I spent the fellowship period researching the mobilization of the Soviet home front during the Second World War. Although there is no shortage of scholarship on this topic -- some in English and German and a tremendous amount in Russian -- most of it is based on pre-1991 archival and published sources. My goal, therefore, was to make use especially of those materials that have become available since the opening of Soviet archives in 1991-92.
The focus of my research was the Urals Region, which during the war served as “the arsenal of communism,” producing a large portion of the arms and materiel that contributed significantly to the Red Army’s victory over the Wehrmacht.
Download the pdf at the top of this page for the full brief.
Jeffrey J. Rossman, of the University of Virginia, was a 2001-02 Individual Advanced Research Opportunities (IARO) [8] fellow.
