Everyday life and leisure of foreign PoWs in Udmurtia during 1945-1948 (a case study of Camp 371)

The paper describes some aspects of foreign PoWs' stay in Camp 371 in Izhevsk based on archival documents that are first introduced to the academia. The reminiscences of eye-witnesses are used for the research of the little known historical issue of Izhevsk and Udmurtia. The author enumerates the methods of antifascist measures in the camp. Some features of relations of the local population and PoWs are revealed. The paper contains opinions of PoWs disclosing their attitude to Izhevsk and the USSR. It discusses the issue of the food supply of PoWs in Camp 371. Their leisure is described: it consisted in visiting circles on different subjects, reading books and newspapers in their native language, watching movies, participating in sports competitions and even going on excursions in Izhevsk. The paper analyzes the negative features in the everyday life of foreign PoWs in Camp 371. The biggest problem of former soldiers and officers of Hitler's military alliance was petty thefts. The PoWs often stole different things from each other. They had a low level of mutual understanding and collectivism and tried to suffer the difficulties of captivity alone, sometimes with a damage to other PoWs. The former soldiers and officers of Hitler's military alliance who lived and worked in Izhevsk got hot food three times a day, received wages, had four free days a month and 2-3 hours of leisure a day. The duration of the PoWs' working day in most cases was 8 hours. Many PoWs who stayed in Udmurtia and in the USSR had a permit to move within a populated area without a convoy. With the money earned they bought food and goods at markets and in shops; they often took goods home during repatriation. The cases of PoWs who voluntarily stayed in Udmurtia and started families show the absence of tendencies in the Soviet captivity and the recognition by former PoWs of the truth of men who liberated Europe from fascism. Many decades later, some former representatives of the special contingent recollected years in Udmurtia with a nostalgia because PoW camps had satisfactory conditions for life, leisure and public political activities. The data in the paper show that the everyday life and leisure of foreign PoWs in Camp 371 was busy and diverse. The research assists in the elimination of the ample "gap" in the regional and Soviet history.

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