Russian Life During WWII

Wildly discussed in the readings and videos in class involve the state of life for civilians of Britain and America, but little information is given about Russian life. Russian life, during WWII, could be most closely related to 1984, by George Orwell. People are suppressed, knowledge is dampened, and patriotism is not natural, it is forced out of people. If one was not considered patriotic enough, was a possible spy, or was chosen to be a message for other Russian civilians, they would be sent to labor camps or the Gulag. These camps mostly involved exhausting labor work, and would for most people end in their deaths. The frightening thing about these camps was that you never truly knew who would be sent over. For example, imagine knowing a friend your entire life, then one day, they vanish, never to be heard from again, even after the dictatorship has ended. They were most certainly sent to the Gulag, for what reason? you could never truly know.

What could also be explored in more detail is forced patriotism. Unlike America and Britain, where propaganda existed in large amounts, but patriotism was more born from the self than the government, in Russia, you were expected to die on the front lines. You were expected to whatever the government told you, as the pain from resistance would be longer than the pain of being shot on the front lines. This, of course, was not exclusive to Russia, As with any dictatorship, one is expected to have an undying devotion to the causes of their country, even if they don't know what those causes are.

Concluding this, I would like to talk about the general fear backing every Russian. Of course, they didn't know who would be sent to the death camps or forced onto the front lines of combat, but what has not been discussed is the trials of survival. As a Russian during this time, there was no heating, medicine was being sent to the combat lines, and you never knew if food rations would arrive at your doorstep. These civilians, more than anything had to be careful, one wrong step, a twisted ankle in the snow, and most likely that their final step.