The daily life of teachers in the Krasnoyarsk Territory during the WWII period

Mezit Lyudmila Edgarovna ORCID: 0000-0003-3341-4237 PhD in History Associate Professor, Department of Russian History, Krasnoyarsk State Pedagogical University 660041, Russia, Krasnoyarsk Territory, Krasnoyarsk, ul. Kurchatov, 1a, sq. 79 mezit@yandex.ru Other publications by this author

Filippova Karina Renatovna ORCID: 0009-0008-4001-3486 Independent researcher 660049, Russia, Krasnoyarsk Territory, Krasnoyarsk, Lebedeva str., 89, office 230 filipp0va.kar@yandex.ru

Military anthropological research makes it possible to expand the research field of a well-studied period of history by understanding life problems from the perspective of its participants, to trace the logic of people's actions in extreme conditions. On the other hand, the regional features of everyday life during the war years have great potential for exploring the human dimension of war.

Analyzing the degree of study of the topic, it should be noted that the works of the predecessors focused on the implementation of the law on universal education and the role of teachers in fostering patriotism among children and adolescents, as the main tasks of the education system during the Great Patriotic War ^[1-3].

The difficulties of the material and domestic nature of teachers were only mentioned in the works devoted to the social policy of the country during the war ^[4-10].

In the publications and dissertation research of Belova N.A., based on the materials of the Kostroma region, devoted to the everyday life of teachers of the period under study, the problems of everyday work and the solution of housing issues, as well as the supply problems of one of the mass professional groups in the region are comprehensively analyzed ^[11].

At the same time, the problems of industrial activity that arose in connection with the restructuring of the education system during the war period and the problems of the financial situation of teachers in the Krasnoyarsk Territory during the war period are little explored.

The source base of the work was made up of materials from the State Archive of the Krasnoyarsk Territory, personal memoirs of teachers who worked in schools in the region during the war period, and periodicals.

Methodology and methods. The anthropological approach allowed us to see Soviet everyday life through the eyes of the teachers themselves, it helps to fill the gap in the study of the lifestyle of educational workers during the war period. The principle of historicism allowed us to consider historical phenomena and processes in their formation and development, the principle of scientific objectivity, contributed to the analysis of the totality of facts in their interrelation. The research methods include comparative historical constructions, on the basis of which the functioning of Soviet teaching was traced in chronological and regional comparison. The ideographic method provided an opportunity to describe the events of the teachers' daily lives.

The war affected all spheres of Soviet society, including the public education system, and radically changed the lives and activities of teachers. With the outbreak of the Great Patriotic War, teachers, like all residents of the country, responded to the need to help the Fatherland, some teachers were mobilized, another group went to the front as volunteers. In the first months of the war, there was a reduction in teaching staff, but soon 716 teachers evacuated from the western regions of the country arrived in the region, 348 of them got jobs in schools in the region. Thus, 11 people were employed in the Idrinsky district, and 7 in the Mansky district ^{[2; p. 257]}. In the conditions of a shortage of teachers, in many districts of the region, even special settlers from among those deported to the Krasnoyarsk Territory were involved in teaching. In the 1943-44 academic year, 39 special settlers (from among Kalmyks, Germans, and Finns) were involved in teaching in the Mansky district of the region, including three of them who worked as school principals, 4 as heads of the educational unit ^{[12; d. 336. L. 173]}. At the same time, due to the systematic increase in the number of schools, the problem of shortage of teaching staff was not solved during the study period, which contributed to the overload of working teachers.

Table 1 Dynamics of the number of teaching staff in the region ^{[3; p.216]}

1944-1945

Working conditions. Since the beginning of the war, school buildings in the cities of the region were transferred to hospitals, evacuated enterprises, orphanages, and therefore the vast majority of schools worked in two or three shifts. It was common practice for one teacher to work in several classes, so work on correcting handwriting, individual work with weak students, overgrown students, and organizing excursions were curtailed ^{[3; p.216]}. A similar trend was observed in other regions of the country ^{[6; p.11; 8; pp.151-152; 11; p.22]}.

A serious challenge to teachers was the severing of the parent-child bond during this period, due to the massive involvement of women in the real sector of the economy. Therefore, they could not pay due attention to children, which means that teachers were placed under increased demands for the results of their work with schoolchildren.

In wartime conditions, it was necessary to change the methods of work, because the students did not have the conditions for independent work at home (lack of textbooks, lack of light, etc.). The predominant method was storytelling, but the teachers tried as much as possible to activate the cognitive activity of the children in order to maintain motivation to study, to achieve the assimilation of new knowledge. Thus, the Russian language teacher E.I. Okladnikov from the Aban school conducted selective dictation in order to save paper, and used newspaper material for the texts of the presentations ^{[2; p. 306]}.

Inspectors of the regional Department of Education, staff of the Institute of Teacher Training paid special attention to the practical orientation of the educational process. The teacher of the Aban primary school used her personal herbarium of poisonous and medicinal plants to study the topic "Plants", and in the spring she carried out potato improvisation with the students. To develop the vocabulary of the students, patriotic poems were memorized with them, etc. As a result, academic performance in her classes was high. In the Dzerzhinsky district, teachers of history and literature, when studying new material, linked it with modernity. ^{[2; c.305]}. Krayono sought to spread the experience of teachers who made visual aids, non-standard working methods from improvised tools and achieved good results.

Young teachers did not have sufficient experience in teaching children without homework, forming solid knowledge, made mistakes in their work: they did not know how to systematically form the reading technique of the children, carried out a breakaway study of grammar and literary reading, etc. The Regional Department of Education, together with the Institute for Teacher Training, systematically conducted methodological meetings, short-term courses to improve professional skills However, due to their excessive workload, it was not possible to change the situation during the war years, and teachers did not have the means to purchase methodological literature. The quality of knowledge in mathematics and the Russian language remained low in the region throughout the study period.

During the war period, teachers were not given vacations, and plans were made to recruit them to work on collective farms and industrial enterprises in the region in their free time. Teachers participated in harvesting firewood, processing school grounds, and were on duty in crowded places (bazaars, train stations) in order to identify street and street children, etc.

In the spring of 1942, all schools in the region joined the All-Union competition for agricultural work. Together with the students, the teachers grew vegetables and cereals on school grounds, helped collective farms with harvesting, starting in 1941. The school year in grades 5-8 began on October 1, grades 9-10 – on October 15. In the summer of 1943 alone, 2,138 city teachers of the region worked together with students in the farms of the region ^{[3; p.225]}. Teachers were fully responsible for organizing agricultural teams of students, while at the same time conducting propaganda work among collective farmers. The work of children and teachers, as well as the work of collective farmers, was paid for in workdays. Every 6th grade student in the city had to work 45 workdays over the summer, students in grades 7-8 had 60 workdays, grades 9-10 had 85 workdays. The standards were higher for rural schoolchildren ^{[13; p.98]}.

From the memoirs of Olga Lavrova, who worked as a teacher in Ilansk during the war years: "Teachers gave 8-10 lessons. The new material had to be given in such a way that the children not only understood it, but also remembered it, because the children had no time to do homework, a lot of homework and social assignments that they carried out. Since the first winter of the war, free meals have been provided to students in all schools in the city. A titanium was installed, where carrot tea was boiled, and the children were given a piece of bread and boiled potatoes" ^{[13; p. 115]}.

The teacher of the Dzerzhinsky district, A.P. Semenov, recalled that there were not enough notebooks and pencils, they wrote in lessons with beet juice and blueberries in self-sewn notebooks made from old books and used them in their work. One textbook was for several students ^{[14; p.271]}.

At the annual regional pedagogical meetings, according to archival materials, the leaders of the region stated that many resolutions of the Ministry of Education of the RSFSR in the region were not implemented properly. The region was unable to stabilize the school network and ensure the implementation of the law on universal education, overgrown students who entered the first grade, as a rule, left school without completing their studies, the law on the separate education of boys and girls in most districts of the region was not implemented, etc. During the war, the leadership of teachers by the party was strengthened. Teachers constantly had to work beyond the norm, at the expense of sleep and rest ^{[2; p.257]}. Despite all the difficulties, the teachers tried to fulfill their duties faithfully, teaching and educating the children as patriots of their country. We can agree with N.A. Belova that teachers sought to be an example for the families of their students in their attitude to the cause, considering it their contribution to the common cause of Victory ^{[11; p.26]}.

Financial situation. The teachers' difficult working conditions were accompanied by difficult living conditions. In January 1942, at a regional meeting, the head of the regional university noted that many teachers of the region were not provided with fuel and kerosene, so they had to check their notebooks at the furnace with a beam (Kuraginsky, Askiz districts). In Askiz district Teachers did not receive the required 400 grams of bread, and their family members' rations were generally halved. In the Mansky district, rural settlements delayed the distribution of bread on cards for 10-15 days ^{[12; d.336. L. 173]}. In the Kuraginsky district, bread was not given out for 1-2 months, in the Birilussky district – for 2-3 days. City teachers received meager rations on cards, as a result of which starvation faints occurred due to malnutrition, and medical care was poor ^{[15; D. 502. L. 45]}.

According to the memoirs of I.N. Popov, who lived in the Yenisei region of the region during the war period: "We ate poorly. The main course was potatoes, vegetables, river fish, meat was rare, they often starved. They used to eat salt and drink water for three days. It was difficult" ^{[16; pp.353-354]}.

In the 1943-1944 academic year, a one-time campaign was held in the region to provide teachers with additional rations, which included sugar, soap, salt, matches, and kerosene. In a number of districts, they found an opportunity to allocate warm shoes and industrial goods. Special canteens were opened for city teachers. In the direction of the medical institution, weakened teachers were given the opportunity to receive additional meals in these canteens, food stamps in these canteens were also used as incentives for particularly distinguished workers ^{[18; D.475. L. 6]}.

The issues of domestic and material support for teachers were constantly in the focus of attention of the party-Soviet bodies. Young teachers who came to work in rural areas of the region were in a particularly difficult situation. Since the end of April 1942, teachers of the region in cities and rural areas have been on a card supply of food and industrial goods. However, the centralized funds allocated to the region and the products of local cooperatives were not enough to supply the population without interruption, according to the standards set by state authorities, therefore, harvesting wild plants and gardening significantly facilitated the survival of teachers during this period^{[15; D. 840. L. 33]}. Local education authorities sought additional reserves to solve their urgent tasks, to secure teachers in their districts. In 1942, the head of the Boguchansky district Department of Education, Tretyakov N.I., appealed to the chairman of the cooperative with a request to allocate 50 pairs of stockings for teachers who wear shoes and stockings should not be darned ^{[17; p.145]}.

During the war years, the income of teaching staff decreased, although from August 1, 1943-1944 academic year, wages increased by 30-40% ^{[2; p.265]}. During the war years, the amount of taxes and deductions paid by teachers increased. The military tax, which was levied on the entire able-bodied population in the rear; contributions to the Defense Fund; the distribution of government loans, the volume of which increased during the war; the payment of income tax, led to the fact that the amount of contributions to the state reached 50 rubles at the rate of a teacher of the first category 240 rubles and the second category 300 rubles. We were not able to find in the regional archive the pay statements for teachers in agricultural and forestry work, only a mention that payments had been made.

The amount of food that they received on the cards was not enough for proper nutrition, so the teachers resorted to the services of the market. The prices of consumer goods in the markets of the regional center are shown in the table below.

Table 2 Cost of goods in Krasnoyarsk ^{[18; d. 537. Ll. 20, 64; D. 14, L.71-72; D.457, L.19]}

180-350 rubles

Outwardly, the teachers tried to look neat, while it was impossible to hide the wear and tear of things, because the teachers had practically no money and opportunity to update the wardrobe. Photographs of wartime teachers allow us to reconstruct their appearance: their hair is well-styled, they are dressed modestly, as a rule, a dark skirt, a light blouse with a thick knitted jacket, vest. Shoes are usually worn out after being repaired. Most of the teachers endured hardships stoically and did not often turn to higher authorities for help.

However, according to archival materials, the financial situation of many teachers was close to catastrophic. In 1943, the regional committee of the CPSU(b) heard the results of a commission that examined the financial situation of teachers in the city of Krasnoyarsk. The report cited egregious examples. So a young teacher at school No. 3 in Krasnoyarsk, a student at the pedagogical institute, goes to lessons in a coat, because she does not have a dress, and a teacher with many children at School No. 21, whose husband recently died at the front, has absolutely no shoes, so she goes to work in rags. The members of the commission drew attention to the fact that all educational institutions in the city have bosses and those organizations that live by the interests of the school, help teachers who find themselves in a difficult life situation, so the teachers of the girls' school No. 47 received fat cards, 50 meters of canvas, and by March 8 even small bonuses. A number of teachers at the girls' school No. 40 (the bosses of the Norilkombinat) attached weakened teachers to their own cafeteria, and some were given fat cards ^{[12; d. 336. L. 126]}.

In July 1943, 46 wagons of ready–made outerwear and underwear arrived in the region - new and used under Lend-Lease, sent by the Allies. His distribution by special orders was carried out among university teachers, teachers, military families, orphanages ^{[19; p. 361]}.

Despite the enormous hardships and difficulties in the region, there were many teachers who, in difficult conditions, showed a creative approach to work, achieved good results, and were usually awarded government awards. The Krasnoyarsk Worker newspaper No. 33 for 1945 contains a photo of 7 teachers who received the highest state awards for their work (the Order of Lenin, the Order of the Badge of Honor, the Order of the Red Banner of Labor) ^{[21; p.1]}.

During the war, school groups acted as a single unit, and the distance between teachers and students, characteristic of the educational process, was reduced during joint mobilization campaigns aimed at helping the front. Due to the lack of parental attention, children were drawn to teachers who took care of them. Among the teachers of that time, women prevailed, who retained their dignity, sought to conform to the status of a teacher, adapting to the limitations of wartime, selflessly fulfilled their civic duty and made every possible contribution to the common cause of victory.

The conducted research allows us to conclude that during the war years, studies for many children faded into the background, as the standard of living of families fell sharply, and the state was interested in the earlier involvement of teenagers in the real sector of the economy instead of mobilized men and women. All this increased the role and responsibility of teachers for universal education, for educating decent citizens of their country. However, in the region, due to limited financial and material resources, local leaders, unlike in other regions of the country, were unable to fully implement the decisions of the Ministry of Education of the RSFSR on the restructuring of the educational process during the war, to ensure that schools and teachers working in them were supplied with everything necessary according to approved standards. The shortage of teaching staff has led to teachers being overloaded with public assignments in addition to the main work in two shifts. This practice has developed in most of the country's rear regions. However, due to its vast territory, Krayono has not organized regular methodological work with young teachers in the region.; They were attracted by specialists without teaching experience, which affected the poor preparation of such teachers for lessons, and this, in turn, led to a decrease in the quality of knowledge among students and a large dropout of children from school.

The teachers solved the material and household problems mostly on their own, since the local authorities did not have enough resources for this. Teachers had to save on almost everything. His modest teaching income did not allow him to have even one good suit. Despite the difficult financial situation of the teachers, they actively participated in fundraising for the Defense Fund and other patriotic actions. It can be argued that despite all the difficulties of daily life during the war, teachers, like all Soviet people, made a great contribution to the cause of the common victory over Nazi Germany.