Special settlers in Western Siberia: perception by regional leadership, ethno-religious specifics (early 1940s - mid 1950s)

Special settlers in the USSR were considered not only as a discriminated social group, but also as an important labor resource. Each regional leader sought to ensure that the industrial development targets set by the central authorities were met. In the conditions of the Great Patriotic War there was a huge shortage of labor. That is why the category of special settlers began to be considered as a necessary source of ensuring the work of leading industries. In Western Siberia, the work of special settlers was used in the coal, forest, fishing industry, enterprises of defense industries. Regional leaders, together with the sectoral People's Commissars, asked the Central authorities to increase the quotas for the movement and use of the contingent. However, resources were limited. The resettlement of the special contingent, its use had become the subject of administrative bargaining. In this process, the apparatus of the Central Committee of the party played an important role. Its employees acted as mediators in resolving disputes between regional leaders. At the same time, the role of the People's Commissariat for Interior Affairs of the USSR, which appeared not only as a repressive and punitive, but also as an economic institution, was growing. Regional leaders (the first secretaries of the regional and regional committees of the party, the chairmen of the executive committees) sought to agree with the leadership of the NKVD of the USSR on the placement of labor and special settlements. The perception of special settlers by the regional leadership was extremely controversial. On the one hand, representatives of the party and economic nomenclature were satisfied with the results of the work of peasant special settlers. This fact served as the basis for the preparation of applications for the removal of any restrictions from them. On the other hand, the economic value of special settlers was understood by representatives of the economic management. They sought to limit changes in the regime of special settlement. Until the mid-1950s, special settlers were regarded as a group hostile to the Soviet state system. The presence of relatives from special settlers was considered a compromising fact of party workers. The daily life of the special settlers was monitored behind the scenes. Carefully recorded assessment of the political situation, which expressed the peasant and ethnic immigrants. The presence of the population deported from the European part of the USSR in Western Siberia changed the ethno -confessional situation in the region. Residents of the Baltic States, Moldova, Western Ukraine and Belarus were resettled. This affected the formation of Catholic and Protestant communities, religious groups of Christian Baptists, Lutherans and Mennonites in the region. The decrease in the number of adherents of religious communities correlated with resettlement policy. Removal of special settlers of Western Siberia from the register in the mid-1950s allowed large groups of believers to return home.

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