Moscow, Mysl Publishing House. 1984. 270 p.

On the eve of the 40th anniversary of the Victory of the Soviet people in the Great Patriotic War, each new book devoted to that harsh time when the fate of the socialist state and the fate of world civilization were decided in the fire of fierce battles is of particular interest.

There is an extensive and diverse literature on the history of the Great Patriotic War: monographic studies, scientific articles and pamphlets, memoirs and documentary publications, historical essays, art works, reviews. Among the recently published works, the work of the head of the Department of History of the CPSU of the Moscow Evening Metallurgical Institute, Candidate of Historical Sciences N. I. Shishov, is noteworthy.

The monograph is one of the first works to summarize the rich experience of the Communist Party of our country and other countries in the theoretical development and practical solution of the most complex problems related to the organization of international assistance of the socialist state to the peoples of European countries in their struggle against German fascism and their own reactionary bourgeoisie.

The author gives a reasoned critique of the main trends of bourgeois historiography on the problems of the Second World War. The book shows that Western reactionary propaganda aims to justify the imperialism that gave rise to fascism, to absolve the imperialist forces of responsibility for the outbreak of World War II, which killed more than 50 million people, and the economies of the countries that participated in it (with the exception of the United States, whose corporate profits during the war increased significantly). 3.5 times) was dealt colossal damage 1 .

1 For example, the total material costs of the USSR amounted to about 2.6 trillion rubles. rubles'. During the war, the USSR lost about 30% of its national wealth (History of the Second World War. 1939-1945. Vol. 12. M. 1982, pp. 148-149).

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In Germany, the United States, and other NATO countries, N. I. Shishov notes, the number of books published in mass editions about the Second World War is increasing, in which facts concerning the causes, course, and outcome of the war are falsified or suppressed, the victories of the Wehrmacht are extolled, and Hitler and his collaborators, the SS, and other organizations that worked during the war years are rehabilitated crimes against humanity. The reviewed work is a convincing refutation of the speculations and distortions that abound in the books of reactionary bourgeois authors.

The monograph focuses on revealing the activities of the CPSU(b) and the Soviet government in creating an anti-Hitler coalition, implementing the principles of proletarian internationalism in their relations with the Communist parties and peoples of other countries, and helping them organize the anti-fascist struggle. In particular, it shows the assistance of the USSR to foreign bureaus of the Communist parties of Czechoslovakia and other countries in launching the struggle against the invaders.

A special section of the book describes the main forms of assistance of the USSR to European countries in the fight against Nazi Germany. First of all, the author shows the decisive contribution of the USSR to the defeat of Hitler's Germany and its allies. The Soviet-German front throughout the war was the main front of the struggle against fascism, from June 1941 to mid-1944, from 190 to 270 enemy divisions, or up to 70% of the ground forces of Germany and its allies, were simultaneously located on the Eastern Front, the author notes, 4/5 combat aircraft of the Luftwaffe air fleets. At the same time, from 9 to 20 divisions were active against the Anglo-American troops in North Africa, and from 7 to 26 divisions in Italy (pp. 35-36). Soviet troops destroyed, defeated and captured 607 divisions, the Hitlerite army lost more than 73% of its personnel on the Soviet-German front, 167 thousand guns, 48 thousand tanks, 77 thousand aircraft, and more than 2.5 thousand combat and transport units of the fleet 2 . These and other data (some of them are given in the book - see p. 35) clearly refute the claims of reactionary bourgeois historiography that the United States was " the main creator of victory."

The book describes in detail (pp. 38-56) the assistance of the Soviet Union in creating national military formations of Czechoslovakia, Poland, Yugoslavia and other countries on its territory (their total number is 555 thousand people). The Soviet government provided these formations with modern weapons and military equipment; the cost of equipping, maintaining and training them amounted to billions of rubles. Significant in terms of volume were the Soviet Union's international support for the actions of the Resistance movement in European countries, and the participation of Soviet people in the struggle against fascism on the territory of these countries (pp. 56-79).

A special chapter reveals the specific activities of the CPSU (b), the Soviet government, to expose the misogynistic nature of the ideology of Nazism. A large part of the work is devoted to revealing the ideological aspects of the USSR's assistance to the peoples of Europe in their anti-fascist struggle. Covering assistance in organizing radio propaganda to European countries, the author provides data on the allocation of radio stations and other material resources by the Soviet Union to a number of Communist parties, which allowed representatives of the communist parties who were in our country to come into direct contact with their compatriots, tell them the truth about the war, about the atrocities of the Nazis, and call on the peoples of enslaved European countries to fight fascism. In addition to the leaders of the Communist parties, prominent cultural and scientific figures also took an active part in radio broadcasts (p. 145sl.). Radio was the most important means of international unity of peoples. The book also contains other information about the ideological work of the communist parties among the population of their countries. Shishov shows how under the influence of the victories of the Soviet Armed Forces in a world divided by front lines, an active process of enlightenment was going on among the population of European countries, a powerful wave of hatred for fascism and its accomplices rose. The monograph highlights the many-sided assistance of the CPSU (b) and the Soviet Government to the antifascists of other countries in publishing and distributing newspapers, leaflets, and pamphlets in the languages of their peoples. As a result of the impact of the political work of the CPSU( b), the Communist Parties of European countries, an increasing number of the European population includes-

2 See History of the Second World War. 1939-1945. Vol. 12, p. 35; Voprosy istorii, 1975, N 5, p. 6.

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It joined various forms of the Resistance movement and sided with the anti-Hitler coalition.

For the first time, the author examines the international assistance of the Soviet state to political emigrants and hundreds of thousands of refugees from European countries who lived in the USSR during the war. They were provided with living space, the opportunity to work; their children studied in schools, technical schools, universities. Great assistance was provided, for example, to Polish refugees. For example, there were 248 schools and children's institutions in the USSR, with 18,659 Polish children in them (p. 123).

The fierce battles on the Soviet-German front in the initial period of the Great Patriotic War, the growing Red Army strikes on the enemy, and the heavy losses of the Nazis in the battles had a sobering effect on German soldiers and officers. The defeat of the Wehrmacht near Moscow dispelled the myth of the invincibility of the German army, the plan for a lightning war failed, it took a protracted character, calculations for the conquest of world domination failed. As a result of the influence of a complex of military, political, psychological and other factors, the book shows, among the military personnel of the aggressor armies, the moral level continued to decline, and to a certain extent, the combat capability of units and formations, the number of soldiers and officers who voluntarily went over to the side of the Red Army and partisans increased. By the end of the war, anti-war and anti-fascist sentiments of the soldiers of the enemy armies had become widespread. The author highlights the political and educational work carried out by Soviet political workers among prisoners of war.

The book exposes the attempts of reactionary bourgeois historiography to falsify the attitude of Soviet citizens towards German prisoners of war .3 On the basis of archival data and literature, as well as the Soviet and foreign press, N. I. Shishov reveals the failure of these attempts and shows the actual attitude towards prisoners of war in the Soviet Union.

Based on extensive factual material, the monograph highlights the internationalist, humane policy of the Soviet Union towards the peoples of Europe, who were for a long time under the yoke of German fascism. Numerous facts characterize the great assistance that the Soviet people rendered to the population of the countries liberated by the Red Army in restoring industrial enterprises, public utilities, medical and cultural institutions. Despite the difficulties of the war, the Soviet government supplied food to the population of Poland, Yugoslavia, Austria, Hungary, Germany and other countries. Thanks to this assistance, the governments of the countries liberated from fascism by Soviet troops were able to increase the standards of food supply: the population, to establish a normal life in cities and villages. True to its international duty, the Soviet Union provided great economic assistance to the liberated countries of Europe long before the signing of political treaties and agreements with them. Sometimes depriving themselves of what they needed and experiencing enormous difficulties, the Soviet people shared everything they had with the population of the liberated territories in a brotherly way.

The international assistance of the USSR to the peoples of Europe in the struggle against fascism was of great importance for achieving victory, and contributed to the development and strengthening of economic, political, ideological and cultural ties between the peoples of the Soviet Union and other countries that formed the world system of socialism, which is currently the main driving force of the world revolutionary process. The study of the rich historical experience of the USSR in strengthening the commonwealth of peoples of the world in the fight against fascism is of lasting importance.

The disadvantage of N. I. Shishov's book is the lack of a large-scale analysis of the state of historiography of the problem, its source base. Such a multi-faceted publication needs a scientific reference apparatus, and yet the book has neither a name nor a subject index.

In general, the reviewed work is a serious study covering the activities of the Communist Party and the Soviet State to strengthen the commonwealth of peoples of the USSR and other European countries in the fight against fascism.

3 См., напр., Zur Geschichte der deutschen Kriegsgefangenen des 2. Weltkrieges. Bd. 1 - 15. Munchen. 1962 - 1974.

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