This article is devoted to the study of a set of measures aimed at the protection of motherhood and childhood in Ivanovo region during the Great Patriotic War. They
were caused by a number of objective reasons. First of all, the deterioration of the demographic situation due to the mass conscription of men and women of productive ages into the active army, a decrease in the number of marriages, hard work in the rear and a sharp deterioration in food supplies. As a result, there was a sharp decline in the birth rate of children in the region in 1941—1942, and their mortality increased. In 1943 these indicators deteriorated even further, which forced the leadership of the region to take emergency measures to protect motherhood and childhood. The author argues that, despite the limited forces and means available to the leadership of the region, it managed to smooth out the destructive impact of emergency circumstances on the human resources of the region, to create prerequisites for a gradual way out of the current situation. In the preparation of the article, statistical information was used from documents stored in various funds of the Russian State Archive of Socio-Political History and the State Archive of the Ivanovo region, some of which are being published for the first time. In some cases, the information provided in the article goes beyond Ivanovo region and covers certain regions of Central Russia that were not affected by military actions. This makes it possible to talk about the comparability of the general demographic processes in their territories, as well as to argue for the need for the Soviet state to take urgent measures to protect motherhood and childhood in the country. The author believes that this article makes it possible to strengthen the general idea of demographic processes that took place in the regions during the war, organizational measures to smooth out negative phenomena and their long-term consequences.
For citation:
Okolotin V.S. On measures for the protection of motherhood and childhood in the Ivanovo region in 1941—1943, Ivanovo State University Bulletin,
Series: Humanities, 2023, iss. 3, pp. 116—128.