ukraine, etc.)• harsh winter

• Defense of Moscow helped buy time

Evacuation• In late 1941, Stalin ordered evacuation of all

Soviet industry to the east• Evacuated 2,600 factories + 30-40% of workers• To east: Urals, Siberia, Central Asia• Key factor in Soviet victory– massive production began again 1942

• Also helped by aid from USA– Lend-Lease– U.S. supplied materials to many Allied nations– $11.3 billion to USSR

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Women and the War• Women outnumbered men in farms and

factories– by 1944, 4 times more women then

men in farms• Women moved into active combat

– 800,000 served in combat• Many famous women aviators

– first nation to allow women combat pilots

– Germans dubbed them “Night Witches”

• Made up major part of Partisan unitsLydia Litvyak

66 combat missionskilled at age 21

Roza Shanina54 confirmed kills

killed at age 21

Stalin’s Role• By late 1941, Stalin took on multiple

roles– chairman of State Defense

Committee (GKO)– military commander-in-chief– Party chairman– Government head

• Workaholic & micromanager• Refused to have troops surrender

even in cases where fighting on meant certain death– Order No. 227 (1942): “Not One

Step Back”– e.g., Kharkov in Ukraine where

240,000 soldiers taken prisoner and (eventually) died

Deprive them and win!

The Spirit of the Great Lenin and His Victorious Banner Inspires Now in

the Native War

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2nd Major Turning Point of War

• Wermacht launched offensive towards Stalingrad in August 1942

• Germans and Soviets fought over city, building by building for months

• Eventually, Soviets managed to cut Germans off from rear

• 250,000 Germans trapped in city• Against Hitler’s wishes, General

Schmidt surrendered in January 1943• First major defeat for Germans in

WWII– 91,000 Germans captured

• To win, Soviets still needed a Western front

Life and Culture at Home• Stalin encouraged religious practices

– opened churches– restored Holy Synod

• highest authority of Russian Orthodox Church

• Encouraged Russian nationalism• Rejected “international communist

revolution”• Huge rise in patriotic feelings• Difference between allegiance to

USSR and allegiance to Stalin• Yet Stalin’s popularity grew• Others: Marshal Zhukov

Aleksandr Gerasimov, Stalin and Voroshilov at the Kremlin (1938)

Patton and Voroshilov

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Collaborators• There were sizeable minorities of

collaborators• Ukrainian peasants• Russian Liberation Army– in 1942, General Andrei Vlasov led

an anti-Soviet Army (supported by Nazis)

– Vlasov had led defense of Moscow– Captured by Americans in 1945– Executed by Soviets in 1946

Road to Berlin• Soviet Army moved from strength to

strength after Battle of Kursk (Summer 1943)

• Pushed back Germans– helped by Partisans who often

“softened the enemy”• As Soviet troops headed back West, they

took revenge• Last offensive towards Berlin began in

January 1945• Bloody battle for Berlin in April/May 1945

– killed in 3 weeks: 300,000 Soviet soldiers, 200,000 German soldiers

– thousands of women may have been raped by Soviet soldiers in Berlin• revenge? entitlement?

• Hitler committed suicide on April 30, 1945• Germans surrendered on May 9, 1945

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The Siege of Leningrad• Also known as the “Leningrad Blockade”• German Army was unable to militarily

conquer Leningrad– decided to starve entire population to

death– this was official Nazi policy

• siege lasted from September 1941 to January 1944 (872 days)

• most destructive siege in history• 3 million people trapped in the city• c. 1.2 million people died

– starvation was the principal cause of death

• “Road of Life”

• Zhenya died on Dec. 28th at 12:00 P.M. 1941• Grandma died on Jan. 25th 3:00 P.M. 1942• Leka died on March 5th at 5:00 A.M. 1942• Uncle Vasya died on Apr. 13th at 2:00 after

midnight 1942• Uncle Lesha on May 10th at 4:00 P.M. 1942• Mother on May 13th at 7:30 A.M. 1942• Savichevs died.• Everyone died.• Only Tanya is left

• She died on July 1, 1944 aged 14

The Diary of Tatyana Savicheva(9 pages long)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siege_of_Leningrad

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• Questions on 900 Days: The Myth & Reality of the Leningrad Blockade documentary

• In considering how the memory of the Leningrad Blockade has been passed down for decades, can you think of examples from the documentary to show how the memory of Leningrad was filtered/altered (or even avoided) by either institutions (such as the government or museums) OR families at a very personal level?

• In thinking of the issue of ‘victims’ and ‘heroes’, highlight a few examples from the documentary where people fell into ‘victim’ or ‘hero’ narratives. Were these narratives imposed by the state or were they organically felt by the people in the documentary?

• Can you tell us a little bit of how the NKVD (secret police) acted during the Blockade? What kind of activities were they involved in?

• What is the memory of Stalin among the interviewees? How does it differ from person to person?