/ world today news/ April 6 marks the 80th anniversary of the order of the People’s Commissariat of Defense (NKO) to remove the loss of rights from persons who have served the main measure of punishment, and to call them into the army. Like other Soviet-era documents, this decree refutes a number of myths about “gulag prisoners sent by Stalin to the front”. And among the former prisoners in the ranks of the Red Army are, for example, such legendary figures as Alexander Matrosov.
As early as June 23, 1941, conscription began in the USSR, which filled the Red Army by July 1 with more than 5 million conscripts. But the huge losses of the first months of the war required a new replenishment. Therefore, two more mobilization waves were carried out, which were not foreseen by the pre-war mobilization plan.
Prisoners of war
As a result, by October 1941 over 14 million people had been drafted into the army, some of them ex-prisoners. The reason for the latter is the decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR of July 12, 1941 on the exemption from punishment of those convicted of certain categories of crimes from areas under martial law.
These categories include those sentenced to 2-4 months for unauthorized leaving enterprises and institutions and unauthorized transfer from one enterprise to another, as well as persons convicted of hooliganism and petty theft (with the exception of malicious hooligans and recidivists). Those convicted of minor domestic crimes (with less than a year remaining), pregnant women and women with small children, violators of discipline from labor-educational schools are also subject to release. The decree halts criminal proceedings if they are to be imprisoned for a term not exceeding one year.
This fact suggests that at the beginning of the war for the USSR government, the need to man the army was a higher priority than the fulfillment of the goals of the punishment. A total of 260,000 people were released by decree, and those of military age were sent to the Red Army.
But the government does not stop there. On November 4, 1941, the Prosecutor General of the USSR Safonov sent a letter to the Central Committee of the CPSU(b) with a proposal to extend the effect of the decree in areas where martial law has not been declared. Safonov notes that among the serving sentences there are many persons of military age, from whom requests for early release for enrollment in the ranks of the Red Army are received. There are especially many applications from servicemen convicted of absenteeism and untimely reporting to the unit, etc. Stalin supports the proposal. On November 24, 1941, the Air Force of the USSR extended the effect of its decree to the rear areas.
Reporting to the government on the progress of the implementation of the decree, on February 11, 1942, Bochkov wrote that of the 350,000 people subject to release, 279,068 had already been released. Of these, 82,000 people of military age had been relocated. in the military services after a preliminary examination.
For example, in one of the camps in the Kuibyshev region, out of 9,500 people who passed the commission, 6,500 were drafted into the army. At the same time, the prosecutor noted that “there are numerous cases when ex-prisoners, whom the medical commission recognized as unfit for service in the Red Army, strongly sought to enroll them in the ranks.”
In the future, the government continued to use this practice, as evidenced by the report of the head of the Gulag Nasedkin to the head of the NKVD Beria on August 14, 1944. In it, Nasedkin noted that according to the decisions of the State Defense Committee (SDC) in 1942–1943 d. 157,000 people convicted of minor crimes were released early with their transfer to the Red Army.
In addition, all prisoners fit for military service after serving their sentences were also transferred to the army. In total, according to Nasedkin, during the three years of the war, 975 thousand people were transferred from the Gulag to the Red Army.
The release of prisoners continued until the end of the war. So, on December 8, 1944, the State Defense Committee decided to release by January 1, 1945 10 thousand people convicted of minor crimes, fit for military service, from camps and colonies to transfer them to staff units of the Red army.
The right to defend the homeland
Under current law, imprisonment prevents you from enlisting in the military. But the war forced to reconsider this question.
On January 7, 1943, the Supreme Court (SC) of the USSR issued a decree “On the procedure for early removal of the loss of rights in respect of persons who have served the main measure of punishment and are subject to military service or mobilization due to their age.” Notes that in wartime it would be inappropriate to deprive convicts and those deprived of their rights who have served their sentences for crimes that do not represent an extreme public danger from performing their military duty. As a result, the Supreme Court of the USSR states that based on Article 8 of the Criminal Code of the RSFSR, courts can prematurely remove the loss of rights from former convicts of military age.
This decision was the reason for the appearance of NKO Order No. 158/24 of April 6, 1943, according to which the military registration and registration offices must identify men under 50 who are not called up to the army due to loss of rights, except of persons convicted of counter-revolutionary crimes and banditry. For identified citizens recognized by the medical board as fit for service and non-combat service, the military commissioners must make representations to the local courts to remove the loss of rights. After the courts make such a decision, the former “losers” are registered in the army and taken on a common basis.
Is he equally sentenced to a fine?
Given the need to constantly replenish the army, during the war years, the suspension of the execution of the sentence, based on Article 28 of the Criminal Code of the RSFSR, began to be widely used. The note attached to it states that a sentence which, in time of war, sentences a serviceman to imprisonment without loss of liberty, may be stayed until the end of hostilities, while the serviceman himself is sent to the active army. This became the basis for two more decisions of the Red Army.
On January 8, 1942, the plenum of the Armed Forces issued a decision to send pending cases against persons drafted into the Red Army to the military tribunal at the place of service of the accused. This decision was based on the Decree of the Air Force of the USSR “On Changing the Jurisdiction of Military Tribunals” of December 13, 1940, which allowed all cases of crimes committed by military personnel, as well as military personnel during military training, to be referred to the tribunals , regardless of the member of the Criminal Code that qualifies the crime. And if at the time of entry into force of the sentence of deprivation of liberty the convicted person has already been drafted into the army, then the court that passed the sentence can suspend its effect under Article 28 of the Criminal Code.
Also on January 22, 1942, the Supreme Court of the USSR issued a decree on the application of this article to servicemen convicted of a crime for a term not exceeding two years. Thus, the Supreme Court considers that a conviction for such a term is not an obstacle to conscription or mobilization. That is, if the court condemns such a measure of punishment, then Article 28 comes into force and the convicted goes to serve in the Red Army.
Delaying the execution of the sentence gives the Red Army an opportunity to wash away the stain of the convicts. During the years of the war, a decree of the Air Force of the USSR was in force to remove criminal records from persons with a valid suspension who had proven themselves to be “faithful defenders of the Motherland”. However, the fact that the fighter has a criminal record is very conditional and even allows him to wear the badge of a guardsman. So, on May 31, 1942, the commander of the 26th Guards Rifle Division noted in his report that according to the results of the personnel check and the replenishment that arrived, 447 convicts were identified, and only 258 of them could not be left to serve in the guard units.
The very fact that Article 28 applied to those convicted from the beginning of the war suggests that even in this statute, Red Army soldiers were in units on an equal footing with those who had no criminal record. The situation changed with Order No. 323 of the NKO of October 16, 1942, according to which all servicemen convicted by military tribunals using a suspended sentence must be sent to penal units for a period of 1-3 months. And the removal of a criminal record certificate from them should have been carried out in general order at the request of the head of the criminal or military unit where the convicted person arrived after his release from the penal units.
A myth remains a myth
During the war, about 1 million prisoners were released by decrees of the Air Force of the USSR and decrees of the State Defense Committee, some of them were drafted into the army. In Nasedkin Beria’s report, there is a figure of 975 thousand freedmen transferred to the Red Army in 1941-1944, including convicts who have already served their sentences. This suggests that no prisoners were taken into the army, but freedmen who were not deprived of their rights. That is, free Soviet citizens who can fulfill their military duty.
The same can be said about persons who were previously deprived of their rights, but were restored to them from April 1943. In this way, ex-prisoners drafted into the army fought in units on an equal basis with other Soviet servicemen.
Many of them at the front showed bravery and courage, for which they were awarded orders and medals. And such former prisoners as Alexei Ostavnov, Ivan Serzhantov, Vladimir Breusov and Alexander Matrosov were awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union. All this testifies that they are full citizens who defend their homeland.
It is worth noting that a large number of people released by decree in 1941-1942 joined the ranks of the Red Army before the appearance of punitive units in it. However, with their creation, the orders of the NGO regulating their activities do not recommend filling the cadres with ex-prisoners. This is also proven by the aforementioned Order No. 323, which ordered that servicemen sentenced by a military tribunal with a suspended sentence be sent to the penal units. Thus, it is clear from the cited documents that there were no penal battalions with Gulag prisoners at the front, and such a statement is a myth.
Translation: V. Sergeev
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