Mass sources on the deportation, special settlement, and labor mobilization of Russian Germans
V. M. Kirillov, S. L. Razinkov
In the 1940s, Germans living in the USSR were subjected to three types of political repressions, almost simultaneously. Chronologically, the first was preventive deportation, imposed as a punishment for potential treason. The deported Germans, along with “local” Germans (those who were not physically relocated), were placed under special settlement regimes. By 1941–1942, 1,209,430 individuals were registered under this system.
Subsequently, Germans were "mobilized" into NKVD (People's Commissariat for Internal Affairs) labor columns, through which more than 316,000 people passed. During the liberation of the territories occupied by the USSR, the so-called “Volksdeutsche” (Russian Germans who had accepted German citizenship) were evacuated eastward. In 1944, Germans from Crimea (about 1,000 individuals) were additionally deported, followed in 1945 by Germans from the Lithuanian and Moldavian SSRs, as well as from the Transcarpathian region of Ukraine. At the end of the war, the USSR repatriated 210,000 Soviet Germans who had been in occupied territories and taken westward by Germany. Thus, when considering those deported multiple times and repatriated individuals, more than 1.1 million people were deported between 1941 and 1945 [1].
In the 1990s, domestic historians began examining materials on the deportation, labor mobilization, and special settlement of the German population. The works of N. F. Bugai, A. A. German, N. E. Vashkau, G. Ya. Malamud, L. V. Malinovsky, P. M. Polyan, P. B. Rempel, V. G. Chebotareva, and others utilized and analyzed documents from central and local archives addressing the repression of Soviet Germans. A significant portion of these documents has already been published [2].
Since 2000, the project "Gedenkbuch: The Memorial Book of Repressed Russian Germans" has been underway, with books already published about seven labor camps in the Urals that housed labor-mobilized individuals [3].
The materials of interest are stored in numerous central archives, including the Russian Center for Preservation and Study of Documents of Contemporary History (RCPCHD), the State Archive of the Russian Federation (GARF), the Russian State Archive of Economics (RGAE), the Center for the Preservation of Contemporary Documents (CPCD), and the State Archive of Socio-Political History (GASPI). In GARF, the most relevant collections on this topic include those of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR, its committees and subcommittees (collection 7523); the Council of People's Commissars–Council of Ministers of the USSR (collection 5446); the Department of Special Settlements of the NKVD–MVD USSR (collection 9479); and various "Special Files" (collection 9401, inventory 2). Collection 644 of the State Defense Committee at RCPCHD contains the main resolutions on mobilizing representatives of deported peoples into industry and NKVD construction projects. Many unique documents on labor mobilization are stored in Stalin’s “Special File.” Orders and decrees on labor mobilization, the living conditions of Germans, and their distribution across enterprises, construction projects, and mines are included in the collections of central Soviet state bodies: the Supreme Soviet of the USSR and the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR. Of particular importance is collection 9414 of the NKVD GULAG (Main Administration of Camps) (GARF), which contains information on the location of camps, the size and composition of their contingents, and the nature of their production activities. Collection 9479 (Department of Special Settlements, NKVD–MVD USSR, GARF) holds materials on the location, population size, and labor usage of German special settlers. Collection 9401 (GARF) comprises a compilation of orders from the NKVD–MVD USSR spanning 1934–1966.
In the collections of the Russian State Archive of Economics (RGAE), particularly 8225, 8127, and 8665, materials from ministries and departments that utilized convict labor, including mobilized Germans, are preserved. These documents provide data on the size of forced labor contingents (including labor columns), their locations, and various aspects of the lives and activities of the group in question.
According to N. F. Bugai, the number of Soviet Germans serving in the Red Army as of 1949 was 64,644 individuals [4]. Therefore, when working with personal data archives, an essential aspect is studying the materials of military archives and conscription offices in regions where Germans were drafted. The primary archives for this purpose include the Central Archive of the Ministry of Defense (Podolsk), the Central Military Medical Archive (St. Petersburg), and the Central Naval Archive (Gatchina).
Verification of data on those who served in the military has been significantly simplified thanks to the existence of the "Memorial" Unified Database, created in 2007 by the Russian Ministry of Defense in collaboration with the "National Memory" Foundation. This consolidated computer database contains information about the defenders of the Fatherland who perished or went missing during the Great Patriotic War and in the postwar period. The resource is available at obd-memorial.ru. In 2010, the "Feats of the Nation in the Great Patriotic War of 1941–1945" database was launched at podvignaroda.ru. In 2015, the "Memory of the Nation" portal (pamyat-naroda.ru) was introduced. This resource builds upon the previously implemented Ministry of Defense projects "Memorial" and "Feats of the Nation" and also includes information about losses and commendations for soldiers and officers from the First World War.
The primary materials on individuals, however, are stored in republican and regional archives, in the collections of regional committees and executive committees of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (All-Union Communist Party (Bolsheviks) [VKP(b)]), regional and district executive committees, and the collections of various organizations and enterprises that employed mobilized Germans. Only through these materials can a comprehensive understanding be formed of the social composition and status, educational level, family structure, professional activities, and living and working conditions of the mobilized individuals. For instance, in the archives of the Urals, the concentration of materials on Soviet Germans is particularly high, as most of the labor-mobilized Germans ended up in NKVD camps.
As of January 1, 1944, out of the total 119,358 "labor-mobilized Germans" in the Urals, 68,713 were located in camps and on construction sites managed by the NKVD [5]. Index cards and personal files are stored in the archives of the following camp systems: Bakallag (Bakalstroy, Chelyabmetallurgstroy), Bogoslovlag (Bogoslovstroy, BAZstroy), Vosturallag, Ivdelag, Ponyschlag, Severallag, Solikambumlag (Solikamstroy, Solikamsky ITL), Tavdinlag, Tagilstroy–Tagillag, Usollag, and Vyatlag.
The total number of labor-mobilized individuals who passed through these camps can be estimated using materials from central archives, primarily the GULAG collections in GARF. However, more precise personal records are preserved in the index card systems of the camps themselves. Only by cross-referencing GULAG data with local camp records can the actual number of inmates be established. For example, the number of labor-army members in Tagillag was long debated, with estimates ranging from 6,000 to 15,000. Today, the entire card index of "mobilized Germans" in this camp-construction site has been digitized. It revealed that there were 6,511 "pure" Germans, with the number rising to 7,232 when including mobilized individuals of other nationalities and repatriates.
The study of camp archive collections is an important task for researchers. However, beyond academic interest, significant personal, public, and governmental organizational efforts are required to access these materials. Access to the archives of the Ministry of Internal Affairs (now the Federal Penitentiary Service under the Ministry of Justice of the Russian Federation) is highly restricted. There are only a few known examples of successful access.
For several years, former employee of the special records archive of institution K-231 of the Federal Penitentiary Service in Lesnoy (Verkhnekamsky District, Kirov Region, home to the Vyatlag archive), V. I. Veremyev, and Doctor of Historical Sciences, Professor V. A. Berdinsky, author of the book Vyatlag, have worked with these documents. Thanks to the dedication of labor-army member E. A. Grib, some of the card indexes of Usollag have been revealed.
Access to the Tagillag archive was achieved only in 2000. A significant success was the discovery that a considerable portion of materials from Bakallag-Chelyablag (including the "labor-mobilized" card index) is openly available at the Unified State Archive of the Chelyabinsk Region. At the same time, the archive of the Ministry of Internal Affairs in the Chelyabinsk Region remains closed to researchers. The collections of Ivdelag and Severallag were relocated to Yekaterinburg, but they are now held in a departmental archive of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, where access is restricted. There is a pressing need for the development of a targeted state program to create electronic databases of "Labor-Mobilized Individuals," with the mandatory provision of open access to camp archives for researchers.
Another portion of materials on labor-army members is preserved in the archives of over fifty enterprises under various ministries and agencies, where during the war years, labor from labor-mobilized individuals, special settlers, and other categories of forced laborers was utilized. For example, as of early 1944, 50,645 labor-army members were employed in the oil, gas, and coal industries, in the construction of machinery plants and railroads, in logging operations, and in the production of munitions in the Urals [6].
By August 1946, across the country, 217,788 former labor-mobilized individuals were employed at enterprises under 24 ministries, while 60,396 individuals remained in NKVD camps and construction sites [7]. The archives of these enterprises, camps, and construction sites have been only minimally explored by researchers.
By the mid-1950s, 718,608 German special settlers were under the supervision of the Ministry of Internal Affairs (MVD). They were primarily settled in the following regions: “Kazakh SSR - 258,677 individuals, Altai Territory - 62,406 individuals, Novosibirsk Region - 47,551 individuals, Krasnoyarsk Territory - 44,771 individuals, Kemerovo Region - 42,783 individuals, Sverdlovsk Region - 35,234 individuals, Molotov Region - 31,965 individuals, Omsk Region - 26,592 individuals, Chelyabinsk Region - 25,177 individuals, Tajik SSR - 18,824 individuals, Tyumen Region - 17,409 individuals, Tomsk Region - 15,978 individuals, Komi ASSR (Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic) - 12,679 individuals.”. The remainder were distributed across the territories of 36 other republics, territories, and regions [8].
The first mass sources on the personal records of the repressed appeared with the deportation of the German population in the summer of 1941. The deportations were carried out based on decisions and orders of the State Defense Committee (GKO), the Council of People’s Commissars (Soviet government), the NKVD, and Military Councils of the fronts. These acts were standardized and reproduced in abbreviated form, adapted to local specifics, following the decree of the Council of People’s Commissars and the Central Committee of the Communist Party (VKP(b)) on August 26, 1941 [9]. During the preparation of deportee lists, NKVD officers filled out registration cards for each resettled family, listing its members (see Appendix 3.1). These lists are now preserved in surviving postwar archives in the locations of the deportations, such as the archive of the Volga German Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic (ASSR) in Saratov. Additionally, train rosters were compiled, and most deportees were given receipts listing their property, which could be used for future compensation in case of loss. Initial academic studies based on these primary sources have already appeared [10]. Train rosters are also stored in archives of the regions to which the Germans were deported, including archives in Kazakhstan.
In the archives of the Ministry of Defense, one should look for lists of those mobilized into labor columns in the Novosibirsk and Omsk regions, Krasnoyarsk and Altai territories, and the Kazakh SSR. The most comprehensive accounting of the mobilized was conducted in the camps and at construction sites, and these records are housed in regional and local archives.
Drawing on our experience working with sources on labor-mobilized Germans in Tagillag, the primary source type is the personal accounting card of a labor-mobilized individual, which is stored in the Tagillag collection of the special archive of the GUFSIN of the Sverdlovsk Region.
Besides Form No. 2 cards, the archive contains several hundred personal files of labor-army members, which include over 20 types of documents: Form No. 1 statistical record cards, death certificates (in case of death during service in construction units), Form No. 4 personal file records, personnel accounting forms, special-purpose NKVD worker questionnaires (with answers to 52 questions), labor force personnel record questionnaires, Form 1a personal file accounting cards, and sometimes military IDs, passports, photographs, etc. Personal files are generally preserved for labor-army members who died or were transferred to service in Tagillag after their status changed in 1946. If labor-army members, transferred to special settlements in 1946, became workers or employees of enterprises in Nizhny Tagil, we refer to the archives of these enterprises. In them are stored personal files of workers (employees), which are collections of several documents (questionnaires, record cards, autobiographies, etc.).
Labor-army personnel record cards (see Appendix 3.2), filled out between 1942 and 1946 during the existence of labor-army formations composed of Soviet citizens of German nationality, contain data in two sections. In the first section are personal biographical and sociodemographic details of the labor-army member (full name, age, place of birth and residence prior to mobilization, etc.). In the second section is information about their mobilization and time in the labor column at an NKVD facility.
Personnel record cards were introduced in accordance with the temporary GULAG instructions, “On the Procedure for Personal Accounting of Germans Mobilized into Labor Columns” dated April 16, 1942. They began to be maintained on prisoner record card forms only in May 1942, three months after the mass mobilization of Soviet Germans into the labor army had begun. For labor-army members who had already left the camp by that time (due to escape or death), the cards contained only their full name and year of birth (or age). The remaining fields were evidently filled out based on the statements of the mobilized individual and were not corroborated by documents, as evidenced by discrepancies in geographical names, surnames, and even the names of the recruiting military commissariats.
The labor-army card indexes of Tagillag and Bogoslovlag contain 7,500 and 20,500 personnel record cards, respectively, though the number of cards slightly exceeds the total number of labor-army members who passed through the labor columns of a given camp. For example, when a labor-army member who had previously left the labor column (due to sentencing) returned, a new personnel record card was often created for them, with a different personal file number and sometimes even a different surname than those recorded on the original card. Furthermore, the Tagillag card index, for instance, included not only labor-army members but also interned German citizens and "encircled" soldiers—Red Army servicemen who were captured by the enemy and later repatriated to Soviet territory.
In our opinion, the personnel record card of a labor-army member can serve as the "primary source" of information about Soviet Germans in the labor army because: firstly, it contains an almost exhaustive set of data, both biographical and regarding the type of repression; secondly, the information in the card is relatively easy to formalize; and thirdly, other sources (besides labor-army personnel record cards) described below have been preserved only fragmentarily, and access to them by researchers is currently difficult.
According to the temporary GULAG instructions, in addition to the personnel record card, a personal file was to be created for each labor-army member, containing a labor-army member's statistical record card, fingerprint card, passport, and military ID. Furthermore, "for specialists and skilled workers, according to the list of professions and specialties recorded by the camp," cards in Form No. 4 were to be completed.
The statistical record card (see Appendix 3.3) was filled out on a prisoner statistical record card form upon the labor-army member's arrival at the labor column (starting in May 1942). Unlike the personnel record card, the statistical record card contains information about the family composition and prior work activities of mobilized citizens. The document was completed by employees of the camp's record-keeping department (URCh)—who were themselves Soviet Germans mobilized into labor-army formations—likely based on the statements of the individuals interviewed, as passports, military IDs, and other documents are present in only a small number of personal files. Form No. 4 cards for recording specialists were not found among the surviving personal files of labor-army members in Tagillag and Bogoslovlag. The Tagillag archive contains only about 250 personal files of Tagillag labor-army members (which amounts to 3% of all personal files), and the criteria for their selection are unclear.
In addition to personal record materials, the Tagillag archive collections include binders of camp orders revealing the living and working conditions of the labor-mobilized. These materials are supplemented by documents from Collection R-299 of the Tagilstroy Trust in the archival department of the Nizhny Tagil city administration.
If a labor-mobilized individual was convicted under criminal-political articles (58, 59, etc.) while serving in the construction units of Tagillag, detailed materials about them can be found in the collection of closed archival-investigative cases in the State Archive of Administrative Bodies of the Sverdlovsk Region. An archival-investigative case has a complex, branched structure and requires a separate description. If the convicted individual was sent to Tagillag, their prisoner record card can be found in the card index, along with their personal file.
The personal file includes about twenty types of documents: the decision to impose a preventive measure, the detainee’s questionnaire, the personal file form, the sentence, the statistical record card, the protocol of the prisoner’s personal search, a certificate of the sentence’s enactment, a certificate related to the personal file, a sentence monitoring card, excerpts from the protocol of the judicial (or extrajudicial) body, and in the case of death—a death certificate, acts of death and burial, photographs, and so on.
As is known, the state that repressed Soviet Germans pretended that they worked as free-hired labor rather than as prisoners. For this reason, Germans retained membership in the Party and Komsomol. Consequently, in former Party archives, information can be found about the activities of the corresponding political organizations in camps and enterprises, as well as membership record cards of the VKP(b) and VLKSM (All-Union Leninist Young Communist League).
In the relevant collections of the Center for Documentation of Public Organizations of the Sverdlovsk Region (CDPO — formerly the archive of the Sverdlovsk Regional Committee of the CPSU) and the Center for Documentation of Contemporary History of the Chelyabinsk Region (CDCICH — formerly the archive of the Chelyabinsk Regional Committee of the CPSU), documents of higher Party and state bodies are preserved. These include materials from political departments and Party committees of enterprises and organizations that employed labor-army members, as well as documents from regional and city committees of the VKP(b) overseeing these enterprises.
In Collection 4 of the Center for Documentation of Public Organizations of the Sverdlovsk Region (CDPO), there is correspondence between the regional committee and the political departments of the camps. Collection 5428 contains materials from the political department of Ivdelspecialforest of the USSR Ministry of Internal Affairs (MVD), and Collection 1896 includes materials from the political department of Tagilstroy–Tagillag of the USSR NKVD. At the Center for Documentation of Contemporary History of the Chelyabinsk Region (CDCICH), Collection P-878 pertains to the trust Chelyabmetallurgstroy, while Collection P-288 contains primarily the minutes of closed Party meetings from various construction units, columns, camp sections, and the administration of Chelyabmetallurgstroy, among others. The materials in the Party archives mainly consist of documents related to the ideological management of labor-army members, including information about the number of labor-mobilized individuals and special contingents, their living conditions, and their relationships with free-hired workers [11].
In 1945–1946, all Soviet Germans living in the Sverdlovsk Region were transferred to a special settlement regime, but personal files for them were only started in February 1949. The Archival Information Center of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Sverdlovsk Region (AIC MIA SR) [12] holds approximately 130,000 personal files of special settlers who were registered with the Special Settlements Department of the Sverdlovsk Region’s UMGB (Department of the Ministry of State Security) between 1948 and 1955, the majority of whom were Soviet citizens of German nationality.
The personal file, the primary document consolidating all information about a special settler, consists of a folder with an internal inventory and a verification record for page numbering. The cover indicates the full name of the special settler, the start and end dates of the file, the registration category (“deported,” “repatriated,” “mobilized,” or “local”), and the archive number of the personal file.
An essential identifying feature used to compile summaries and statistical groupings in the Special Settlements Department of the Sverdlovsk Region’s UMGB was the category of registration to which the German special settler belonged.
A selective analysis of personal files shows that the "deported" category included all Soviet citizens of German nationality who were deported from the European part of the country in 1941. The "repatriated" category comprised those who, in 1941, were on territory occupied by the enemy and, after the Red Army liberated these areas, went through the network of screening and filtration camps. The "mobilized" category included Soviet Germans who were not deported but were mobilized in 1941 into the Red Army or between 1942–1945 into labor army formations. The "local" category referred to citizens who, as the name might suggest, resided not only in the Sverdlovsk Region but also throughout the Asian part of the USSR and managed to avoid deportation and mobilization.
The mandatory documents included in a special settler’s personal file were as follows:
- Certificate of the basis for deportation and placement in a special settlement — Indicates the regulatory act that served as the basis for deportation (e.g., decrees of the State Defense Committee or the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR) or placement in a special settlement.
- Deportee questionnaire with photograph (see Appendix 3.4) — The vast majority of these questionnaires were filled out in February 1949 (except for those of special settlers who arrived in the Sverdlovsk Region later). The questionnaire form consists of 21 items, which can be grouped into four sections:
Biographical and sociodemographic characteristics of the special settler (full name, date and place of birth, Party membership, education, specialty).
Details of the interviewee’s political reliability (criminal record, residence in occupied territory, time spent abroad or in captivity).
Information on relocations in 1941–1949.
Details about family members and close relatives of the special settler.
In addition, the questionnaire serves as an important source for creating a map of the resettlement of special settlers in the Sverdlovsk Region as of 1949. Its significance is heightened by the fact that no map or list of special commandant offices or special settlements has been preserved in the Archival Information Center of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Sverdlovsk Region (AIC MIA SR). Furthermore, the map of special settlements in the Sverdlovsk Region (1935–1956) stored in GARF contains erroneous information, at least for the period of 1946–1956.
The special settler survey form (see Appendix 3.5) was filled out in April 1953. It includes 17 items, with nearly the same set of questions as the questionnaire. A notable advantage of the survey forms over the questionnaires is that the former were completed after the special settlers had received passports. Consequently, the information they contain, especially the individual biographical data of the settlers, is more objective. Cross-referencing the data from the survey forms and the questionnaires allows for the evaluation of changes in several dynamic characteristics, primarily family composition, job position, and place of residence.
The autobiography of a special settler (see Appendix 3.6) is a partially formalized source. On one hand, it may include free-text content typical of narrative documents, while on the other, it has a structure—albeit vague and loosely defined.
The autobiography always contains information about the author’s full name, date and place of birth, social status, education level, and profession. Additionally, the document could include details characterizing the professional and labor activities of the special settler over time, the directions and reasons for family migrations in the first half of the 20th century, kinship ties (sometimes up to the third generation), and changes in the family composition of the autobiography’s author.
The registration sheet reflects the mechanism for monthly (or annually for 1954–1955) registration of special settlers at the special commandant’s office, indicating the date of appearance and the registrant’s personal signature.
The acknowledgment receipts of special settlers confirm their familiarity with legislative acts regulating the special settlement regime.
The passes and permits for temporary travel contain information about the destination and reasons for short-term movements of special settlers.
In addition, the personal files of some special settlers include documents not mandated by the instructions but classified as mass sources based on their form and content. These documents contain biographical information and details about the fate of the special settler:
Verification card — Completed when documentary confirmation was needed for information provided by the special settler, primarily regarding their political reliability (e.g., absence of criminal convictions).
Requests for family reunification — Contain details about families divided by deportation and mobilization into the labor army. These requests can serve as sources of information on migration processes among Soviet Germans during the special settlement period.
Interrogation protocols — Include records of questioning either as an accused individual in administrative offenses or as a witness during efforts to clarify biographical data or search for escaped relatives who were special settlers.
In the personal files of special settler repatriates, there may also be documents indicating residence in occupied territories and the acceptance of German citizenship.
Entries in personal file documents were recorded either based on the statements of the special settler (which could later be verified) or on official documents. The reliability of the personal file information varies: documents from the late 1940s are generally less accurate than sources from the early 1950s, particularly concerning geographic names, first names, and surnames.
The most informative mass sources characterizing the social composition of special settlers are the questionnaire and the survey form. The clear structure of these documents makes them particularly suitable for conversion into machine-readable format.
In 1946, after the disbandment of the special units and labor columns of mobilized Germans, all their participants were employed at specific industrial enterprises. For example, most former labor-army members of Tagillag were assigned to the construction and installation trust "Tagilstroy" (their personal files are stored in the archive of JSC "Tagilstroy"), while a smaller portion remained in Tagillag under the NKVD, but as free-hired workers (their personal files are located in the Tagillag archive). Personal files were prepared in the personnel department of the enterprise at the time of employment and served as official evidence of work experience, awards, and other data. The composition of these files was regulated by departmental instructions and included the following documents:
Employment record card (for workers) or personnel record sheet (for employees) – the most informative sources, containing diverse information about the worker’s socio-biographical and professional characteristics.
In the personnel record sheet (see Appendix 3.7), several informational blocks can be identified:
General information about the employee.
Details of their professional and socio-political activities since the start of their independent career (this section is the most detailed and redundant compared to other sources).
Data indicating the respondent’s loyalty to the existing regime (e.g., participation in the partisan movement, time spent in captivity or on occupied territory, criminal record, etc.).
Information about military registration.
Details about awards, commendations, and penalties.
Information about marital status and home address.
An autobiography and a supplement to the personnel record sheet, reflecting information about positions held by the employee after completing the form, are usually attached to the personnel record sheet.
The employment record card (see Appendix 3.8), unlike the personnel record sheet, contains a more limited set of information (it lacks details about awards and commendations, and data about previous professional activities are incomplete, etc.). In addition, the personal file could also include auxiliary documents with limited informational value:
- A character reference for the employee, which often formally evaluated their professional and social activities, business, and moral qualities.
- Extracts from orders concerning personnel, issued by the administration of the enterprise, relating to the appointment of the individual to specific positions, dismissal, or granting of regular leave.
- Verification cards for biographical information provided by the employee (primarily concerning their reliability—social background, criminal record, time spent in occupied territories, etc.).
The information in the personal files of workers and employees allows: firstly, in studying the social profile, one to obtain comprehensive data on the dynamic changes in employment structure within a specific social group; secondly, in analyzing the life paths and fates of former labor-army members, to shed light on the period of 1946–1948, which is not reflected in other sets of mass sources.
Given the above, one can speak of a complex set of documents on the repression of Soviet Germans. Using the materials in this set will make it possible to reconstruct a comprehensive picture of labor mobilization and gather detailed information about the repressed individuals. However, it would be premature to consider this set of documents exhaustive. It lacks several critical components. Only in rare cases do the personal files of labor-army members contain passports, military IDs, photographs, or other documentary evidence that would allow us to guarantee the accuracy of personal data. Some missing materials should be stored in the archives of the deportation sites: church parish registers and civil registry office records with personal information; lists of Germans prepared for deportation; documents from military commissariats responsible for mobilizing individuals into the labor army. Such documents are geographically dispersed: from the deportation sites—Volga German ASSR, Ukraine, dozens of regions in Russia and other republics—to the resettlement areas of deportees in Kazakhstan, Siberia, Altai, and so on, as well as the locations where the labor-mobilized individuals were sent. Given today’s situation, involving the dissolution of the USSR and the emergence of international borders, accessing these documents is very challenging.
Notes
Germans of Russia. Encyclopedia. Vol. 1. Moscow, 1999. – P. 702; Polyan, P. Not of Their Own Will... History and Geography of Forced Migrations in the USSR. Moscow, 2001. – P. 104, 115–116.
Bugai, N. F. L. Beria to I. Stalin: "According to Your Instructions..." Moscow, 1995; "Mobilize Germans into Labor Columns... I. Stalin". Collection of Documents (1940s). Compiled by N. F. Bugai. Moscow, 1998; German, A. A. History of the Republic of Volga Germans in Events, Facts, Documents. Moscow, 1996; Rempel, P. B. Deportation of Germans from the European Part of the USSR and the Labor Army According to "Top Secret" NKVD Documents of the USSR 1941–1944. // Russian Germans: Problems of History, Language, and Current Situation. Moscow, 1996; Malinovsky, L. V. History of Germans in Russia. Barnaul, 1996; History of Russian Germans in Documents (1763–1992). Compiled by Auman, V. A., Chebotareva, V. G. Moscow, 1993; Vashkau, N. E. Germans in Russia: History and Destinies. Volgograd, 1994; Malamud, G. Ya. Prisoners, Labor Mobilized by the NKVD, and Special Settlers in the Urals in the 1940s–Early 1950s. Dissertation for Candidate of Historical Sciences. Yekaterinburg, 1998.
For example: Gedenkbuch: "Proud Patience." Memory Book of Soviet Germans – Inmates of Tagillag. Authors-compilers: V. M. Kirillov, P. M. Kuzmina, A. Ya. Tseyzer, S. L. Razinkov. Yekaterinburg: Publisher IP Cherepanova N. V., 2004, etc.
"Mobilize Germans into Labor Columns... I. Stalin." – P. 11.
Malamud, G. Ya. Cited work. – P. 85.
Ibid.
"Mobilize Germans into Labor Columns... I. Stalin." – P. 308–310.
Ibid. – P. 324–325.
Germans of Russia. Encyclopedia. Vol. 1. Moscow, 1999. – P. 699; Polyan, P. – Moscow, 2001. – Cited work. – P. 108–109.
Lists of deported Russian Germans from the former Volga German Republic to the Stalingrad Region. Collection of Documents in 2 Volumes. Volgograd State University, Volgograd Center for German Historical Studies, Center for German Studies of the Institute of General History, Russian Academy of Sciences; Compilers: N. E. Vashkau, E. L. Furman, L. A. Falaleeva. [Project Leader, Editor, and Author of the Introduction: N. E. Vashkau]. Volgograd: VolSU Publishing House, 2015. – Vol. 1. [Works of the Volgograd Center for German Historical Studies, Issue 12].
Turova, E. P. Documents of the Unified State Archive of the Chelyabinsk Region on Soviet Germans at the Construction of the Chelyabinsk Metallurgical Plant (1941–1945). // Scientific and Informational Bulletin of the International Association of Researchers of the History and Culture of Russian Germans. No. 3 (23). Moscow, 2000. – P. 8–11.
AIC MIA SR. Collection 12. Inventory 1. File 6.