Food security of Japanese war prisoners in Siberia and the Far East of the USSR (19451950): pages of domestic historiography

The article for the first time examines various aspects of the domestic historiography of food security for Japanese war prisoners in the camps, individual workers' battalions (IWB) and special hospitals in the territory of Siberia and the Far East of the USSR. This issue is an integral part of the topic “Japanese war prisoners in the USSR (1945-1956)” - a relatively new topic in the domestic historiography, the study of which began in the early 1990s. The author found the absence of monographic, dissertational works on this topical topic. It was revealed only one scientific work (article of S.P. Kim), specially devoted to food provision of Japanese war prisoners on the territory of the USSR. It is also stated that there are no documentary collections dedicated to the food supply of Japanese war prisoners in the camps, individual workers' battalions (IWB) and special hospitals in the territory of Siberia and the Far East of the USSR. The author has identified a set of works created in the period from 1990 to the present, in which one or another of the most important issues related to the stay of war prisoners of the Japanese army in the USSR is being addressed to one degree or another. Defined and recorded as achievements, and insufficiently studied aspects of the problem. Areas of study of the issue are identified, problem-thematic blocks are identified, and promising directions for further research are formulated. A noteworthy contribution to the study of the subject was made by the historians S.P. Kim, S.I. Kuznetsov, S.S. Bukin, A.A. Dolgolyuk, N.M. Markdorf, M.N. Spiridonov and others.