WI: The Soviet Operation Osoviakhim (their Operation Paperclip) included all German POWs?

Deleted member 97083

The significant lack of young men in the USSR Post-War, which is still reflected to this day in how large the elderly female age cohort is compared to the similar male one, raises a serious point. Having large numbers of young German men, overwhelmingly both veterans of the Wehrmacht (And SS, to a far lesser extent give they were usually shot out of hand to my knowledge) and the Ost Front, settle in the Soviet Union on a permanent basis probably will provoke a large amount of cultural backlash due to concerns over "Children of the Enemy" and such; I can't see a lot of Red Army vets taking kindly to their ex-enemies marrying native girls for example. What that would do to Russian culture in the long term would be interesting, to say the least.
They probably wouldn't be settled in Russia proper, they'd be settled in the other SSRs or in the non-Russian parts of the Russian SFSR.
 
They probably wouldn't be settled in Russia proper, they'd be settled in the other SSRs or in the non-Russian parts of the Russian SFSR.

If we're assuming Stalin wants them for their skills, in a capacity beyond simple laborers such as factory workers, I question what would then be the point in such an instance. As far as I know, there was little industry where the Germans could be of some use in places like Kalmykia then. Even so, from what I understand, even the ethnic republics were getting used by the Red Army extensively by the end of the war for manpower.
 

Deleted member 97083

If we're assuming Stalin wants them for their skills, in a capacity beyond simple laborers such as factory workers, I question what would then be the point in such an instance. As far as I know, there was little industry where the Germans could be of some use in places like Kalmykia then. Even so, from what I understand, even the ethnic republics were getting used by the Red Army extensively by the end of the war for manpower.

Well the OTL Operation Osiovoakhim scientists would still be in Russia, working for the Soviet space program and rocketry, a patriotic thing for the Soviet Union, making their presence relatively acceptable.

A few ten thousands of more skilled workers could be obtained in heavy industry and non-rocketry research and utilized in dispersed, localized numbers, largely for military purposes, which probably wouldn't be much of a problem either.

The majority, an additional, almost 2 million German POWs without significant technical experience, could be settled in Central Asia and the Caucasus as a Sovietizing factor, working mostly in industry and agriculture. IOTL the Soviets settled Russians in Kazakhstan in the 50s and 60s, so there would be a perceived need to send settlers there.
 
The significant lack of young men in the USSR Post-War, which is still reflected to this day in how large the elderly female age cohort is compared to the similar male one, raises a serious point. Having large numbers of young German men, overwhelmingly both veterans of the Wehrmacht (And SS, to a far lesser extent give they were usually shot out of hand to my knowledge) and the Ost Front, settle in the Soviet Union on a permanent basis probably will provoke a large amount of cultural backlash due to concerns over "Children of the Enemy" and such; I can't see a lot of Red Army vets taking kindly to their ex-enemies marrying native girls for example. What that would do to Russian culture in the long term would be interesting, to say the least.

I wonder if it would be more acceptable for ex-Germans to marry Central Asian lasses?

Mind you, I have a dim memory of reading that some of the Central Asian republics saw more patriotic fervor during the war than Russia itself did.

fasquardon
 
Well the OTL Operation Osiovoakhim scientists would still be in Russia, working for the Soviet space program and rocketry, a patriotic thing for the Soviet Union, making their presence relatively acceptable.

Yes, but they're on a much lower scale (Say, hundreds) and largely kept from the public anyway for use on secret projects and such.

A few ten thousands of more skilled workers could be obtained in heavy industry and non-rocketry research and utilized in dispersed, localized numbers, largely for military purposes, which probably wouldn't be much of a problem either.

Well, a few thousand dispersed over the entirety RSFSR pretty much dilutes their effect from doing anything meaningful in the long term. I mean, you might get the occasional German who manages to make a breakthrough on a project, but the rest are going to be overwhelmingly constrained by the fact they're just one man in say an entire factory of hundreds if not thousands of workers. The social problems are also still going to be there, particular in terms of isolation and stigmatization.

The majority, an additional, almost 2 million German POWs without significant technical experience, could be settled in Central Asia and the Caucasus as a Sovietizing factor, working mostly in industry and agriculture. IOTL the Soviets settled Russians in Kazakhstan in the 50s and 60s, so there would be a perceived need to send settlers there.

I doubt they'd be settled in the Caucasus, due to the wartime connections between the Reich and resistance movements in the region. Dumping all those Germans in Central Asia also will breed issues, as the culture between the Germans and the natives is even more distinct.

On an interesting note, however, looking at Soviet mobilization data shows that by 1942, throughout the entirety of the Central Asia SSRs, there was only around 500,000 men fit for mobilization. Modern Turkmenistan, for example, as a whole only had ~1,200,000 people. Even splitting those 2 Million up five ways so that each SSR gets 500,000 men means that you're nearly going to entirely displace the native majorities with German culture (Assuming intermixing is able to occur on a large enough scale).
 
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