The labor army as a historical phenomenon of the Great Patriotic War: on the completion of the project “Gedenkbuch” (“Book of memory”)

The article examines and evaluates the long-term work of a group of Ural historians, led by Professor V.M. Kirillov, on the implementation of the research and publishing project “The Book of Memory”. The aim of the project was to study the history of paramilitary workers’ formations created in the USSR during the Great Patriotic War from the representatives of Russian peoples historically associated with the aggressor countries (Germans, Finns, Hungarians, Romanians, and Bulgarians). These formations were generally referred to as “Labor Army”. About half of the labor soldiers were in the correctional labor camps of the NKVD of the USSR, most of these camps being located in the Urals. With the help of colleagues from other regions of Russia and foreign countries, the Ural scientists investigated the life and activities of the labor soldiers of the six camps - Tagillag, Bogoslovlag, Cheliabmetallurgstroy, Sevurallag, Vostokurallag, and Ivdellag. The labor soldiers of these camps built large metallurgical plants and other enterprises, engaged in logging, woodworking, and manufacturing various products needed at the front and in the rear. According to the author, each of the six created and published Books of Memory is a closely interconnected system of research works, documents and memories illustrating them, as well as brief biographical information about the labor soldiers (totally, over 100 000). On the other hand, dedicated to the labor soldiers of one particular camp in the Urals, each of the six Books of Memory comprehensively reveals the contribution of Russian Germans to the great victory. It is concluded that the success of the research team and the popularity of the Books of Memory created by them confirms that in modern Russian society there is an understanding that black-and-white assessments are not applicable to such large and complex historical events as the Great Patriotic War.