The question of the human losses of the USSR and Germany during the Great Patriotic War was repeatedly raised in print publications and television programs, but researchers of this issue have not come to a common opinion. Currently, there are many sources of literature and network resources, thanks to which you can find out additional information about the Great Patriotic War, which was previously a mystery.
Losses of the USSR
According to the 1939 census, 170 million people lived on the territory of the USSR. Before the start of World War II, the population of the USSR had a high mortality rate and low life expectancy, but the high birth rate helped stabilize the situation in the state. For a long period they did not speak at all about the irrecoverable loss of the Red Army. In 1947, the first data began to appear that more than 7 million Soviet citizens died in the Great Patriotic War, while prisoners of war and militias were not taken into account. Later, Khrushchev, Solzhenitsyn and many other prominent personalities were involved in the assessment of human losses, relying on the data of those liable for military service. For example, Solzhenitsyn, in his writings, claimed the loss of 20 million Soviet citizens. Boris Sokolov, Candidate of Historical and Doctor of Philology, using the method of calculations, found that the armed forces of the USSR alone had lost about 26 million people. Based on official statistical reports, it became known that a significant proportion of the dead are military personnel, namely 13.6 million people.
On the basis of documents published in the first half of the 90s, it can be argued that the true value of the losses of the Soviet Union amounted to almost 27 million people, which exceeds the losses of the Eastern Front.
German losses
Despite the fact that many years have passed since the end of World War II, there are countries that have not counted all the demographic losses. The list of such countries includes Germany. Foreign historians have made several attempts to carry out unofficial estimates of human losses, but the results were not at all true. During the study, it still turned out that about 4, 270 million soldiers died at the front, not taking into account those killed in captivity and the civilian population. According to official sources, the total human losses in Germany during the Great Patriotic War amounted to about 11, 5 million people, but this information does not show the whole reality. The true scale of the tragedy of the German people will not be shown by any of the statistical services. In addition, some of the archival documents on the death of people have been lost, so it will be very difficult to calculate the exact losses.
The holocaust
It is also worth mentioning the terrible tragedy in the life of the Jewish people, which took place during the Great Patriotic War. Germany established death camps, where they tried to forcibly take away the entire Jewish population, including children and elderly citizens. Racial persecution began when Jews were not allowed to enter public places, use vehicles, or walk the streets. Fascism did not stop there. Very soon, Jews began to be designated by a mark - a yellow six-pointed star on their clothes. During the Second World War, 6 million Jews perished, which is one third of the Jewish population of the entire world.
