Funding Provided for Medical and Sanitary Assistance and Treatment of Repatriates in the Ukrainian SSR (1944-1950)

Abstract: This article thoroughly presents the issue of financial support for sanitary treatment, medical examination, and treatment of repatriates who returned to the Ukrainian SSR in 1944-1950. It is argued that an analysis of certain activities of the Soviet repatriation department is somewhat indicative as it allows us to assess the motivations and priorities of the totalitarian state’s Government in matters related to the return of the USSR’s citizens back home with the status of “displaced persons”. The authorities acted pragmatically in financing the costs of sanitary and medical needs of returned citizens. In the dynamics of this process, the authors distinguish three separate chronological stages. Namely, (1) the commencement of repatriation process, (2) mass repatriation period, and (3) subsequent repatriation process. At the first stage (autumn, 1944 – spring, 1945), there was no centralised provision of financial costs for carrying out sanitary treatment, medical examination, and treatment of sick repatriates. During the mass repatriation (summer 1945 – spring 1946), the Government provided increased centralised financing of the health needs of repatriated citizens. After the return of the bulk of repatriates to the Ukrainian SSR, the authorities sharply reduced funding for medical and sanitary support for the subsequent repatriation process. From the spring of 1946 until the end of 1949, the Government only funded mandatory anti-epidemic measures. The structure of the budget expenditures on the health care of repatriates demonstrates that the authorities’ apparent priority in this matter was to prevent the spread of epidemic diseases. Instead, the provision of medicine and inpatient treatment of the so-called “internal” diseases were not among their priorities

Orthodox Clergy and Special Purposes Units of the Russian Empire: Forms and Features of Interaction

Abstract: The investigation followed the forms, methods, directions, and mechanisms of interaction of the Russian Orthodox Church, particularly its clergy, with the Ministry of Interior's gendarmerie and police bodies, with the institutions and divisions of the military and naval departments, with the prison services of the Ministry of Justice, with the separate corps of border guards of the Ministry of Finance as well as the courier body of the Ministry of War. The gradual increase of this category of Orthodox clergy and the extension of their position and influence on the relevant population is proved based on the examination of sources. Russian Empire clerics of these structures have played a critical role in providing authorities and employees with basic intellectual, moral, and educational training. Their activities ranged from strictly religious obligations to educational and moral-spiritual activity, as well as charity, all of which contributed to the inviolability of autocratic principles. Fulfilling the mission of aligning the Russian Orthodox Church with the political institutions of the Russian autocracy, the clergy of state departments acted as an ideological and educational tool for ensuring the efficient functioning of the branch's control mechanism of the Empire