State-Confessional Policy in the Nizhny Don Area in 1942–1948: Institutional and Non-Institutional Aspects

In Russian historiography, it is generally believed that the change in government policy towards religious organizations during the Great Patriotic War was caused primarily by the patriotic activities of various faiths. In the regional dimension, the situation was somewhat different. Contrary to the established historiographical tradition, the author shows the circumstances of the change of political course in the war and post-war period using the example of the Nizhny Don area. The application of general scientific and socio-humanitarian methods and approaches makes it possible to present the religious life of rural and urban populations in institutional (organization of the religious organizations functioning) and non-institutional (everyday religiosity) aspects. The policy of the Nazi invaders leadership in the Nizhny Don area was characterized by its selectivity, explicitly reflected in the restoration of the church institute, and expressed in the scale of the religious sites opening under occupation. We have established that about 50 religious objects (churches, houses of worship) were opened in the geographic area under consideration during the period 1942-1943. At the same time, it is known that many religious buildings became strategic targets, some of which have never been revived. This study localized the main centers of church revival. In 1944, representatives of religious organizations turned to the Commissioner for the Affairs of the Russian Orthodox Church at the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR for the Rostov Region to register their societies with unprecedented energy. The tendencies of legalizing church-public initiatives were spontaneous, but they did not become comprehensive. The district and regional committees and the Commissioner for the Russian Orthodox Church in the Rostov Region skillfully maneuvered between the political need to register religious organizations and the deliberate rejection of requests from the rural population, awaiting new orders from the "center." It did not take long to wait, since 1948 the contours of state policy returned to the previous anti-religious course. The main focus of attention in the context of the new deal was on the members and leadership of the Kommunist Party organizations, with the insufficient level of anti-religious propaganda in rural areas being noted.