Soviet Russians under Nazi Occupation
Subtitle: Fragile Loyalties in World War II
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Published: 2018
Language: eng
Number of pages: 272
ISBN-13: 9781108421263
Subjects: Germany, heer; Peasants, soviet union; World war, 1939-1945, soviet union; Soviet union, history, 1925-1953
Description: "In this compelling account of life and death in a Russian province under Nazi occupation, Johannes D. Enstad challenges received wisdom about Russian patriotism during World War II. With the benefit of hindsight, we know how hopelessly destructive Germany's war against the Soviet Union was. Yet ordinary Russians witnessing the advancing German forces saw things differently. For many of them, having lived through collectivization and Stalinist terror in the 1930s, the invasion created hopes of a better life without the Bolsheviks. German policies on land and church helped sustain those hopes for parts of the population. Drawing on Soviet and German archival sources as well as eyewitness accounts, memoirs, and diaries, Enstad demonstrates the impact of Nazi rule on the mostly peasant population of northwest Russia and offers a reconsideration of the relationship between the Soviet regime and its core Russian population at this crucial moment in their history."--Provided by publisher.