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Fortress dark and stern : the Soviet home front during World War II / Wendy Z. Goldman and Donald Filtzer.

By: Contributor(s): Material type: TextTextPublisher: New York, NY : Oxford University Press, [2021]Description: xx, 494 pages : illustrations, maps ; 25 cmContent type:
  • text
Media type:
  • unmediated
Carrier type:
  • volume
ISBN:
  • 9780190618414
  • 0190618418
  • 019009267X
  • 9780190092672
Other title:
  • Soviet home front during World War II
Subject(s):
Contents:
Panic, Scorched Earth, and Evacuation -- Rolling East and Resettlement -- The Staff of Life: Feeding the People -- Illicit Provisioning: Inequality, Leveling, and Black Markets -- "All for the Front": Free Labor, Prisoners, and Deportees -- The Labor System in Crisis: The Limits of Mobilization -- Coercion Constrained: The Wartime Labor Laws -- The Public's Health -- "Our Cause is Just": Loyalty, Propaganda, and Popular Moods -- "Brick Dust and Ashes": Liberation and Reconstruction.
Summary: "The book tells the story, largely unknown to Western readers, of the Soviet home front during World War II. After Hitler's invasion in 1941, German troops conquered the heartland of Soviet industry and agriculture and turned the occupied territories into mass killing fields. In one of the greatest wartime feats in history, Soviet workers rapidly evacuated factories, food, and people thousands of miles to the east and built a new industrial base beyond the reach of German bombers. As millions of refugees and evacuees streamed east, mass epidemics engulfed the country. Health officials battled to establish new public health regulations. The Soviet state reached the height of its power, imposing military discipline and mobilizing millions of people to work thousands of miles from home. The state assumed responsibility for feeding the nation through a strict ration system. Given terrible food shortages, many people, including workers, began to starve. This book examines the dark and painful war years from a new perspective, telling the stories of evacuees, refugees, teenaged and women workers, runaways from work, Gulag prisoners, and deportees. The narrative follows the Red Army as it retreated east and then battled back westward after Stalingrad, presenting "total war" behind the front lines in a chronicle of spirited defense efforts, draconian state directives, teeming black markets, and selfless heroism. Based on a vast trove of new archival materials, the book tells the story of suffering, sacrifice, and commitment that made the Allied victory possible"-- Provided by publisher.
Holdings
Item type Home library Collection Call number Materials specified Status Date due Barcode Item holds
Adult Book Adult Book Main Library NonFiction 940.5347 G619 Available 33111010523906
Total holds: 0

Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

The first history of the Soviet home front experience during World War II and of the civilians who paid a very heavy price for total war and played a critical role in the global victory over fascism. After Hitler's invasion of the Soviet Union in 1941, German troops conquered the heartland of Soviet industry and agriculture and turned the occupied territories into mass killing fields. The country's survival hung in the balance. In Fortress Dark and Stern, Wendy Z. Goldman and Donald Filtzer tell the epic tale of the Soviet home front during World War II. Against the backdrop of the Red Army's early retreats and regained offensive after Stalingrad, civilians contended with draconian state directives, teeming black markets, petty thievery, and official corruption, displaying spirited defense efforts and selfless heroism. In one of the greatest wartime feats in history, Soviet workers rapidly evacuated factories, food, and people thousands of miles to the east. After long and dangerous journeys in unheated boxcars, they built a new industrial base beyond the reach of German bombers. As the Soviet state reached the height of its power, imposing military discipline and sending millions of people to work thousands of miles from home, ordinary people withstood starvation, epidemics, and horrific living conditions to supply the front and make the Allied victory possible. This book examines the dark and painful war years rom a new perspective, telling the stories of evacuees, refugees, teenaged and women workers, runaways from work, prisoners, and deportees. Based on a vast trove of new archival materials, Fortress Dark and Stern reveals a history of suffering, sacrifice, and ultimate triumph largely unknown to Western readers.

Includes bibliographical references (pages 457-473) and index.

Panic, Scorched Earth, and Evacuation -- Rolling East and Resettlement -- The Staff of Life: Feeding the People -- Illicit Provisioning: Inequality, Leveling, and Black Markets -- "All for the Front": Free Labor, Prisoners, and Deportees -- The Labor System in Crisis: The Limits of Mobilization -- Coercion Constrained: The Wartime Labor Laws -- The Public's Health -- "Our Cause is Just": Loyalty, Propaganda, and Popular Moods -- "Brick Dust and Ashes": Liberation and Reconstruction.

"The book tells the story, largely unknown to Western readers, of the Soviet home front during World War II. After Hitler's invasion in 1941, German troops conquered the heartland of Soviet industry and agriculture and turned the occupied territories into mass killing fields. In one of the greatest wartime feats in history, Soviet workers rapidly evacuated factories, food, and people thousands of miles to the east and built a new industrial base beyond the reach of German bombers. As millions of refugees and evacuees streamed east, mass epidemics engulfed the country. Health officials battled to establish new public health regulations. The Soviet state reached the height of its power, imposing military discipline and mobilizing millions of people to work thousands of miles from home. The state assumed responsibility for feeding the nation through a strict ration system. Given terrible food shortages, many people, including workers, began to starve. This book examines the dark and painful war years from a new perspective, telling the stories of evacuees, refugees, teenaged and women workers, runaways from work, Gulag prisoners, and deportees. The narrative follows the Red Army as it retreated east and then battled back westward after Stalingrad, presenting "total war" behind the front lines in a chronicle of spirited defense efforts, draconian state directives, teeming black markets, and selfless heroism. Based on a vast trove of new archival materials, the book tells the story of suffering, sacrifice, and commitment that made the Allied victory possible"-- Provided by publisher.

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