American Journal of Interdisciplinary Research and Development ISSN Online: 2771-8948 Website: www.ajird.journalspark.org Volume 15, April, 2023 112 | P a g e UZBEKISTAN AND CHILDREN’S LIVES PROTECTING DURING THE SECOND WORLD WAR Mukhayo Isakova Doctor of Sciences (DSc), Institute of History of the Academy of Science of Uzbekistan, Republic of Uzbekistan ABSTRACT: The article analyzes the issue of protecting children's lives during the Second World War with the help of archival sources and scientific literature. Also, the article revealed that “bread cards” were introduced in the republic in order to regulate the food shortage that occurred since 1941, and that only urban residents used it, and class and social separation was observed in its distribution. Keywords: Uzbekistan, children, life, protect, Second world war, Germany. INTODUCTION The Second World War left an indelible mark on the human history of the 20th century with great losses and irreparable losses. It is well known that the German attack on the USSR fell on the western regions where the main industrial centers were located. At the same time, it is known that 40 percent of the population of the USSR lived in these areas. In particular, if we pay attention to the figures for 1940, there are a total of 21.1 million in the RSFSR, Ukrainian SSR, Belorussian SSR, Moldavian SSR and the Baltic republics. 39% of them were children under the age of 17. So, if we pay attention to these figures, it can be understood that the number of young children who were not mobilized for military service was more than 8 million [1]. RESEARCH METHODS In a situation where the western regions of the USSR began to be occupied by the enemy, it is natural that the population of those lands should be quickly moved to the eastern territories. In this regard, the Uzbek SSR was assessed as a favorable region in all respects. First of all, its geostrategic location, far from the front line, and most importantly, the rich natural resources here were the basis for choosing it as a center of population settlement. On the other hand, the historical experience was also taken into account in the resettlement of the population. As an example, it is important to cite the experience of population displacement during the famine. In 1921, 172,300 people were systematically relocated to Turkestan from the central provinces of Russia (Povolje). 140 thousand of them were adults and more than 11 thousand were young children. It is also known that more than 60 thousand people immigrated to Turkestan at their own expense with their families. In total, American Journal of Interdisciplinary Research and Development ISSN Online: 2771-8948 Website: www.ajird.journalspark.org Volume 15, April, 2023 113 | P a g e the Uzbek nation, which itself was experiencing a deep economic crisis, gave shelter to more than 230 thousand people [2]. RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS As for the Second World War, in 1941-1945, despite the difficult and trying times for our people, he did not spare his love and humanitarian assistance to millions of homeless people who were brought to our country from the front areas, who were separated from their loved ones, even at the cost of his own condition, if necessary. During the fiery war, the population of every province and district of the republic chanted “Everything - for the front”, “Everything - for Victory!” lived with the belief that In January 1941, the population of Uzbekistan SSR reached 6,639,900 people. In December of this year, the population decreased to 5,191,279 people[3]. Our country has become a solid supply base behind the front. If we add 1,500,000 evacuated (voluntarily displaced) during the war, more than 250,000 of whom were specially displaced, and more than 1,000,000 deported (forcibly displaced), we can see that the population of the republic exceeded 7,329,000 during the war[4]. According to the figures analyzed above, the number of food consumers in the Uzbek SSR increased year by year during the war years. It is known that since 1941, “bread cards” were introduced in the republic in order to regulate the food shortage, albeit for the sake of sight. It was used only by urban residents, and class and social segregation was observed in its distribution. For example, workers and servants have the right to receive 400-500 grams of low-grade bread per day, while their dependent young children, disabled people or the elderly receive twice as little (250 grams). Also, the production of the most necessary products has been reduced several times. For example, in 1945, compared to 1940, the production of cotton fabrics decreased by 5 times, woolen products by 1.4 times, hosiery products by 7 times, leather shoes by 6.7 times, fuel products (kerosene) by 7.4 times [5]. As a result, a limited annual rate of allocation of industrial goods per person is determined. In particular, 6 meters of cotton yarn, 3 meters of wool and one pair of shoes were given to one family in one year. The life of the villagers was very difficult. According to the documents adopted by the Soviet government, the villagers provided themselves with food through the exchange of food products received in exchange for days of work and the crops grown on their private auxiliary farms. Under these conditions, the rural workers were forced to eat nettles, beans, crushed bark of trees and the like. People who could not afford shoes were barefoot, and some made “handmade” shoes. According to the historical documents, there are two types of relocation, reception and settlement of the population: 1) family relocation; 2) the relocation of orphaned children and foster children of orphanages was carried out. It is also noted that children arrived in Uzbekistan without adult supervision. Of course, the orderly conduct of this process is closely related, first of all, to the timely registration of children and the establishment of records. For this reason, special departments have been set up at railway stations. American Journal of Interdisciplinary Research and Development ISSN Online: 2771-8948 Website: www.ajird.journalspark.org Volume 15, April, 2023 114 | P a g e On September 26, 1941, the apparatus responsible for the relocation (evacuation) of the population was established under the Department of Relocation of the Uzbek SSR. At the beginning of October, the Central Directorate for the relocation of children will start its activities. In all regions and districts of the republic, the work of groups formed mainly from education workers will be started. According to statistics, more than 443,000 people will be accepted as a result of hard work carried out for 2 months. Their distribution by regions of the republic can be seen in the table below. Distribution of the population who immigrated to the Uzbek SSR (as of November 22, 1941) № The name of the areas Total population (thousand) It has been taken into account (thousand) 1 Andizhan region 80 126 14 800 2 Bukhara region 82 300 6 569 3 Namangan region 45 200 3 908 4 Samarkand region 41 300 40 743 5 Surkhandarya region 6 800 149 6 Tashkent region 47 600 37 454 7 Тashkent city 32 400 33 250 8 Ferghana region 53 800 12 659 9 Khorazm region 2 330 5 060 10 Karakalpak ASSR 51 662 3 387 Total 443 518 157 979 Between November 1941 and March 1942, Uzbeks took in about 22,000 children, 9,420 (40%) of them were in orphanages, and the rest were children who were moved alone without parents. Most of the children, 69% were boys, 48.5% were 15-16-year-olds, 18% were 17-18-year-old teenagers, 31% were 8-14-year-olds, and 2.5% were children under 7 years old. Almost 51% of displaced children were orphans who were separated from their parents, and the rest were children whose fathers were serving in the military, or children who had no information about their relatives. The children who got off the train were fed in canteens near the stations, then handed over to orphanages or families who came to adopt children. Children who got sick on the road and died from hunger were placed in hospitals. Also, the work of finding relatives of children who have lost their parents has been outsourced. War veteran Margarita Merkulova mentions the following in her memoirs: “I was a 9th grader when I came to Tashkent in August 1941 with my father, who was the director of the Vulkan factory. I went on “military duty” organized at the train station with my classmates. American Journal of Interdisciplinary Research and Development ISSN Online: 2771-8948 Website: www.ajird.journalspark.org Volume 15, April, 2023 115 | P a g e Trains came at 2.00-3.00 at night. We helped homeless children from 4 to 14 years old. Many did not know their parents or even their own names. Initially, at the station, they were given semolina porridge and half a glass of hot water. Doctors forbade giving more. Then the head was disinfected and the hair was removed and taken to the bathroom. In the morning, they were distributed accordingly.” According to the documents of 1942, we can see that the displaced population received in evacuation units of Tashkent city were distributed in the following order[6]: № Distribution Children 1 Reception-distribution departments of Internal Affairs of the UzSSR 7320 2 Children’s homes belonging to the People’s Commissariat of Education 1350 3 Children’s institutions under the People’s Commissariat of Health 274 4 Social security for children's institutions under the people 169 5 Employed 3071 6 Returned to the parents 4320 Total 16 504 If we take Bukhara region alone, the distribution of displaced children was decided as follows. 180 children of the “Krakow” orphanage relocated from Donbas - to Karmana, 100 children of the “Kuzmin” orphanage from the Sumsky region - to Vobkent, 155 children of the orphanage from the Kharkiv region - to Gijduvon, 125 children of the “Slavyan” orphanage No. 1 100 children of “Slavyan” children’s home No. 2 were placed in Kogon, 177 Polish children were placed in an orphanage in Bukhara [7]. According to the decision 904 of the Council of People's Commissars of the Uzbek SSR dated July 29, 1941, compulsory involvement of 7-10 grade students of all rural and urban schools in the republic, depending on their age and ability, is determined for 6-8 hours in the work of agriculture, industry and other social institutions. Thus, from the age of 14, children begin to work alongside adults in various fields. Girls from orphanages in the city were recruited to look after the wounded in sewing workshops and military hospitals, while boys worked in military industrial enterprises. Young people in the villages are engaged in field work from early spring to the end of December. In January 1942, a special commission was established to study and monitor the domestic life and material support of displaced children in all regions of the republic. The task of the commission is to take into account all children of orphanages and children left without parents, to provide them with shelter, to distribute them to families and organizations, to organize aid money for children, food collection. In the same year, a special fund for displaced children was opened, and Uzbeks collected 3.5 million rubles, more than 200,000 centners of food and 80,000 warm clothes. Individual American Journal of Interdisciplinary Research and Development ISSN Online: 2771-8948 Website: www.ajird.journalspark.org Volume 15, April, 2023 116 | P a g e districts of each region took the initiative and worked diligently to create conditions for displaced children. For example, only the director of public education of Vobkent district, Rakhmanov, found a place for an evacuated orphanage and provided it with bedding, 295 cotton blankets, 600 mattresses, 199 pants for boys, 240 hats, 205 pairs of shoes and 71 cubic meters. firewood is prepared. In general, child support was an important issue, as we can see in the table below[8]: Children’s homes in the Uzbek SSR in the IV quarter of 1942 food supply (tons) Areas M ea t a n d f is h o il W h ea t g ro a ts a n d p a st a S u g a r a n d co n fe ct io n er y p ro d u ct s sa lt so a p Tashkent region 0,5 11,5 26,5 13,3 4,9 6,4 Тashkent city 13,0 18,5 42,9 20,8 6,8 7,9 Ferghana region 5,2 12,3 30,0 14,7 5,1 5,4 Аndizhan region 2,5 10,6 24,5 11,9 4,4 4,6 Namangan region 2,0 8,1 18,4 9,3 3,3 3,7 Samarkand region 4,0 9,1 21,9 10,6 3,9 4,3 Bukhara region 1,4 8,3 18,2 9,0 3,6 3,9 Surkhandarya region - 0,8 1,6 0,8 0,3 0,3 Khorazm region - 1,2 2,9 1,4 0,7 0,6 Karakalpak ASSR 2,0 4,0 2,2 1,0 1,0 Total 28,6 82,4 190,9 94,0 34,0 38,1 Until September 1942, 78 orphanages and 20,650 children left without parents were transferred to the republic with 9,918 children. All children have been placed in schools since September 1, and lessons have begun. During the war, the activities of secondary educational institutions, especially rural schools, were difficult. In total, 31% of schools were provided with textbooks. In addition to textbooks, one of the most urgent problems for the educational process is the lack of notebooks and pens. For example, in the academic year, each student has 2-3 notebooks and 1 ink tank, the documents show that only 21% of schools are supplied with ink. The schools themselves prepared ink from the royan plant in a natural way [9]. In addition, 41% of schools were provided with chalk, and 37% with pencils. The most painful problem of the education system is the shortage of teachers as a result of the mobilization of science teachers for the war. Therefore, from 1943, the government decided to stop American Journal of Interdisciplinary Research and Development ISSN Online: 2771-8948 Website: www.ajird.journalspark.org Volume 15, April, 2023 117 | P a g e conscripting teachers into military service. Nevertheless, the focus is on taking classes as much as possible. During this period, taking displaced children into the care of Uzbek families became widespread. In this place, we read more about the bravery of Hamid Samatov from Katakurgan, who adopted 13 neglected children and returned home due to injuries from the battlefields of Stalingrad and Ukraine. At the same time, almost every Uzbek family, realizing the difficulties of that time, took in children who were left without parents. Children’s writer Korney Chukovsky, who was evacuated to Tashkent, said in his memoirs: “I was surprised by something when I came to Tashkent. People were waiting in long queues in front of orphanages to adopt foster children”. This process is reflected in the novel “The Living and the Dead” by the Russian writer Konstantin Simonov. The author writes: “... one night you could see thousands of children sleeping at the railway station. By morning, not a single person was left, all of them were taken to their homes”. CONCLUSION In conclusion, on the one hand, during the difficult years of the war, the population increased at the expense of the resettled people, there was a housing problem, and a food shortage. However, the Uzbek people created the necessary conditions for the children displaced from the clutches of the war, created sufficient conditions for their education, organized the educational process, provided them with both material and moral support, although they were in a difficult situation, and were a real example of perseverance. It has become traditional to assess this as the mentality and tolerance typical of Uzbeks. In our opinion, this is primarily related to the sense of humanity and kindness instilled in the upbringing of Uzbeks. REFERENCES 1. Andreev E.M., Darsky L.E., Kharkova T.L. The population of the USSR 1922-1991. Moscow: Nauka, 1993. - P.50-60. 2. National Archive of Uzbekistan. F.R-22. L.1. W.9. P.21. 3. Certificate with the population of the USSR as of January 1, 1941 of the Central Statistical Office of the State Planning Committee of the USSR (April 22, 1941). Moscow. 1950. P. 28. 4. Approximate calculation of the population of the USSR on December 1, 1941 (without the territory temporarily occupied by the Germans on this date. http://istmat.info/node/44079. 5. Volkova E.Yu. Solving everyday problems of women during the Great Patriotic War. // Woman in Russian society. - Moscow, 2008. - No. 3. - P. 72 - 83. 6. National Archive of Uzbekistan. F.R-837. L.9. W.9. P.39-40. 7. Sirojov O. Devotees of Bukhara. Bukhara. 1995. Page 118 8. National Archive of Uzbekistan. F.R-91. L.8. W.314. P.86-90. 9. State Archive of Bukhara region. F.S-1127. L.1. W.53. P.16.