“Here I am at the front, and you are afraid“. Red Army soldiers correspondence with their wives during the Great Patriotic War 1941–1945

Written by Tazhidinova I.G. | 21 December 2023
Posted in Publication of archival documents

Tazhidinova I.G., Krasnodar, Russian Federation

“Here I am at the front, and you are afraid“. Red Army soldiers correspondence with their wives during the Great Patriotic War 1941–1945

The end. The beginning look at "Herald of an archivist", 2014, № 1.

Annotation

As a new perspective of modern Russian historiography the subject matter of everyday life during the Great Patriotic War was formed in the last decade of the 20-th century. The new outlook on the history of the GPW is closely connected with the fact that the problem has assumed a “human dimension” of studying private culture and routine practices of soviet people under war time conditions. The formulation and solution of the problem are connected with the utilization and analysis of private original sources. The article presents the experience of reconstruction relations Red Army soldiers and their wives on the basis of private correspondence. The documents of private origin, which were published in the last decade, and epistolary sources from Russia Archives are used as a source base. The sources, that contain personal experience of the war, make it possible emotional experience of combatants and their wives, the basic problems of family relations in wartime (moral, financial, material). This article discusses the nature and content of the written communication with the Red Army wives in 1941-1945. The conclusion about the importance of correspondence as a form of communication in wartime. Communications between soldiers and their wives were variable. They were defined by personal features of soldiers and a military situation. Correspondence was many-sided and emotional though Red Army men couldn't participate in lives of the families fully. This correspondence testifies that the mutual moral support given by spouses each other was unusually powerful.

Keywords

Sources, The Great Patriotic War 1941-1945, family correspondence, military, military wives, front-line and rear routine, financial and moral support, marriage-bed.

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About the authors

Tazhidinova Irina Gennadyevna, Candidate of Historical sciences, associate professor of KubGU, Krasnodar, Russian Federation, 8-861-267-27-87, 8-962-860-77-77, This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it