Evacuation of Moscow Automobile Plant named after Stalin during Great Patriotic War: from Projects to Implementation

This study examines the process of evacuating Soviet automotive industry enterprises during the Great Patriotic War using the example of the Moscow Automobile Plant named after I. V. Stalin. The relevance of the research is justified by the necessity to reconstruct the activities of the highest bodies of party-state management during the industrial evacuation. Archive documents of the Evacuation Council under the People’s Commissariat of the USSR were analyzed. The Council operated from June to December 1941 as a commission under the Soviet government and was responsible for evacuating enterprises and institutions. The sources of the study were documents of the State Defense Committee of the USSR, the highest body of party-state power in the country during the Great Patriotic War. Correspondence between the plant management and various institutions and departments, as well as evacuation reports, were used as research materials. The existing evacuation options for of the Moscow Automobile Plant named after I. V. Stalin, discussions among Soviet agencies on the location of the plant in rear areas of the country were examined. Based on statistical summaries and reports, the intensity of the evacuation process and its outcomes were studied. It is concluded that the evacuation of the Moscow Automobile Plant named after I. V. Stalin contributed to preserving the country’s industrial potential and had a long-term positive impact on the development of the Soviet automotive industry.