Separate Labor Battalions of Prisoners of War in the System of People’s Commissariat of Defense – Ministry of Armed Forces of the USSR (1945–1949)

Based on the analysis of a complex of sources, the article examines the organizational and legal foundations as well as practices of formation and functioning of separate labor battalions of prisoners of war in the structure of the People’s Commissariat of Defense – the Ministry of Armed Forces of the USSR. Special attention is paid to the analysis of the number and composition of prisoners of war in such battalions, organization of their accommodation, regime and protection, material support, medical and sanitary services, mortality rates, labor use, and political and propaganda work. The author concludes that in the situation of extreme depletion of demographic and material resources in the war and post-war years, the Soviet state was forced to use prisoners of war as labor force at military and defense facilities. Foreign labor was mostly used in construction, renovation, and household work. The established life organization of prisoners of war was poor due to the lack of housing, food, clothing and footwear, and medicines. The study of available sources allows us to conclude that the efficiency of control by the NKVD-MVD over the detention of prisoners of war in the structure of the military department was rather low.

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