Copyright by Travis Michael Gray 2018 The Dissertation Committee for Travis Michael Gray Certifies that this is the approved version of the following Dissertation: Amid the Ruins: The Reconstruction of Smolensk Oblast, 1943-1953 Committee: Charters Wynn, Supervisor Joan Neuberger Mary Neuburger Thomas Garza Amid the Ruins: The Reconstruction of Smolensk Oblast, 1943-1953 by Travis Michael Gray Dissertation Presented to the Faculty of the Graduate School of The University of Texas at Austin in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy The University of Texas at Austin August 2018 Dedication Dedicated to my mother, father, and brother for their unending love and support.. Acknowledgements The following work could not have been possible without the help of many people. I am especially thankful to Dr. Charters Wynn for his valuable feedback, suggestions, and guidance throughout this process. I would also like to thank Dr. Joan Neuberger, Dr. Mary Neuburger, and Dr. Thomas Garza for reading and commenting on my work. My appreciation also goes to my friends and colleagues at the University of Texas who offered their suggestions and support. v Abstract Amid the Ruins: The Reconstruction of Smolensk Oblast, 1943-1953 Travis Michal Gray, PhD The University of Texas at Austin, 2018 Supervisor: Charters Wynn The first Red Army soldiers that entered Smolensk in the fall of 1943 were met with a bleak landscape. The town was now an empty shell and the countryside a vast wasteland. The survivors emerged from their cellars and huts on the verge of starvation. Amidst the destruction, Party officials were tasked with picking up the pieces and rebuilding the region’s political, economic, and social foundations. To understand how this process unfolded is the chief concern of this study. It is my hope that an analysis of the physical and ideological reconstruction of Russia’s western frontier will contribute to a more realistic view of Soviet power in the postwar period. The history of Smolensk’s reconstruction addresses fundamental historiographic questions about the Party’s role in postwar society as well as its relationship with liberated communities. It examines how local officials tried to reassert the Party’s authority and re-Sovietize individuals whose loyalties were now in question and whether these tensions could be overcome in pursuit of the regime’s wider postwar economic goals. It approaches from a new perspective the question of whether collective wartime vi experiences brought the Party and its subjects closer together and created the foundations of a mature socialist state. This study asserts that the Party’s relationship with local residents in Smolensk Oblast was extremely unstable in the immediate aftermath of the war and defined by internal divisions and conflicts. vii Table of Contents Introduction ..........................................................................................................................1 Smolensk As Case Study ............................................................................................1 A Historiographical Review .......................................................................................4 Sources and Organization .........................................................................................12 Chapter 1: Underdevelopment, Pre-War Tensions, and Occupation .................................15 Introduction ...............................................................................................................15 Overview ...................................................................................................................17 Into the Whirlwind ....................................................................................................23 Provincial Revolution ...............................................................................................28 The Tribulations of Leninism and Stalinism ............................................................31 The Batte for Smolensk ............................................................................................39 Occupation ................................................................................................................42 Resistance .................................................................................................................45 Conclusion ................................................................................................................49 Chapter 2: Liberation and Retribution ...............................................................................51 Introduction ...............................................................................................................51 Nazi War Crimes and Interrogations .......................................................................54 The Gray Scale: Between Collaboration and Resistance..........................................62 Purging the Education System ..................................................................................70 Conclusion ................................................................................................................75 viii Chapter 3: A Deceptive Peace ...........................................................................................77 Introduction ...............................................................................................................77 Postwar Illusions .......................................................................................................80 The Return ................................................................................................................86 Broken Men ..............................................................................................................94 Joining the Party .......................................................................................................97 Conclusion ..............................................................................................................102 Chapter 4: Relearning Bolshevisk, Propaganda and Ideological Education in Postwar Smolensk ..........................................................................................................................106 Introduction .............................................................................................................106 Liberation and Agitrprop ........................................................................................109 Elections to the Supreme Soviet .............................................................................114 The Peasants Stand Apart .......................................................................................125 Conclusion ..............................................................................................................128 Chapter 5: Utopia in Crisis, City Design and Postwar Reconstruction ..........................130 Introduction .............................................................................................................130 Planning the Future .................................................................................................133 Surviving the Peace ................................................................................................141 Continuity over Utopia ...........................................................................................148 Conclusion ..............................................................................................................153 Epilogue ...........................................................................................................................155 Delayed Recovery ...................................................................................................155 A New Stability ......................................................................................................159 ix Conclusion .......................................................................................................................164 Smolensk Oblast: A Province in Crisis ..................................................................164 Postwar Division and Decay ...................................................................................171 Works Cited .....................................................................................................................174 x Introduction SMOLENSK AS CASE STUDY The first Red Army soldiers that entered Smolensk in the fall of 1943 were met with a bleak landscape. The town was now an empty shell and the countryside a vast wasteland. The survivors emerged from their cellars and huts on the verge of starvation. Amidst the destruction, Party officials were tasked with picking up the pieces and rebuilding the region’s political, economic, and social foundations. To understand how this process unfolded is the chief concern of this study. It is my hope that an analysis of the physical and ideological reconstruction of Russia’s western frontier will contribute to a more realistic view of Soviet power in the postwar period. A detailed analysis of Smolensk’s postwar history helps redress an imbalance in the historiography of late Stalinism. Studies of the postwar period are usually oriented toward Moscow or Leningrad while Russia’s provincial regions have been completely overlooked. This concentration on Moscow and Leningrad is understandable, their sources are usually of better quality and readily