The Influence of the Ideological Structures of the Red Army on the Territory of Ukraine upon Romanian Servicemen During the Second World War

The article analyses some aspects of the activity of the ideological structures of the Red Army. Based mainly on archive documents, the study reviews the ways to achieve one of the main goals of the Red Army’s ideological structures – working with the enemy’s servicemen, in order to stimulate their...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inCodrul cosminului (Suceava, Romania) Vol. 23; no. 2; pp. 367 - 390
Main Author Svetlana Pavlovskaya
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Stefan cel Mare University of Suceava 01.12.2017
Subjects
disintegration
ideological structures
information
psychological influence
Red Army
Romanian soldiers
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Summary:The article analyses some aspects of the activity of the ideological structures of the Red Army. Based mainly on archive documents, the study reviews the ways to achieve one of the main goals of the Red Army’s ideological structures – working with the enemy’s servicemen, in order to stimulate their desertion. Specialists of the political departments of the Soviet army took into account the enemy’s lack of confidence in the potential consequences of the fall into his captivity. This state of mind was sustained and promoted by the German High Command (i.e. Oberkommando der Wehrmacht, OKW). Transmission of information that the Soviet captivity was the only way to stay alive and return home after the war called for the use of a set of measures with informational and psychological impact. These measures aimed at demoralizing the enemy's personnel, decreasing the level of combat, and generally giving up the fight. The historiography of the problem available today is mainly marked by preconceived ideas. The attitude of the Romanian servicemen, their level of combativeness or the willingness to lay down arms can be analysed only on the basis of their testimonies. Access to archival funds containing such information has been restricted for a long time and researchers have been forced to resort to studies of Soviet historians. Their works, however, were highly politicized and aimed at justifying and glorifying of the communist ideology. The present study uses historical sources from the Ukrainian archives which became accessible only after obtaining of the independence of Ukraine.
ISSN:1224-032X
2067-5860