Everyday Occupation Routine of the Kursk Region (Reflected in Collaborators’ Print Media and the NKVD Agents Reports)

Everyday Occupation Routine of the Kursk Region (Reflected in Collaborators’ Print Media and the NKVD Agents Reports)


Bogdanov S.V.

Dr. Sci (Hist.), Prof., Belgorod State National Research University, National Research Technological University “MISiS”, Belgorod, Russia dr.bogdanov_sv@mail.ru

Ostapyuk V.G.

Cand. Sci. (law), Assoc. Prof., Belgorod State National Research University, Belgorod, Russia ostapyuk@bsu.edu.ru

Gudova J.S.

Lecturer, Belgorod State National Research University, Belgorod, Russia. gudova@bsu.edu.ru

Aseev A.A.

Graduate Student, Belgorod State National Research University, Belgorod, Russia aseev@bsu.edu.ru

Maslov V.A.

Graduate Student, Belgorod State National Research University, Belgorod, Russia maslov@bsu.edu.ru

ID of the Article:


For citation:

Bogdanov S.V., Ostapyuk V.G., Gudova J.S., Aseev A.A., Maslov V.A. Everyday Occupation Routine of the Kursk Region (Reflected in Collaborators’ Print Media and the NKVD Agents Reports). Sotsiologicheskie issledovaniya [Sociological Studies]. 2019. No 6. P. 108-114




Abstract

The article examines daily life of the population in the areas of one of the largest regions of Central Russia – the Kursk region in 1941–1943 occupied by German troops and their allies. The main sources of information were materials of mass print publications, issued by local collaborators’ authorities under control of the German occupation troops, as well as reports by Soviet agents that transmitted intelligence information to the 4th department of the NKVD in the Kursk region. Comparison of two information sources of the belligerent parties allows us to reveal peculiarities of coverage of various aspects of the daily life of the civilian population in the territory occupied by the Germans. The most important events in the everyday life of the urban and rural population of this region are being reconstructed: the problems of hunger, mass terror, anti-Semitism, revival of church life, suppression of national consciousness and psychological warfare against Soviet ideology, as well as their interpretation in pro-fascist mass print publications and intelligence reports by Soviet agents. Characteristic features of the reflection of the daily life of the population in the occupied Soviet territory in collaborationist print media were strict ideological guidelines of the German command, active propagandizing of the German «new order» and the massive psychological war by the invaders against the anti-fascist sentiments of individual Soviet citizens. Reports of Soviet agents with greater objectivity reflected the situation in the occupied territory. Although information about the collaborative civil administration bodies, activities in the sphere of religion and the church, the economy bore the imprint of the Soviet ideology of the 1930s


Keywords
German occupation; everyday life of the civilian population; intelligence reports; collaborative press

References

Archive of the Office of the Federal Security Service of the Russian Federation for the Kursk Region (AOFSS of the Russian Federation for the Kursk Region). Fond 4th Department of the NKVD. File 19.

AOFSS of the Russian Federation for the Kursk Region. Fond 4th Department of the NKVD. File 132.

AOFSS of the Russian Federation for the Kursk Region. Fond 4th Department of the NKVD. File 136.

Korovin V.V. (2012) Intelligence and Sabotage Activities of Special Groups and Agents of the NKVD Organs in the Occupied Territory of the Central Chernozem Region. Voyenno-istoricheskiy arkhiv [Military Historical Archive]. No. 1(145): 105–130. (In Russ.)

Popov A.Yu. (2006) Activities of the USSR State Security Bodies in the Occupied Territory during the Great Patriotic War. Voprosy istorii [Questions of History]. No. 10: 86–97. (In Russ.)

Content No 6, 2019