Providing Housing for Metallurgists in the Chelyabinsk Region during the Great Patriotic War
Ekaterina L. Kozhukhova, Postgraduate Student
Nosov Magnitogorsk State Technical University, Magnitogorsk, Russia, rinakozhukhova@yandex.ru, https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0245-3543
Abstract
The article analyzes the housing conditions of various categories of workers at metallurgical enterprises in the Chelyabinsk Region during the Great Patriotic War. It is established that during the period under study, housing shortages were acute, caused by mass evacuation and the influx of mobilized laborers and prisoners. Special attention is paid to the role of departmental housing construction as a key element of social support for workers. The paper explores the mechanisms of the state housing allocation policy, which was based on the principles of differentiation based on professional affiliation and importance to defense production. The study concluded that the majority of workers were housed in barracks and dormitories, while better conditions were provided to top performers and enterprise management. It is shown that the living conditions of the workers varied significantly depending on the size of the enterprise, its role in the defense industry, the period of construction, and the quality of construction. The documents from the Chelyabinsk and Magnitogorsk archives served as the source material for this article.
Keywords
Great Patriotic War, Chelyabinsk region, metallurgical enterprises, social infrastructure of enterprises, housing, housing construction.
For citation:
Kozhukhova E. L. Providing Housing for Metallurgists in the Chelyabinsk Region during the Great Patriotic War. Vestnik of Orenburg State Pedagogical University. Electronic Scientific Journal, 2026, no. 1 (57), pp. 160—175. DOI: https://doi.org/10.32516/2303-9922.2026.57.11.
1. Airapetov V. G., Panfilov S. P. Material’no-bytovoe polozhenie trudyashchikhsya chernoi metallurgii Urala. Iyun’ 1941—1945 [The material and living situation of workers in the ferrous metallurgy of the Urals. June 1941—1945]. Iz istorii sotsialisticheskogo stroitel’stva na Urale: mezhvuz. sb. nauch. tr. [From the history of socialist construction in the Urals. Inter-university collect. of sci. articlеs]. Sverdlovsk, UrGU Publ., 1978, pp. 65—80. (In Russian)
2. Bol’shakov A. V. Zhilishchno-bytovye usloviya rabochikh i sluzhashchikh v gody Velikoi Otechestvennoi voiny (1941—1945) [Housing and living conditions of workers and employees during the Great Patriotic War (1941—1945)]. Material’no-bytovoe polozhenie trudyashchikhsya Urala v usloviyakh sotsializma (1937—1975): mezhvuz. sb. nauch. tr. [The material and living situation of workers in the Urals under socialism (1937—1975). Inter-university collect. of sci. articles]. Sverdlovsk, UrGU Publ., 1981, pp. 32—44. (In Russian)
3. Budnikov Yu. I. Problemy razresheniya ostrogo zhilishchnogo krizisa v promyshlennykh tsentrakh Urala v nachal’nyi period Velikoi Otechestvennoi voiny [The problems of resolving the acute housing crisis in the industrial centers of the Urals in the initial period of the Great Patriotic war]. Vestnik Yuzhno-Ural’skogo gosudarstvennogo universiteta. Ser. Sotsial’no-gumanitarnye nauki — Bulletin of the South Ural state university. Social Sciences and the Humanities, 2017, vol. 17, no. 2, pp. 14—18. DOI: 10.14529/ssh170202. (In Russian)
4. Vozmutitel’noe otnoshenie [Outrageous attitude]. Magnitogorskii metall, 1943, no. 4 (500), Jan. (In Russian)
5. Goncharov G. A. Zhilishchnoe stroitel’stvo i prodovol’stvennyi vopros na Urale v gody Velikoi Otechestvennoi voiny [Housing construction and the food issue in the Urals during the Great Patriotic War]. Problemy sotsial’no-ekonomicheskogo i politicheskogo razvitiya Urala v XVIII—XX vekakh: sb. statei [Problems of the socio-economic and political development of the Urals in the 18—20th centuries. Collect. of articles]. Chelyabinsk, ChGU Publ., 1997, pp. 57—67. (In Russian)
6. Zhuravlev S. V., Mukhin M. Yu. “Krepost’ sotsializma”. Povsednevnost’ i motivatsiya truda na sovetskom predpriyatii, 1928—1938 gg. [“The Fortress of socialism.” Everyday life and motivation at a soviet enterprise, 1928—1938]. Moscow, ROSSPEN Publ., 2004. 240 p. (In Russian)
7. Kitaev E. A. Na stroitel’nykh vysotakh: istoriya ChMS [At construction heights. The history of the ChMS]. Chelyabinsk, Yuzh.-Ural. kn. izd-vo Publ., 1991. 238 p. (In Russian)
8. Klopy zaedayut [Bed bugs are eating us]. Magnitogorskii metall, 1943, no. 50 (546). July. (In Russian)
9. Komarovskii A. N. Zapiski stroitelya [Notes from a builder]. Moscow, Voennoe izd-vo Ministerstva oborony SSSR Publ., 1972. 264 p. (In Russian)
10. Kuznetsova S. V. Stroitel’stvo na Yuzhnom Urale v gody Velikoi Otechestvennoi voiny: avtoref. dis. … kand. ist. nauk [Construction in the Southern Urals during the Great Patriotic War. Abstr. Cand. Dis.]. Orenburg, 2007. 24 p. (In Russian)
11. Makarova N. N. Stalinskaya Magnitka: obshchie tendentsii gradostroitel’stva (1929—1953) [Stalin’s Magnitka: General Trends in Urban Development (1929—1953)]. Sibirskie stroiteli: sobytiya i sud’by: sb. statei Vseros. nauch. konf., Surgut, 25—26 noyab. 2016 g. [Siberian builders. Events and fates. Collect. of articles from the All-Russia sci. conf., Surgut, Nov. 25—26, 2016]. Surgut, Kurganskii Dom pechati Publ., 2017, pp. 426—441. (In Russian)
12. Markevich A. M., Sokolov A. K. “Magnitka bliz Sadovogo kol’tsa”: Stimuly k rabote na Moskovskom zavode “Serp i molot”, 1883—2001 gg. [“Magnitka near the Garden Ring”: Incentives to work at the Moscow “Serp i molot” plant, 1883—2001]. Moscow, ROSSPEN Publ., 2005. 368 p. (In Russian)
13. Mel’nikov N. N. Zhilishchnoe stroitel’stvo na Urale v gody Velikoi Otechestvennoi voiny [Housing construction in the Urals during the Great Patriotic War]. Ural industrial’nyi. Bakuninskie chteniya: materialy XIV Vseros. nauch. konf., Ekaterinburg, 16—17 noyab. 2020 g.: v 2 t. [Industrial Urals. Bakunin readings. Proceed. of the 14th All-Russia sci. conf., Yekaterinburg, Nov. 16—17, 2020. In 2 vols]. Yekaterinburg, Izd-vo UMTs UPI Publ., 2020, vol. 1, pp. 584—589. (In Russian)
14. Mitrofanova A. V. Rabochii klass v gody Velikoi Otechestvennoi voiny [The working class during the Great Patriotic War]. Moscow, Nauka Publ., 1971. 575 p. (In Russian)
15. Munitsipal’noe kazennoe uchrezhdenie “Gorodskoi arkhiv” goroda Magnitogorska [Municipal state institution “City archive” of Magnitogorsk]. F. 99. Op. 10. D. 1136/59. (In Russian)
16. Ob’’edinennyi gosudarstvennyi arkhiv Chelyabinskoi oblasti [United State Archives of the Chelyabinsk Region] (OGAChO). F. P-234. Op. 18. D. 51.
17. OGAChO. F. P-254. Op. 1. D. 1.
18. OGAChO. F. P-254. Op. 1. D. 2.
19. OGAChO. F. P-254. Op. 1. D. 260.
20. OGAChO. F. P-254. Op. 2. D. 3.
21. OGAChO. F. P-288. Op. 6. D. 331.
22. OGAChO. F. R-485. Op. 19. D. 52.
23. OGAChO. F. R-485. Op. 19. D. 54.
24. OGAChO. F. R-870. Op. 12. D. 25.
25. OGAChO. F. R-870. Op. 12. D. 37.
26. OGAChO. F. R-870. Op. 12. D. 53.
27. OGAChO. F. R-1394. Op. 1. D. 34.
28. OGAChO. F. R-1394. Op. 2. D. 3.
29. OGAChO. F. R-1394. Op. 2. D. 7.
30. OGAChO. F. R-1394. Op. 2. D. 10.
31. Paletskikh N. P. Zhilishchnaya problema na Urale v gody Velikoi Otechestvennoi voiny [The housing problem in the Urals during the Great Patriotic War]. Vestnik Chelyabinskogo agroinzhenernogo universiteta, 1994, vol. 7, pp. 55—66. (In Russian)
32. Paletskikh N. P. Sotsial’naya politika na Urale v period Velikoi Otechestvennoi voiny [Social policy in the Urals during the Great Patriotic War]. Chelyabinsk, ChGAU Publ., 1995. 184 p. (In Russian)
33. Potemkina M. N. Evakuatsionno-reevakuatsionnye protsessy i evakonaselenie na Urale v 1941—1948 gg.: dis. … d-ra ist. nauk [Evacuation-reevacuation processes and the evacuation population in the Urals in 1941—1948. Dr. Dis.]. Yekaterinburg, 2004. 466 p. (In Russian)
34. Potemkina M. N. Evakuatsiya promyshlennykh predpriyatii v Chelyabinskuyu oblast’ v gody Velikoi Otechestvennoi voiny [Evacuation of industrial enterprises to the Chelyabinsk region during the Great Patriotic War]. Put’ k Pobede: Evakuatsiya promyshlennykh predpriyatii v Chelyabinskuyu oblast’ v gody Velikoi Otechestvennoi voiny 1941—1945 gg.: Sb. dokumentov [The Path to Victory. Evacuation of industrial enterprises to the Chelyabinsk region during the Great Patriotic War of 1941—1945. Collect. of documents]. St. Petersburg, Pervyi IPKh Publ., 2020, pp. 7—23. (In Russian)
35. Potemkina M. N., Zharkynbaeva R. S., Anufrieva E. V. Sotsial’naya infrastruktura predpriyatiya kak glavnyi faktor zhizneobespecheniya rabochikh v voennye gody (1941—1945 gg.) [Social Infrastructure of the enterprise as the main factor of Workers’ life Support during the war years (1941—1945)]. Vestnik Volgogradskogo gosudarstvennogo universiteta. Ser. 4: Istoriya. Regionovedenie. Mezhdunarodnye otnosheniya — Science Journal of VolSU. History. Area Studies. International Relations, 2023, vol. 28, no. 1, pp. 53—64. DOI: 10.15688/jvolsu4.2023.1.5. (In Russian)
36. Potemkina M. N., Koldomasov I. O. Proizvodstvo neprofil’noi produktsii sotsial’nogo naznacheniya na oboronnykh predpriyatiyakh sovetskogo tyla v gody Velikoi Otechestvennoi voiny [Production of non-core social products at the defense enterprises of the Soviet rear during the Great Patriotic War]. Vestnik Udmurtskogo universiteta. Ser. Istoriya i filologiya — Bulletin of Udmurt University. Ser. History and Philology, 2023, vol. 33, no. 3, pp. 604—613. DOI: 10.35634/2412-9534-2023-33-3-604-613. (In Russian)
37. Prestupnik-komendant poluchil po zaslugam [The criminal commandant got what he deserved]. Magnitogorskii rabochii, 1942, no. 253 (3874). Oct. (In Russian)
38. Resheniya partii i pravitel’stva po khozyaistvennym voprosam: v 5 t.: sb. dokumentov za 50 let. T. 3. 1941—1952 gg. [Party and government decisions on economic issues. In 5 vols. Collect. of documents over 50 years. Vol. 3. 1941—1952]. Moscow, Politizdat Publ., 1968. 754 p. (In Russian)
39. Rovinskii N. N. Gosudarstvennyi byudzhet SSSR [State budget of the USSR]. Moscow, Gosfinizdat Publ., 1944. 385 p. (In Russian)
40. Rossiiskii gosudarstvennyi arkhiv noveishei istorii [Russian State Archive of Contemporary History]. F. 3. Op. 61. D. 576.
41. Senyavskii S. L., Tel’pukhovskii V. B. Rabochii klass SSSR (1938—1965 gg.) [Working Class of the USSR (1938—1965)]. Moscow, Mysl’ Publ., 1971. 534 p. (In Russian)
42. Tyazhel’nikova V. S. Zavodskoe zhil’e v 1935 — pervoi polovine 1960-kh gg. (po materialam zavoda “Serp i molot”) [Factory housing in the 1935 — early 1960th (On the basis of the “Serp i molot” plant archival materials)]. Vestnik RUDN. Istoriya Rossii, 2003, no. 2, pp. 98—115. (In Russian)
43. Hall P. A., Taylor R. C. R. Political Science and the Three New Institutionalisms. Political Studies, 1996, vol. 44, pp. 936—957.