Demographic losses of Yakutia during World War II: historiography, sources, estimates

The study provides a historiographical review of demographic losses in Yakutia during World War II. The author assesses the latest works of researchers in this regard and attempts to establish the extent of human losses on the front lines. The population of Yakutia in wartime decreased by 13.0%. More than 14.8% of the population (compared to the number of people as of January 01, 1941) had been mobilized and sent to the front, almost one in three employed people had been enlisted in the army. Total permanent front losses might be over half of all enlisted people because of the widespread mobilization at the dawn of the war when the Soviet Army suffered heavy losses. The number of missing persons was supposed to be from 13.100 to 19.800 people. Civilians were also affected. Under severe economic and domestic conditions, rural areas lost around a quarter of inhabitants. The population of Yakutia and the Soviet Union as a whole reached the pre-war level until late 1954 and early 1955 that was ten years after the end of the Great Patriotic War.