FROM THE HISTORY OF CORRECTIONAL LABOR INSTITUTIONS IN THE URALS IN 1941-1950

The article examines the impact of correctional labor institutions on the socio-economic development of one of the districts of the Chelyabinsk region in the period from 1941 to 1950. The Great Patriotic War became a key event that had a significant impact on all aspects of Soviet society: from the fate of individual citizens and families to the development of regions and the state as a whole. The war significantly changed the quantitative and qualitative composition of the population, as well as affected the region's economy. On the territory of the large industrial centers of the Soviet Union, entire clusters of correctional institutions were formed, combining various types of penitentiary facilities. These institutions have become an integral part of the socio-economic infrastructure of the region, which allows us to consider their role in the context of the overall development of the territory during this period. So, on the construction site of the Chelyabinsk Metallurgical Combine, a large association of NKVD institutions in the Chelyabinsk region arose, which became known in documents as "Chelyalbmetallurgstroy". This association existed until the 1970s. The special staff of the production association's institutions remained in the settlements at their former place of work after their release. Based on statistical and archival reference data, the author notes the fact that, in the period 1941-1945, changes took place, first of all, in the numerical and qualitative composition of the special contingent of correctional labor institutions, and secondly, reforms were carried out in the management system and organization of correctional labor institutions of the USSR. If before the war the main category of the special contingent was representatives of the "Kulak exile", then during the war this category was replaced by prisoners of war and internees, "labor settlers" who joined the society of the settlement, so the task was to leave the special contingent of the system in the territory where labor resources were needed. Upon arrival at the transfer point, all of these categories were transferred to specialized institutions: camps – labor battalions, camp sites – labor detachments, individual business trips and secondments – labor companies, or were sent to local ITCs. All these institutions fit into the already established pre-war system of a cluster of territorial institutions, which was legally subordinate to the NKVD of the region, and in socio-economic terms depended on a specific People's Commissariat. Labor battalions and detachments of prisoners of war, labor settlers and internees have become a new phenomenon for the system. Units assigned to the Main Directorate for Prisoners of War and Internees appeared in the NKVD system.