Surviving behind Enemy Lines: Soviet Youth in German Occupied Territory, 1941-1944

The multi-ethnic border zone stretching from central Poland to western Russia was the primary site of the Holocaust and the ruthless total war between the Wehrmacht and the Red Army, where German and Soviet imperial plans confronted one another. The Soviet partisan movement and German army were not only fighting a war over territory and resources, but also people—and youth was the key battleground. While both the Soviet and German regimes employed fear, intimidation, violence, and coercion to mobilize recruits and prevent the local population from assisting the enemy, they also utilized methods of culture and propaganda in this ideological war behind enemy lines. My paper will explore how Soviet youth were able to survive the German occupation of the western borderlands during the Second World War, caught as they were between the Soviet partisan movement and German occupation authorities, as well as nationalist armies. While some young civilians had no choice as to which side they served and cooperated out of fear, starvation, or even opportunism, others made a conscious sacrifice in choosing to join the Soviet resistance movement. Demonstrating resilience, young men and women were able to negotiate the brutal wartime landscape and the rival propaganda and terror campaigns of the Soviets and Germans in order to survive and, in some cases, thrive.