The Policy of the Executive Committee of the Leningrad City Council on the Restoration of Social Services for Re-evacuated Leningrad Children in the Period of the Great Patriotic War and the First Post-war Years

Abstract

The article examines under-researched aspect of the restoration of social services for re-evacuated Leningrad children in 1943–1946. Social services are interpreted as the work of local authorities, the Soviets, aimed at resuming the activities of children’s institutions in Leningrad, solving the problems of organizing the daily life of children outside their houses, primarily in nurseries, kindergartens, orphanages, schools, in medical institutions, and within health programs. Since February 1943, the re-evacuation of residents to Leningrad was initiated, and the city leadership was faced with the task of establishing social and consumer services for the population staying in the city. The policy related to the implementation of key restoration measures was directed by the Council of People’s Commissars of the Soviet Union and the Council of People’s Commissars of the Russian Soviet Federated Socialist Republic. The formidable challenge lay in the fact that during the war years, many city institutions were liquidated, and the buildings and premises, which had housed them, were destroyed or occupied by hospitals, headquarters of the Red Army, Red-Banner Baltic Fleet, and the People’s Commissariat for Internal Affairs. The staffing issue was acute. Topical were the issues of repair and provision of work with building materials, necessary inventory and equipment. The article is based on the clerical and regulatory documents of the Leningrad City Executive Committee from the funds of the Central State Archive of St. Petersburg; published materials of the Council of People’s Commissars of the USSR and the Council of People’s Commissars of the Russian Soviet Federated Socialist Republic and the Leningrad City Executive Committee; and the data from periodicals for 1943–1946.