Soviet state politics towards German minority in the first postwar decade (1945-1955)
The article is devoted to the life of the German population of the USSR in 1945-1955 which at that time was the population of special settlements. The author gives a general characteristic of special settling (a special regime of residence when people are not allowed to leave the place of their forced living and all their life and activities are under constant control of the authorities). Appearance and development of this type of repressions which started to form since the end of the 1920s with the development of repressive policy towards various categories of the USSR population is considered in the article. The number of special settlers grew considerably during the war. The Soviet Germans made up the majority of them. Hardships and tyranny of the state provoked massive outrage and protests. This made the USSR leadership focus on political, legal and organizational issues of special settlement. In legal terms special settling was formalized in January 1945. A special system of commandant’s offices was established. The life of settlers became even more regulated and their rights limited. The author examines the formation, structure and legal aspects of German special settling. He characterizes the main places of settling, shows labor activities and everyday life of the Germans. The article presents data on assignment of capable Germans to the main branches of the Soviet economy. Absurdity of the special settlement system in the postwar years is shown. The author highlights the main reasons, process and peculiarities of withdrawing the regime of special settling from the German population of the USSR.