NKVD special reports on anti-soviet sentiments of the Yaroslavl railway workers at the initial stage of the Great Patriotic War

The study discussed the anti-Soviet sentiments expressed by the Yaroslavl Railway workers at the initial stage of the Great Patriotic War (1941-1942). This period preceded the radical change in the war and was the most difficult and tragic time in its history. The unpredictable outcome of the war, heavy territorial and human losses led to the anti-Soviet sentiments which concerned railway workers as well. The study revealed that defeatist thoughts, famine and other war hardships generated the anti-Soviet opinions, but they were not anti-state in nature. Nevertheless, society faced the pro-German sentiments caused mainly by Stalinist repression, the closure of churches, the creation of collective farms, the omnipotence of the Communists, and the hostility towards the Jews.