World War II casualties of the Soviet Union
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World War II casualties of the Soviet Union from all related causes were over 20,000,000, both civilians and military, although
the statistics vary to a great extent largely because these figures are currently disputed. During the Soviet era information on
casualties was considered top secret; it was only later in the Glasnost period that information on Soviet World War II casualties
was published. In 1993 a study by the Russian Academy of Sciences estimated total Soviet population losses due to the war at
26.6 million,[1][2][3][4] including military dead of 8.7 million calculated by the Russian Ministry of Defense.[5] These figures have
been accepted by most historians outside of Russia. However the figure of 8.7 million military dead has been disputed by some
historians in Russia because it is in conflict with the official database of the Central Defense Ministry Archive (CDMA) which lists
the names of roughly 14 million dead and missing servicemen.[6][7] Some independent researchers in Russia have put total
losses in the war, both civilians and military, at over 40 million.[8][9] This article covers the details of the Russian government
sources as well as a presentation of sources disputing these figures.
Contents
1 Military losses
1.1 Krivosheev's analysis
1.2 Criticism of Krivosheev
Kiev, June 23, 1941
1.2.1 POW deaths
1.2.2 Reconciliation of persons conscripted
1.2.3 Russian Military Archives database of individual war dead
1.2.4 Historical revisionism in Russia
1.2.5 Total number of male war dead
1.3 Rebuttal by Krivosheev
2 Civilian losses
3 Total population losses
3.1 Studies by E.M. Andreev, L.E. Darski and T. L. Kharkova (ADK)
3.1.1 Alternative sources of demographic losses
3.2 Estimated losses of each Soviet Republic
4 OBD Memorial database of Soviet war dead
5 Causes
6 The estimates and their sources
6.1 Official Soviet era estimates made 1946 to 1987
6.2 Period of Glasnost 1988 to 1992
6.3 Figures released in Russia 1993–95
6.4 Estimates by Russians published in the West 1950–83
6.5 Estimates of Soviet war dead by Western scholars
7 Sources
Mass murder of Soviet
civilians near Minsk,
Belarus, 1943
8 See also
9 References
Military losses
Krivosheev's analysis
A 1993 Russian Ministry of Defense report authored by a group headed by general G. I. Krivosheev
detailed Soviet military casualties in World War II.[10] The sources for their analysis were Soviet reports
from the field and other archive documents that were secret during the Soviet era, including a secret
Soviet General Staff report from 1966–68. Krivosheev's study which puts Soviet military dead and
missing at 8.7 million is often cited by historians. However Krivosheev's analysis has been disputed by
some independent researchers in Russia (see section below on criticism of Krivosheev).
Soviet troops (Battle of
Moscow, 1941)
The schedules below summarize Krivosheev's analysis.
Soviet World War II military casualties 1939–45[5][11]
Dead and
missing
Battle of Khalkhin Gol
1939
Wounded
and sick
9,703
15,952
1,475
2,383
126,875
264,908
World War II 1941–
45[14][15]
8,668,400
22,326,905
Total
8,806,453
22,610,148
[5][12]
Invasion of Poland
1939[5][13]
Winter War 1939–40[5][13]
Source of Figures:G. I. Krivosheev. Soviet Casualties and Combat Losses. Greenhill 1997 ISBN 978­1­
85367­280­4 Pages 51–97
The Schedule below summarizes Soviet casualties from 1941­1945.
Soviet fighter ace
Lydia Litvyak was killed
in action on August 1,
1943. 800,000 women
served in the Soviet
Armed Forces during
the war. Some served
as pilots, snipers,
machine gunners,
tank crew members
and partisans, as well
as in auxiliary roles.
Military dead and missing (1941–45)[16][17]
KIA or died of wounds
6,329,600
Noncombat deaths
(sickness,
accidents,etc.)
555,500
Subtotal KIA, died of
wounds and
Noncombat deaths
6,885,100
MIA and POW
4,559,000
Total operational losses
during war
11,444,100
Less:Missing later
Returned to Duty
Less:POWs returned to
USSR
Total irrecoverable
losses (from listed
strength)
(939,700)
(1,836,000)
8,668,400
Starting attack in
Leningrad battlefront
Source of Figures:G. I. Krivosheev. Soviet Casualties and Combat Losses. Greenhill 1997 ISBN 978­1­85367­280­4 Pages 85–97
and G. I. Krivosheev Rossiia i SSSR v voinakh XX veka: Poteri vooruzhennykh sil ; statisticheskoe issledovanie OLMA­Press, 2001
ISBN 5­224­01515­4 page 237
Reconciliation of missing according to Krivosheev
Missing and presumed killed in action
500,000
POW dead
1,283,300
Missing Later Re­conscripted A.
939,700
POW returned to USSR
1,836,000
Total Reported Missing
4,559,000
Soviet prisoners of war
A. Including 180,000 POW who emigrated to other countries
Source of Figures: G. I. Krivosheev. Soviet Casualties and Combat Losses. Greenhill 1997 ISBN 978­1­85367­280­4 Pages 85–97
Krivoshhev wrote According to German sources 673,000 died in captivity. Of the remaining 1,110,300, Soviet sources indicate
that over half also died captivity.[18] He also noted that according to German records on May 1, 1944 823,230 Soviet POW had
been released for service in Germany industry (concentration camps) and 877,980 were held in OKW POW camps. By January
1945 930,287 were held in POW camps and 750,000 were working in Germany industry (concentration camps).[19]
The report of G. I. Krivosheev shows that of all the men serving in the military during the war, there were about 4,559,000
reported missing (including 3,396,400 per field reports and an additional 1,162,600 estimated by Krivosheev), out of which
500,000 were missing and presumed dead, 939,700 were conscripted back into the Soviet army during the war as territories
were being liberated, 1,836,000 returned to the U.S.S.R. after the war, remaining balance of 1,283,300 died in German captivity
as POW or while in German service.[20][21] This does not agree with Krivosheev's figure of 2.5 million POW dead listed in the
revised edition of his study published in 2001.[22] In a 1999 article Krivosheev noted that 2,016,000 POW survived the war, of
which 1,836,000 POWs are known to have returned to the U.S.S.R. after the war and another 180,000 liberated POWs who most
likely emigrated to other countries.[23]
Reconciliation of Soviet Forces 1941­1945 According to Krivosheev
Description
Balance
Red Army & Navy Strength­ June 1941
4,902,000
Drafted during war
29,575,000
Discharged during war
(9,693,000)
Red Army & Navy strength­ June 1945
(12,840,000)
Losses of Conscripted Reservists 1941 not inducted in ranks
(500,000)
Subtotal: Operational Losses
11,444,000
Missing Later Re­conscripted
(940,000)
Liberated POW returned to USSR
(1,836,000)
Total Irrecoverable Losses
8,668,000
Soviet conscripts 1941
Discharged during war of 9,693,000 includes( sent on sick leave 3,798,200; transferred to work in industry, anti­aircraft defense
and armed guards 3,614,600; sent to NKVD troops and organs 1,174,600; transferred to Polish, Czechoslovak and Romanian
armies 250,400; imprisoned 436,600; discharged 206,000; missing in rear areas 212,400)
Red Army & Navy strength­ June 1945 12,840,000 includes (11,390,600 on active service; in hospital 1,046,000; in civilian
departments 403,200)
Source of Figures:G. I. Krivosheev. Soviet Casualties and Combat Losses. Greenhill 1997 ISBN 978­1­85367­280­4 Pages 85–97
Numbers of Wounded & Sick by category
According to records of military medical service
Wounded
Sick
Total
14,685,593
7,641,312
22,326,905
Discharged
(3,050,733)
(747,425)
(3,798,158)
Returned to Duty
(10,530,750) (6,626,493) (17,157,243)
Died (also included in irrecoverable losses)
(1,104,110)
Of these:
(267,394)
Carrying a wounded
soldier on the
Leningrad Front
(1,371,504)
Source of Figures:G. I. Krivosheev. Soviet Casualties and Combat Losses. Greenhill 1997 ISBN 978­1­
85367­280­4 Page 89
Casualties of Soviet Forces 1941­1945 According to
Field Reports
Description
Irrecoverable
Losses
Wounded &
Sick
Total
Losses
1941 3rd Q
2,129,677
687,626
2,817,303
1941 4th Q
1,007,996
648,521
1,656,517
1942 1st Q
675,315
1,179,457
1,854,772
1942 2nd Q
842,898
706,647
1,549,545
1942 3rd Q
1,224,495
1,283,062
2,507,557
1942 4th Q
515,508
941,896
1,457,404
1943 1st Q
726,714
1,425,692
2,152,406
1943 2nd Q
191,904
490,637
682,541
1943 3rd Q
803,856
2,060,805
2,864,661
1943 4th Q
589,955
1,567,940
2,157,895
1944 1st Q
570,761
1,572,742
2,143,503
1944 2nd Q
344,258
965,208
1,309,466
1944 3rd Q
510,790
1,545,442
2,056,232
1944 4th Q
338,082
1,031,358
1,369,440
1945 1st Q
557,521
1,594,635
2,152,156
1945 2nd Q
243,296
618,055
861,351
Campaign in Far East
12,031
24,425
36,456
Subtotal Operational Losses:Army & Navy
11,285,057
18,344,148
29,629,205
Add:Losses Border/Internal Service Troops
159,100
Subtotal:Operational Losses
11,444,100
Less:Missing Later Re­conscripted
(939,700)
Less:Liberated POW returned to USSR
(1,836,000)
Total Irrecoverable Losses
8,668,400
Naked Soviet POWs in
Mauthausen
concentration
camp[24]
Source of Figures:G. I. Krivosheev. Soviet Casualties and Combat Losses. Greenhill 1997 ISBN 978­1­85367­280­4 Pages 85–97
Krivosheev's group estimated losses for the early part of the war, because in the crucial period of 1941­1942 no surrounded or
defeated divisions sent any reports on their casualties, the field reports from that period regarded by military historians as being
unreliable.
Total wounded and sick includes: Wounded 15,205,592; Sick 3,047,675; Frostbite cases 90,881
According to the field reports the number of wounded and sick was 18,344,148, however the records of the military medical
service show a total of 22,326,905. According to Krivosheev the difference can be explained by the fact that the sick and
wounded figures of the medical service include sick personnel who did not take part in the fighting.[25]
Soviet military dead and Missing by nationality (1941–45) According to Krivosheev[26]
Total
Percentage
Russians
5,756,000
66.402%
Ukrainians
1,377,400
15.890%
Belarusians
252,900
2.917%
Tatars
187,700
2.165%
Jews
142,500
1.644%
Kazakhs
125,500
1.448%
Uzbeks
117,900
1.360%
Armenians
83,700
0.966%
Georgians
79,500
0.917%
Others
545,300
6.291%
8,668,000
100.0%
Total
Monument in Israel to
Jewish war dead in
the Soviet Army
Total losses by age group according to Krivosheev
Age Group
Total losses % of total losses
Under 20 years 1,560,000
18%
21­25
1,907,000
22%
26­30
1,517,000
17.5%
31­35
1,430,200
16.5%
36­40
1,040,200
12%
41­45
693,500
8%
46­50
433,400
5%
over 50 years
86,700
1%
All age groups 8,668,400
Khatyn Memorial,
Belarus
100%
Source:G. I. Krivosheev Rossiia i SSSR v voinakh XX veka: Poteri vooruzhennykh sil ; statisticheskoe issledovanie OLMA­Press, 2001
ISBN 5­224­01515­4 (http://lib.ru/MEMUARY/1939­1945/KRIWOSHEEW/poteri.txt#w02.htm­186) Page 236
Criticism of Krivosheev
Krivosheev's analysis has generally been accepted by historians, however his study has been disputed
by some independent researchers in Russia.
The main points of the criticism of Krivosheev are as follows:
POW deaths
German photograph
Krivosheev's analysis puts Soviet military POW dead at 1.283 million,[18] however most estimates by
of Soviet war dead in
Western historians for Soviet prisoners of war deaths is about 3 million out of 5.7 million total POWs in
early 1942
[27][28]
German hands.
Russian researcher Vadim Erlikman puts Soviet military dead at 10.6 million; he
maintains that Soviet military casualties should also include the deaths of an additional estimated 1,500,000 conscripted
reservists captured before being listed on active strength as well as draft age men treated as military POW by Germany, also
about 150,000 militia and 250,000 Soviet partisan dead.[29] However, according to Krivosheev the figure of 3.0 million POW
dead probably includes partisans, militia, and many civilian men of military age taken as POW, they are considered civilian
deaths in his figures.[30] According to S. A. Il’enkov, Krivosheev's analysis obviously conflicts with the Russian Military Archives
database of individual war dead, which still lists over 7 million missing soldiers and sergeants alone, as well as opinions of the
highest ranking Russian officials.[31]
Author/Figures
Number of POWs
Re­Drafted
POW Deaths per Author
Lev Lopukhovsky and
Boris Kavalerchik[32]
5,880,800
Christian Streit
(Germany)[33]
c.5,700,000
2,841,600
3,300,000
Igor Ivlev[34]
7,449,582
5,363,020
Released by Enemy
Fled or Liberated
POW Held by Germany
Jan. 1945
Repatriated
Emigrated
1,023,230
1,000,000
500,000
930,000
1,836,000
180,000
1,836,562
250,000
Lopukhovsky and Kavalerchik dispute Krivoshhev's analysis of POW dead. According to the reconciliation of Krivosheev's
figures by Lopukhovsky and Kavalerchik 4,059,000 were taken as POW, 939,700 were later liberated during the war and
drafted again; 1,836,000 were liberated after the war; 180,000 emigrated after the war, 1,023,230 were released during the
war by the Germans' less (159,000) escaped and 239,100 were dead as POW(5.9%).[35] It should be pointed out that the figure
of 239,100 Soviet POW dead does not appear in Krivoshev's book. This figure was derived by Lopukhovsky and Kavalerchik. In
fact Krivoshhev wrote According to German sources 673,000 died in captivity. Of the remaining 1,110,300, Soviet sources
indicate that over half also died captivity.[18]
Reconciliation of persons conscripted
In 2000 the late Dr. S. N. Mikhalev of the History department of Krasnoyarsk State Pedagogical University[36] published a critical
analysis of the official Russian wartime casualty statistics. From 1989 to 1996 Mikhalev was an associate of the Institute of
Military History of the Ministry of Defence. Mikhalev estimated actual Soviet military war dead at more than 10.9 million persons.
He maintained that the official figures cannot be reconciled to the total men drafted and that POW deaths were
understated. Mikhalev believed that the official figure of 26.6 million war dead should not be regarded as definitive. In 1995
the Russian Academy of Science published his analysis of the demographic balance of the USSR in the war that indicated
total losses ranging from 21.240 million to 25.854 million, with the mid range being 23.568 million total war dead. Mikhalev
pointed out that the figures for total war deaths are based on a range of possible estimates for the pre­war population in 1939
and the population of the annexed territories that are by no means certain.[37]
The following schedule shows the reconciliation of losses of the field reports to the actual number of mobilized
persons[38][39][40]
Description
Balance per Kirvosheev Balance per Mikhalev Difference
Red Army & Navy Strength­ June 1941 ( A.) 4,902,000
4,704,000
(198,000)
Drafted during war ( B.)
29,575,000
29,575,000
0
Discharged during war (C.)
(9,693,000)
(9,693,000)
0
Red Army & Navy strength­ June 1945 (D.) (12,840,000)
(11,999,000)
841,000
conscripted reservists (E.)
(500,000)
0
500,000
Subtotal: Operational Losses
11,444,000
12,587,000
1,143,000
MIA Re­conscripted (F.)
(940,000)
0
940,000
Liberated POW returned to USSR
(1,836,000)
(1,836,000)
0
Losses of NKVD & Border Troops (G.)
0
159,000
159,000
Losses in the Far East August 1945 H.
0
12,000
12,000
Total Irrecoverable Losses
8,668,000
10,922,000
2,254,000
Notes:
A. Strength Red Army June 1941­ Mikhalev excludes Construction troops whose casualties were not included in the field
reports.
B. Drafted during war ­Excludes those drafted twice.
C.Discharged during war­Includes those sent on sick leave, those sent to industry, NKVD or foreign units and 437,000
imprisoned after sentencing
D. Red Army strength June 1945­Mikhalev excludes 403,000 Construction troops whose casualties were not included in the field
reports and 437,000 imprisoned after sentencing already deducted in number of discharged
E.Conscripted reservists captured in 1941 before being listed on active strength. Mikhalev maintains that they were a military
operational losses that should be included with total casualties
F. MIA Re­conscripted were men conscripted back into the Soviet army during the war as territories were being liberated.
Mikhalev maintains that they should not be deducted because were included in the Red Army strength in June 1945 and that
the number conscripted excludes those drafted twice.
G.NKVD & Border Troops ­Mikhalev adds these losses to the total because they were not part of the Red Army balance in June
1945.
H.Losses in the Far East August 1945­ Mikhalev adds these losses to the total because they were not part of the Red Army
balance in June 1945
Russian Military Archives database of individual war dead
The analysis of Krivosheev and Mikhalev is based on the field reports of the Red Army and the reconciliation of the balance for
persons conscripted. An alternative method to determine Soviet war losses is the Russian Military Archives database of
individual war dead. S. A. Il’enkov, an official of the Central Archives of the Russian Ministry of Defense writing in the Journal of
Slavic Military Studies, maintained that "complex military situation at the front did not always allow for the conduct of a full
accounting of losses." He pointed out that reports from the field units did not include deaths in rear area hospitals of wounded
personnel. Il’enkov maintains that the information in the Russian Military Archives alphabetical card­indexes can assist in
solving the problem of determining the total number of Soviet military war dead.[31] In an article published by the Central
Archives of the Russian Ministry of Defense Il’enkov described the work of the archives to reconcile database of individual war
dead. He believes the work has progressed to the point where we can determine an accurate accounting of war losses.
Il’enkov concluded by stating "We established the number of irreplaceable losses of our Armed Forces at the time of the
Great Patriotic War of about 13,850,000.[41] A more recent compilation made in March 2008 of the individuals listed in the card
files puts total dead and missing at 14,241,000 (13,271,269 enlisted men and 970,000 officers)[42] This database is incomplete
and does not include all men killed in the war; currently graves registration teams in Russia are identifying war dead that are
not currently included in the database.[43]
Historical revisionism in Russia
Some researchers in Russia dispute the official figures of 8.7 million military dead and the total population loss of 26.6 million.
These critics base their arguments on their own analysis of documents in the Soviet archives and on alternative demographic
models of the Soviet population during the Stalin era. They maintain that the Russian government should conduct new
investigations on losses suffered in the war.
Mark Solonin Russian author Mark Solonin maintains that Soviet military losses were understated by Krivoshev to cover up
casualties that were three to four times greater than those of Germany. Solonin also believes current Russian official
sources that list deaths of 13.7 million civilians due to the German occupation also include victims of Stalinist repression. He
points out that the current figures for civilian war dead are taken from sources published in the Soviet era. Overall Solonin
estimates Soviet war losses were somewhat under 20 million. Military dead were at least 10.7 million,[44] however in
addition Solonin states 2.18 million soldiers are simply unaccounted for; while he assumes half of these died, some may
have deserted or emigrated but a higher death toll is certainly possible; Solonin estimates 5­6 million civilians were killed by
the fascist occupiers (including 2.83 million Jews) and over 1 million civilians perished in the Siege of Leningrad and in
destroyed Stalingrad; In addition to these war related deaths Solonin maintains that 6­9 million Soviet citizens were victims
of Stalin's repressions, in contemporary Russian official sources they are included with civilian war dead.[45]
Viktor Zemskov Russian scholar Viktor Zemskov disputes the official figures, he maintains that the total demographic
population loss due to the war was 20 million persons, including 16 million direct losses and 4 million deaths due to the
deterioration in the living conditions of wartime. According to Victor Zemskov the figure issued by the Russian Academy of
Science of 26.6 million total war dead includes about 7 million deaths due to natural causes based on the mortality rate
that prevailed before the war. Zemskov maintains that the figure 8.7 million military dead issued by Krivosheev was in fact
false. Zemskov believes that actual military dead were 11.5 million persons including nearly 4 million prisoners of war.
Zmeskov maintains that the figure of 6.8 million civilian deaths in the occupied regions issued by the government's
Extraordinary State Commission was overstated because they included persons who were evacuated to the rear areas.
He maintains that the correct total is 4.5 million civilians who were victims of the Nazis or killed in the fighting in the area
under German occupation. Zemskov also believes that the government figure of 2.1 million civilian deaths due to forced
labor in Germany is not correct based on German wartime records that put the actual deaths of forced workers at
200,000.[46][47]
Washed in Blood A study published in Russia (Umylis krovu, Washed in Blood) by Igor Pykhalov; L. N. Lopukhovskiĭ; Viktor
Zemskov; Igor Ivlev and Boris Kavalerchik has disputed the official figures for Soviet war casualties, they maintain the
actual losses 2 — 2.5 times more than of Krivosheev's figure of 8.7 million.[48] Igor Ivlev, director of Archangelsk­city State
Social Memorial Center "Poisk", based on his analysis of documentation from the Soviet era puts total Soviet losses in the
war at 38.5 million persons including military dead of 20.58 million and 18 million civilians. Ivlev's calculations are presented
on the internet site which he hosts www.soldat.ru.[48] He maintains that the official figures are understated and that the
Russian government should conduct new investigations on war losses. The data was based on death or missed in action
notifications, unclaimed personal bank deposits, front and rear hospital reports, Communist Party and Young Communist
League membership files, the 1946 Soviet electorate population and the gap between men and women prior and after
the War. These sources reveal military losses exceeding those of Krivosheev's report by 2 — 2.5 times. The main points of
Igor Ivlev's analysis are as follows:.[48] The total demographic losses of the Soviet male population capable for military
service is 20,580,000. A reconciliation of men drafted indicates 19.4 to 19.7 million dead and missing military personnel. The
card files in the Russian Archives contains the names of 16.7 million dead and missing, in addition Ivlev maintains that 1.75
million missing and 1.0 to 1.2 million who died of wounds in rear area hospitals are not included in the Russian archives
card files. According to Ivlev's analysis the list of Soviet electorate voters for February 10, 1946 indicates a gap of 22.7
million males. According to Ivlev the personal records of those soldiers drafted before and during the war were reportedly
destroyed under a secret order of the Soviet Defense Ministry soon after Stalin’s death in 1953 and most war draft related
documents are still classified.
According to Ivlev there were 38.5 million war dead ( 20.5 million military; 6.7 million civilians murdered by the Nazis, 2.7
million civilians killed by work in Germany and 8.5 million civilians who died of Death by natural causes ) Ivlev's figures were
published in "Military History Archive", 2012, № 9, p. 41­58, Available online[49] In Ivlev's analysis 8.5 million persons in the ADK
figures who hypothetically would have died in the war due to natural causes were actually war dead. Ivlev maintains that
the 11.9 million natural deaths were arbitrarily subtracted by Andrev, Darski and Kharkova (ADK) and that this deduction
from the total is a "trick" to lower the figure of war dead.
Lev Lopukhovsky and Boris Kavalerchik – Russian military historians Lev Lopukhovsky and Boris Kavalerchik maintain
Krivosheev's understatement of military casualties and their transfer to civilian losses as "ingratitude and blasphemy over
their cherished memory." They condemn what they consider the deliberate reduction of the losses of the armed forces of
the Soviet Union by Krivosheev, they have demanded that the Russian government conduct new investigations on losses
suffered in the war.[50] According to Lev Lopukhovsky and Boris Kavalerchik Krivosheev's group kept maintaining: no
reports — no losses. And in the most crucial period of 1941­1942 no surrounded or defeated units sent any reports on their
casualties. They simply disappeared with their servicemen, arms, documents and the banner. Krivosheev's analysis also
ignored reinforcements that often outnumbered the initial personnel of a unit. As a result, the real irrecoverable casualties
of the North­Western Front in 1941, for example, are 2.8 times bigger, than in Krivisheev's book (507,703 : 182,264).[51]
Krivosheev adds only 1,162,600 dead to compensate for "no reports" situation of 1941 and his irrecoverable losses for 1941
diminish the official Soviet figures for that year by 2.16 million:[52] from 5,300,000 to 3.137.673 (but he maintains 6.3 million
firearms were lost). In Moscow winter offensive his irrecoverable Soviet casualties and lost firearms stand at 1 : 7.9.[53] There
are official Soviet figures of military casualties in 1941, i.e. 5.3 million dead, captured and missing.[54] Later general
Krivosheev diminished them by more than two million to 3,137,673; he maintains that they were civilians taken as POW by
the Germans.[55]The Extraordinary State Commission has revealed 3,912,283 Soviet POWs killed by the Germans in the USSR
alone,[56]
Boris Sokolov – In 1996 Boris Sokolov a Russian academic published a study that estimated total war dead at 43.3 million
including 26.4 million in the military. Sokolov’s own calculations show that the official figures for population in 1941 to be
understated by 12.7 million and the population in 1946 to be overstated by 4.0 million, thus resulting in 16.7 million
additional war dead bringing the total to 43.3 million.[57] Sokolov's analysis of Soviet war losses has been published in the
Journal of Slavic Military Studies.[9][58] The Russian demographer Dr. L. L. Rybakovsky dismissed these hypothetical
calculations and believes they are not based on sound judgment.[59]
V. E. Korol – Writing in the Journal of Slavic Military Studies, V. E. Korol estimated overall Soviet war dead at 46 million
persons including military dead of 23 million. He maintains that the official figure of 8.7 million military war dead was
“groundless”, based on the actual accounts, cited by Korol, of the individual battles on the eastern front. Korol maintains
that these solid sources are more than sufficient, and it is practically impossible to refute them. V. E. Korol believes that the
official figures of Krivosheev are an attempt to cover up the disregard for human life by the military leaders under Stalin’s
totalitarian system. Korol cites Soviet authors writing during the Glasnost era that put wartime losses much higher than the
official figures; In 1990 General I. A. Gerasimov published information from the Russian Military Archives database of
individual war dead and missing that put losses at 16.2 million enlisted men and 1.2 million officers. Krol also cited historian­
archivist Iu. Geller who put total Soviet war dead at losses at 46 million including military dead of 23 million.[8] and A.N.
Mertsalov writing in the Journal Voprosy Istorii(Questions of History) estimating 14 million military dead based on documents
in the Russian Military Archives.[60][61]
Hypothetical population loss for children unborn due to the war – Some Russian writers have argued that war losses should
also include the hypothetical population loss for children unborn due to the war; using this methodology total losses would
be about 46 million.[62]
Total number of male war dead
The study by Andreev, Darski and Karkova (ADK) put total Soviet population war losses at 26.6 million. The authors did not
dispute Krivoshev's report of 8.7 million military dead, however according to the (ADK) study total war deaths were 20.1 million
males and 6.6 million females, a difference of 13.5 million more males. In mid­1941 there were 8.3 million more females in the
Soviet population; by 1946 this gap was 22.8 million more females than males, an increase of 13.5 million.[2][63]
Rebuttal by Krivosheev
In 2002 G.F. Krivosheev, author of the 1993 official study of military casualties, defended the results of his report that found
8.668 million military war dead. Krivosheev maintains that the figures were derived in a scientific manner by a team of
professional researchers who had access to the military archives. He also maintains that the results of the study reflect a
realistic view of casualties based on the military operational situation during the war. Krivosheev believes that the Central
Archives data base of individual war dead is not reliable because some personnel records are duplicated and others
omitted.[64]
Civilian losses
In 1995 a paper published by the Russian Academy of Science M. V. Philimoshin put the civilian death
toll in the regions occupied by Germany at 13.7 million. Philimoshin cited sources from Soviet era to
support his figures, he used the terms "genocide" and "premeditated extermination" when referring to
deaths of 7.4 million civilians in the occupied USSR caused by the direct, intentional actions of
violence. Civilians killed in reprisals during the Soviet partisan war account for a major part of the
huge toll.[65] The report of Philimoshin lists the deaths of civilian forced laborers in Germany totaling
2,164,313. G. I. Krivosheev in the report on military casualties gives a total of 1,283,000 POW dead. The
total of these two figures is 3,447,613, which is in close agreement with estimates by western historians
of over 3 million deaths of prisoners in German captivity. In the occupied regions Nazi Germany had a
policy of forced confiscation of food that resulted in the famine deaths of an estimated 6% of the
population, 4.1 million persons.[66]
Executed partisan,
Minsk
Soviet civilian war dead estimated by Russian Academy of Science[67][68][69]
Deaths caused by the
result of direct, intentional
actions of violence
7,420,379 [70]
Deaths of forced laborers
in Germany
2,164,313[70]
Deaths due to famine
and disease in the
occupied regions
4,100,000[71]
Total
Tanya Savicheva diary
13,684,692
According to M. V. Philimoshin there were in addition to the above losses civilian deaths during the Siege of Leningrad; 641,000
due to starvation and 17,000 killed by artillery fire. Also these figures do not include an additional 451,100 persons who did not
return to the USSR after 1946.[72]
Source: The figures for civilian losses are taken from a report published by the Russian Academy of Science Human Losses of
the USSR in the Period of WWII: Collection of Articles (In Russian). Saint­Petersburg, 1995. ISBN 978­5­86789­023­0 ­M. V.
Philimoshin of the War Ministry of the Russian Federation About the results of calculation of losses among civilian population of
the USSR and Russian Federation 1941­1945 Pages 124­131
Russian sources generally include Jewish Holocaust deaths with total civilian dead. Martin Gilbert puts Jewish losses at one
million within the borders of 1939; Holocaust deaths in the annexed territories there were an additional 1.5 million deaths
bringing the total Jewish losses in Soviet territory to 2.5 million.[73]
Soviet civilian losses include deaths in the siege of Leningrad. David Glantz has noted that Soviet era sources put the
number of dead in the Siege of Leningrad at “greater than 800,000” and that a Russian source from 2000 put the number
of dead at 1,000,000.[74] However, other Russian historians have put the death toll in the siege of Leningrad at between 1.4
and 2.0 million persons.[75]
These figures are for the regions of the USSR occupied by Germany with a population of about 70 million persons.[65]
These casualties are for 1941­1945 within the 1946­1991 borders of the USSR.[1] Included with civilian losses are deaths in the
territories annexed by the USSR in 1939­1940 including 600,000 in the Baltic states[29] and 1,500,000 in Eastern Poland.[76]
In addition to the losses listed above an estimated 2.5 to 3.2 million civilians died due to famine and disease in non­
occupied territory of the USSR which was caused by wartime shortages in the rear areas.[77]
Documents from the Soviet archives list the total deaths of prisoners in the Gulag from 1941 to 1945 at 621,637. In the 1995
Report by the Russian Academy of Science V.N. Zemskov noted "due to general difficulties in 1941­1945 in the camps, the
GULAG and prisons about 1.0 million prisoners died[78]
These figures do not include an additional 622,000 persons who did not return to the USSR after 1946 according to the 1993
Russian Academy of Science report on total war losses by E.M. Andreev[79]
Mark Solonin, in his book Screwing the Brains: the False History of the Great War, proposes that the figures of civilian
casualties were deliberately inflated in order to hide the number of Stalin's own victims ­ the same people whose absence
caused the banning of the results of the 1937 Soviet census, as well as those who died in the following war­free years. His
own estimates of civilian casualties are 5­6 million killed by Germans (including the Holocaust victims) and over a million
people who died during the sieges of Leningrad and Stalingrad. The attitude of the Germans toward the non­Jewish
Soviet population, as he states, while cruel, was pragmatical and thus not genocidal (exceptions happened, but not as a
general policy). Also, he claims that the Soviet documents for civilian casualties per republic are inconsistent with the
populations of said republics, unless one assumes the soldiers who died while held in camps upon that territory are
included.[80]
Total population losses
Studies by E.M. Andreev, L.E. Darski and T. L. Kharkova (ADK)
Population of the Soviet Union 1922–91
Russian demographers E.M. Andreev, L.E. Darski and T. L. Kharkova (ADK) authored a study, The
Population of the Soviet Union 1922­1991, which was published by the Russian Academy of Science in
1993. Since 1970 in the Soviet Union, Andreev worked in the Department of Demography Research
Institute of the Central Statistical Bureau the (now the Research Institute of Statistics of Federal State
Statistical Service of Russia ). The (ADK) study estimated total Soviet population losses of 26.6 million in
the war. This is the current official Russian government figure for total losses.[1] These losses are a
demographic estimate of excess deaths, not an exact accounting of losses. The main areas of
uncertainty when calculating losses were the estimated figures for increase in the Soviet population in
the territories annexed from 1939–1945 and the loss of population due to emigration during and after
the war. The figures also include victims of Soviet repression as well as the deaths of Soviet citizens in
German military service.[81] Michael Haynes has noted that "We do not know the total number of
deaths as a result of the war and related policies". We do know that the demographic estimate of
excess deaths was 26.6 million plus an additional 11.9 million natural deaths of persons born before
the war and 4.2 million children born during the war that would have occurred in peacetime, bringing
the total dead to 42.7 million. At this time the actual total number of deaths caused by the war is
unknown since among the 16.1 million "natural deaths" some would have died peacefully and others
as a result of the war.[4]
Volkovo cemetery,
Leningrad 1942
Men hanged as
partisans somewhere
in the Soviet Union
Total Soviet losses by demographic balance (1941–45) per (ADK)
Population in June 1941
196,700,000
Births during war
12,300,000
Death by natural causes during war of those alive
before war
(11,900,000)
War related deaths of those alive before war
(25,300,000)
War related deaths of those born during war
(1,300,000)
Total population Jan. 1, 1946
170,500,000
Source:E.M. Andreev, L.E. Darski and T. L. Kharkova (ADK) Naselenie Sovetskogo Soiuza, 1922–1991. Moscow, Nauka, 1993,
Andreev EM; Darsky LE; Kharkova TL, Population dynamics: consequences of regular and irregular changes. in Demographic
Trends and Patterns in the Soviet Union Before 1991. Routledge. 1993. ISBN 0415101948
Notes:
1­Births and natural deaths during war are rough estimates since no accurate records were kept for vital statistics.
2­Figures do not include an estimated 20 million children that were not born during war.
3­According to Michael Haynes at this time the actual total number of deaths caused by the war is unknown since among the
deaths by natural causes some would have died peacefully and others as a result of the war.[4]
3­ ADK points out that the beginning population in 1941 and at the ending population at 1/1/1946 are rough estimates since
figures for the territories annexed in 1939­1940 and emigration from the USSR during the war are based fragmentary
information.
Total War Deaths by Age Group and Gender
Age
Group
Mid
1941–
Males
(millions)
1941–45
Male
War
Deaths
(millions)
%
Age
Group
Mid
1941–
Females
(millions)
1941–45
Female
War
Deaths
(millions)
%
Age
Group
Mid 1941–
Total
Population
(millions)
1941–45
Total
War
Deaths
(millions)
%
Age
Group
Excess Male
Deaths(Millions)
0­14
27.879
1.425
5.1%
27.984
1.398
5.0%
55.863
2.823
5.1%
.027
15­19
11.092
1.064
9.6%
11.220
0.340
3.0%
22.312
1.404
6.3%
.723
20­34
24.948
9.005
36.1%
26.330
2.663
10.1%
51.278
11.668
22.8%
6.342
35­49
18.497
6.139
33.2%
20.236
781
3.9%
38.733
6.920
17.9%
5.358
Over 49 11.999
2.418
20.2%
16.976
1.380
8.1%
28.975
3.798
13.1%
1.038
All Age
94.415
Groups
20.051
21.2%
102.746
6.562
6.4%
197.161
26.613
13.5%
13.489
Source:Andreev, EM, et al., Naselenie Sovetskogo Soiuza, 1922–1991. Moscow, Nauka, 1993. ISBN 978­5­02­013479­9 Page 78
(Population of the Soviet Union 1922­1991 Russian Academy of Science), Andreev EM; Darsky LE; Kharkova TL, Population
dynamics: consequences of regular and irregular changes. in Demographic Trends and Patterns in the Soviet Union Before
1991. Routledge. 1993. ISBN 0415101948
Remarks:
Age Group 0­14­ The deaths of 2.8 million children was due primarily to the famine and disease caused by the war.
Age Group 15­19 The excess deaths of 724,000 males compared to females was due primarily to military losses. The draft age
in the USSR was 18 during the war.
Age Group 20­34 The excess deaths of 6,342,000 males compared to females was due primarily to military losses. The deaths of
2,663,000 women is an indication that women were also involved in the partisan war and became victims of Nazi reprisals.
Age Group 35­49 The excess deaths of 5,358,000 males compared to females was due primarily to military losses.
Age Group over 49 The excess deaths of 1,038,000 males compared to females was due primarily to military losses. Some men
from the older age group did serve in the Armed Forces. They were involved in the partisan war and became victims of Nazi
reprisals.
All Age Groups­ The excess deaths of 13,489,000 males compared to females was due primarily to military losses with the
regular forces as well the partisan forces. The figures are a clear indication that many Soviet civilians died in the war as a result
of Nazi reprisals as well as famine and disease caused by wartime shortages which took a large toll.
B. Analysis of the voters lists in 1946 Soviet election
Andreev, Darski and Kharkova (ADK) published a study, The Demographic History of Russia 1927–1959, which analyzed the
voters in the February 1946 Soviet election in order to estimate the surviving population over the age of 18 at the end of the
war. The population under 18 was estimated based on the results of the 1959 census. The official total for the 1946 election
listed 101.7 million registered voters, the actual number of voters was 94.0 million, 7.7 million less than the expected figure.
(ADK) maintains that the official results of the 1946 election are not an accurate source for the determination of the
population. According to (ADK) the actual total of expected voters should be increased by 10.5 million because the roll of
voters excluded persons deprived of their rights, in prison or in exile, (ADK) maintains that many young men in military service
did not participate in the election, they also noted that there was an overestimation of women in rural areas without internal
passports who sought to avoid compulsory heavy labor. Included in the actual number of voters of 94.0 million persons there
are 29.9 million more women,however in the total of expected voters estimated by (ADK) the gap between males and
females is 21.4 million, which correlates with 20.7 million gap revealed by the census of 1959. The prewar population of 1939
(including the annexed territories) had a gap of 7.9 million more females, the analysis of the 1946 voters lists by (ADK) indicates
that the gap had increased by about 13.5 million.[82][83]
Alternative sources of demographic losses
According to the Russian demographer L. L. Rybakovsky there are a wide range of estimates for total war dead by Russian
scholars. He estimated the actual population in 1941 at 196.7 million and losses at 27­28 million. Rybakovsky cites figures of total
war dead that range from 21.7 million up to 46 million. Rybakovsky points out that the variables that are used to compute
losses are by no means certain and are currently disputed by historians in Russia. Estimates for the population in mid 1941
range from 191.8 million up to 200.1 million; the figures for the surviving population at the end of 1945 range from 167.0 million
up to 170.6 million. Based on the birth rate prior to the war there is a population shortfall of about 20 million births in 1946, some
would have been born but died during the war and the balance were never born. The figures for the number of children born
during the war who did not survive as well as those unborn are rough estimates. Estimates for the population of the territories
annexed by the Soviet Union in 1939­45 range from 17 to 23 million persons. [84]
L. L. Rybakovsky has provided a list of the various estimates of Soviet war losses by Russian scholars since 1988.[84]
Estimates of the casualties of the Soviet Union in World War II
Author of Estimate
Total war dead
A. Kvasha (1988)
26­27 million
A. Samsonov (1988)
26­27 million
Yu. Polyakov (1989)
26­27 million
L.L. Rybakovsky (1989)
27­28 million
I. Kurganov (1990)
44 million
S. Ivanov (1990)
46 million
E. M. Andreev (1990)
26.6 million (A.)
A. Samsonov (1991)
26­27 million
A. Shevyakov (1991)
27.7 million
A. Shevyakov (1992)
29.5 million
V. Eliseev, S. Mikhalev (1992)
21.8 million
A. Sokolov (1995)
21.7­23.7 million
Boris Sokolov (1998)
43.3 million
A. Currently the figure used by Russian government sources.
Estimated losses of each Soviet Republic
Estimates by former republics of the Soviet Union
The contemporary nations that were part of the former Soviet Union dispute the official military casualties published by
Krivosheev and are proud of their sacrifices as being the dearest contribution to the common victory. In a live broadcast of
December 16, 2010 "A Conversation with Vladimir Putin" the then Prime Minister of Russia maintained that the Russian
Federation had suffered the greatest losses in World War II — 70 per cent of the total.[85] Official estimates by the former
republics of the USSR claim military casualties exceeding those of Krivosheev's report by 3.5 times. It is claimed by the website
sovsekretno.ru that there are no Memory Books published in the USSR, Russia and the other contemporary republics in 80s and
90s listing casualties of 25 per cent of the draft or less, but there are many Memory Books with 50 per cent and more with some
telling us of 70, 75, 76 and up to 79 per cent mortality rate among the conscripted.[86]
(A) The Ukrainian authorities and historians ardently dispute these figures. They put the military casualties alone may be
estimated as exceeding 7 million, according to the final volume of the Ukrainian Book "In the memory of posterity" and
research of V. E. Korol, writes an American (former Soviet) Doctor of History Vilen Lyulechnik.[87] Former President of Ukraine
Victor Yanukovych maintains that Ukraine has lost more than 10 million lives during the Second World War.[88] The military
casualties alone may be estimated as exceeding 7 million, according to the final volume of the Ukrainian Book "In the memory
of posterity" and research of V. E. Korol, writes an American (former Soviet) Doctor of History Vilen Lyulechnik.[87]
(B) According to a Belorussian military historian, Doctor of History, professor V.Lemeshonok, the Belorussian military casualties,
including partisans and underground group members, exceed 682,291.[89]
(C) The Memory Book of Tatarstan Government contains names of about 350,000 inhabitants of the republic, mostly tatars.[90]
(D) An Israeli historian Itskhak Arad maintains that about 200,000 Soviet Jews or 40 per cent of all draft were killed in battles or
captivity — the highest percentage of all nations of the USSR.[91]
(E) Kazakhstan estimates its military casualties at 601,029.[92]
(F) Armenians estimate their military casualties at over 300,000.[93]
(G) Georgians also estimate their military casualties at over 300,000.[94]
(I) Among the others Azerbaidzhans claim military casualties of 300,000,[95] Bashkirs of about 300,000,[96] Mordvas of 130,000
and Chuvashes of 106,470.[92] But one of the most tragic figures comes from a Far Eastern republic of Yakutia and its small
nation. 37,965 citizens, mostly Yakuts, or 60.74 per cent of 62,509 drafted have not returned home with 7,000 regarded missing.
About 69,000 died of severe famine in the republic. This nation could not restore its population even under 1959
census.[97][98][99] The record breaking estimates of 700,000 military casualties out of a total 1,25 million Turkmenian citizens (with
slightly less than 60 per cent being Turkmens) are attributed to the late President of Turkmenistan Saparmurat Niyazov.
Historians do not regard them trustworthy.[100]
The casualties of each Soviet Republic estimated by Vadim Erlikman
Erlikman pegs total war deaths at 10.7 million, exceeding Krivosheev's 8.7 million by an extra two million. This extra two million
would presumably include Soviet POWs that died in Nazi captivity, partisans, and those who fought on the side of the Axis (for
example, Moldova was a part of Romania at the time).
Soviet Republic
Population 1940
Military Dead
Civilian Dead
Total
Deaths as % 1940 Pop.
Armenia
1,320,000
150,000
30,000
180,000
13.6%
Azerbaijan
3,270,000
210,000
90,000
300,000
9.1%
Belarus
9,050,000
620,000
1,670,000
2,290,000
25.3%
Estonia
1,050,000
30,000
50,000
80,000
7.6%
Georgia
3,610,000
190,000
110,000
300,000
8.3%
Kazakhstan
6,150,000
310,000
350,000
660,000
10.7%
Kyrgyzstan
1,530,000
70,000
50,000
120,000
7.8%
Latvia
1,890,000
30,000
230,000
260,000
13.7%
Lithuania
2,930,000
25,000
350,000
375,000
12.7%
Moldova
2,470,000
50,000
120,000
170,000
6.9%
Russia
110,100,000
6,750,000
7,200,000 13,950,000
12.7% (A)
Tajikistan
1,530,000
50,000
70,000
120,000
7.8%
Turkmenistan
1,300,000
70,000
30,000
100,000
7.7%
Uzbekistan
6,550,000
330,000
220,000
550,000
8.4%
Ukraine
41,340,000
1,650,000
5,200,000
6,850,000
16.3% (B)
Unidentified
­
165,000
130,000
295,000
Total USSR
194,090,000
10,700,000
15,900,000 26,600,000
13.7%
The source of the figures on the table is Vadim Erlikman. Poteri narodonaseleniia v XX veke : spravochnik. Moscow 2004.
ISBN 5­93165­107­1 pp. 23–35 Erlikman notes that these figures are his estimates. This table includes civilian losses in
Transcaucasian and Central Asian republics due to famine and disease caused by wartime shortfalls estimated by Vadim
Erlikman.
OBD Memorial database of Soviet war dead
The names of Soviet war dead are presented at the OBD (Central Data Bank) Memorial database online.[101]
Tomb of the unknown
soldier in Voronezh
Causes
The Red Army suffered catastrophic losses of men and equipment during the first months of the German invasion.,[11][102] In
the spring of 1941 Stalin ignored the warnings of his intelligence services of a planned German invasion and refused to put the
Armed forces on alert. The bulk of the Soviet combat units were deployed in the border regions in a lower state of readiness. In
the face of the German onslaught the Soviet forces were caught by surprise. Large numbers of Soviet soldiers were captured
and many perished due to the brutal mistreatment of POWs by the Nazis[103] U.S. Army historians
maintain the high Soviet losses can be attributed to 'less efficient medical services and the Soviet
tactics, which throughout the war tended to be expensive in terms of human life"[104]
Russian scholars attribute the high civilian death toll to the Nazi Generalplan Ost which treated the
Soviet people as "subhumans", they use the terms "genocide" and "premeditated extermination"
when referring to civilian losses in the occupied USSR.[105] German occupation policies implemented
under the Hunger Plan resulted in the confiscation of food stocks which resulted in famine in the
occupied regions. During the Soviet era the partisan campaign behind the lines was portrayed as the
struggle of the local population against the German occupation.[106] To suppress the partisan units
the Nazi occupation forces engaged in a campaign of brutal reprisals against innocent civilians.
Historian Albert Seaton maintains that the Soviet government's " disregard for life and its contempt for
any form of humanity and decency was one of the decisive factors in recruiting and control of the
partisan movement". According to Seaton the local population was coerced by the Soviet led
partisans to support their campaign which led to the reprisals.[107] The extensive fighting destroyed
agricultural land, infrastructure, and whole towns, leaving much of the population homeless and
without food. During the war Soviet civilians were taken to Germany as forced laborers under
inhuman conditions.[108][109]
Soviet prisoners of war
held in German camp
Citizens of Leningrad
leaving their houses
destroyed by German
bombing
The estimates and their sources
Estimates for Soviet losses in the Second World War range from 7 million to over 43 million.[110] During the Communist era in the
Soviet Union historical writing about World War II was subject to censorship and only official approved statistical data was
published. In the USSR during the Glasnost period under Gorbachev and in post communist Russia the casualties in World War II
were re­evaluated and the official figures revised.
Official Soviet era estimates made 1946 to 1987
Joseph Stalin in March 1946 stated that Soviet war losses were 7 million dead. This was to be the official figure until the
Khrushchev era.[81] In November 1961 Nikita Khrushchev stated that Soviet war losses were 20 million, this was to be the official
figure until the Gorbachev era of Glasnost.[81][111] Leonid Brezhnev in 1965 put the Soviet death toll in the war at “more than 20
million”[112] Ivan Konev at in a May 1965 Soviet Ministry of Defense press conference stated that Soviet military dead in World
War II were 10 million.[113] In 1971 the Soviet demographer Boris Urlanis put losses at 20 million including 6,074,000 civilians and
3,912,000 prisoners of war killed by Nazi Germany, military dead were put at 10 million[114]
Period of Glasnost 1988 to 1992
During the period of Glasnost the official figure of 20 million war dead was challenged by Soviet scholars. In 1988­1989
estimates of 26 to 28 million total war dead appeared in the Soviet press.[110] The Russian scholar Dmitri Volkogonov writing at
this time estimated total war deaths at 26­27,000,000 including 10,000,000 in the military[115] In March 1989 Mikhail Gorbachev
set up a committee to investigate Soviet losses in the war. In a May 1990 speech Gorbachev gave the figure for total Soviet
losses at "almost 27 million". This revised figure was the result of research by the committee set up by Gorbachev that
estimated total war dead at between 26 and 27 million.[81] In January 1990 M.A. Moiseev Chief of the General Staff of the
Soviet Armed Forces disclosed for the first time in an interview that Soviet military war dead totaled 8,668,400.[116]
From 1942­1946 the Soviet Extraordinary State Commission collected information on Nazi crimes in the USSR. The reports of the
Commission detailing the number of civilian deaths were kept secret until the collapse of the USSR. In 1991 the Russian scholar
A.A. Shevyakov published an article with summary of civilian losses based on the reports of this commission, civilian dead were
given as 17.7 million[117] In a second article in 1992 A.A. Shevyakov gave a figure of 20.8 million[118] civilian dead, no
explanation for the difference was given.[81][119][120]
Figures released in Russia 1993–95
In 1993 the Russian Ministry of Defense published a study by Krivosheev that gave a detailed accounting of Soviet military
losses for the campaigns in the war, total Soviet military dead and missing were put at 8,668,400. These figures were based on
an official report of the Soviet General Staff from 1966­1968 that was previously classified secret.[16][17] A report published by
the Russian Academy of Science in 1993 estimated that the total Soviet population losses were 26.6 million. This is a current
official figure for total losses in the war.[1][81] In 1995 the Russian Academy of Science published an article that analyzed Soviet
civilian losses in the war. They estimated civilian deaths in the German occupied USSR at 13.7 million, which includes 7.4 million
victims of Nazi genocide and reprisals; 2.2 million deaths of persons deported to Germany for forced labor; and 4.1 million
famine and disease deaths in occupied territory. They also estimated an additional 3 million deaths due to famine and
disease in the regions not occupied by Germany[121]
Estimates by Russians published in the West 1950–83
In 1949 a Soviet Colonel Kalinov defected to the west, he published a book claiming that Soviet records indicated the military
loss of 13.6 million men including 2.6 million POW dead.[122][123][124] Sergei Maksudov a Russian demographer living in the west
estimated Soviet war losses at between 24.5 and 27.4 million, including 7.5 million military dead.[81][125][126] The Soviet
mathematician Iosif G. Dyadkin published a study in the United States that estimated the total Soviet population losses from
1939–1945 due to the war and political repression at 30 million. Dyadkin was imprisoned for publishing this study in the west.[127]
Estimates of Soviet war dead by Western scholars
Historians writing outside of the Soviet Union and Russia have evaluated the various Russian language sources and have
offered their estimates of Soviet war dead. Here is a listing of estimates by recognized scholars published in the West.
Source
Lorimer(1946),[128][129]
Military Dead
Civilian Dead
Total Dead
5,000,000
15,000,000
20,000,000
Pierre George (1946)[130]
7,000,000
10,000,000
17,000,000
N. S. Timasheff(1948),[131]
7,000,000
18,300,000
25,300,000
Helmut Arntz (1953)[132][133]
13,600,000
7,000,000
20,000,000+
Jean­Noël Biraben(1958)[134]
8,000,000
6,700,000
14,700,000
Warren W. Eason(1959)[135][136]
10,000,000
15,000,000
25,000,000
E. Ziemke(1968)[104]
more than
12,000,000
Albert Seaton(1971)[137]
10,000,000
Gil Elliot (1972)[138]
10,000,000
10,000,000
20,000,000
Frank
Charles
Messenger(1989)[139]
20,000,000
John Keegan(1989)[140]
7,000,000
7,000,000
14,000,000
R. J. Rummel (1990)[141]
7,000,000
12,250,000
19,625,000 plus 10,000,000 due to Soviet
repression
John Ellis(1993)[142]
11,000,000
6,700,000
17,700,000
Michael Ellman and Sergei
Maksudov(1994) [81]
8,700,000
18,000,000
26­27,000,000
Norman Davies(1998)[143]
8­9,000,000
16­19,000,000
24­28,000,000
Richard Overy(1997)[144]
8,668,400
17,000,000
25,000,000
Mark Mazower(1998)[145]
9,500,000
10,000,000
19,500,000
David Wallechinsky(1995)[146]
13,600,000
20­26,000,000
Michael Clodfelter (2002)[147]
8,668,400
20­26,000,000
Michael Haynes (2003) [148]
8,700,000
Martin Gilbert(2004)[149]
10,000,000 KIA
&
7,000,000
3,300,000 POW
20,000,000+
H. P. Willmott (2004)[150]
8,700,000
16,900,000
25,600,000
Tony Judt (2005)[151]
8,600,000
16,000,000
24,600,000
Norman Davies(2006)[152]
8,668,000
18,332,000
27,000,000
Cambridge History of
Russia(2006)[153]
8.7 million +
13.7 million in Nazi
occupied USSR
24­26 million
and 2.6 million in interior
USSR
Steven Rosefielde(2010)[154]
8,700,000 "all
causes"
"17.7 or 20.3 million"
17,900,000
26,600,000
"26.4 to 29 million" plus 5.458 million dead due to
Soviet repression
David Glantz maintains that “ the war with Nazi Germany cost the Soviet Union at least 29 million military casualties”(dead,
wounded and sick) “ The exact numbers can never be established, and some revisionists have attempted to put the
number as high as 50 million”[155]
Richard Overy believes the figures for military dead published in 1993... give the fullest account yet available, but they
omit three operations that were clear failures. The official figures themselves must be viewed critically, given the difficulty
of knowing in the chaos of 1941 and 1942 exactly who had been killed, wounded or even conscripted"[156] Regarding
military dead Richard Overy believes that "for the present the figure of 8.6 million must be regarded as the most
reliable"[157]
Norman Davies points out that not all Soviet war dead were killed by the Nazis; many perished due to Soviet repression.
Davies notes It lies in the nature of the problem that the victims of Soviet wartime repressions cannot be easily quantified.
The records of the victorious Soviets, unlike those of the defeated Nazis have never been opened for scrutiny. Whether the
fraction of Soviet civilians who perished at the hands of their own régime was one quarter, one third or even one half of
the whole will never be firmly established until the Soviet government itself comes clean.[158]
The authors of the Cambridge History of Russia have provided an analysis of Soviet wartime casualties. Overall losses were
about 25 million persons plus or minus 1 million. Red Army records indicate 8.7 million military deaths, “this figure is actually
the lower limit”. The official figures understate POW losses and armed partisan deaths. Excess civilian deaths in the Nazi
occupied USSR were 13.7 million persons including 2 million Jews. There were an additional 2.6 million deaths in the interior
regions of the Soviet Union. The authors maintain “scope for error in this number is very wide”. At least 1 million perished in
the wartime GULAG camps or in deportations. Other deaths occurred in the wartime evacuations and due to war related
malnutrition and disease in the interior. The authors maintain that both Stalin and Hitler “were both responsible but in
different ways” for these deaths.
The authors of the Cambridge History of Russia believe that “In short the general picture of Soviet wartime losses suggests a
jigsaw puzzle. The general outline is clear: people died in colossal numbers but in many different miserable and terrible
circumstances. But individual pieces of the puzzle do not fit well; some overlap and others are yet to be found"[159]
Steven Rosefielde puts the war related demographic losses of the USSR from 1941 ­45 at 22.0 to 26.0 million persons (7.8
million military and 14.2 to 18.2 million civilians). The actual wartime losses are higher because some persons who would
have died peacefully actually perished as a result of the war. Rosefielde estimated the actual military dead at 8.7 million
men and 17.7 to 20.3 million civilians killed by the Nazis in the war­ (exterminated, shot, gassed burned 6.4 or 11.3 million;
famine and disease 8.5 or 6.5 million; forced laborer in Germany 2.8 or 3.0 million and 500,000 who did not return to USSR
after war.) [160] In addition to these war deaths Rosefielde also estimated the excess deaths attributed to the “total
potential crimes against humanity” due to Soviet repression at 2.183 million persons in 1939­40 and 5.458 million from 1941­
1945. The figures for losses due to Soviet repression do not include 1 million military deaths of men drafted from the Gulag
into penal suicide battalions.[161]
Sources
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Demographic Trends and Patterns in the Soviet Union Before 1991. Routledge. 1993. ISBN 0415101948
Michael Haynes, Counting Soviet Deaths in the Great Patriotic War: a Note Europe Asia Studies Vol.55, No. 2, 2003, 300–309
Michael Ellman and S. Maksudov, Soviet Deaths in the Great Patriotic War:a note­World War II­ Europe Asia Studies, July
1994 (http://sovietinfo.tripod.com/ELM­War_Deaths.pdf)
Boris SokolovThe cost of war: Human losses for the USSR and Germany, 1939­1945 The Journal of Slavic Military Studies
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Boris Urlanis, Populations and Wars Progress Moscow 1971
Iosif G. Dyadkin, Unnatural Deaths in the Ussr, 1928­1954 Transaction 1983
S. A. Il'Enkov Concerning the registration of Soviet armed forces' wartime irrevocable losses, 1941­1945 The Journal of Slavic
Military Studies Volume 9, Issue 2 June 1996
(Russian)
G. I. Krivosheev Rossiia i SSSR v voinakh XX veka: Poteri vooruzhennykh sil ; statisticheskoe issledovanie OLMA­Press, 2001
ISBN 5­224­01515­4 (http://lib.ru/MEMUARY/1939­1945/KRIWOSHEEW/poteri.txt#w02.htm­186)
S. N Mikhalev Liudskie poteri v Velikoi Otechestvennoi voine 1941­ 1945 gg: Statisticheskoe issledovanie Krasnoiarskii gos.
pedagog. universitet • 2000 ISBN 978­5­85981­082­6. Mikhalev's book is available in libraries in the U.S. and the UK
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023­0
Andreev, EM, et al., Naselenie Sovetskogo Soiuza, 1922–1991. Moscow, Nauka, 1993. ISBN 978­5­02­013479­9
Andreev EM; Darsky LE; Kharkova TL, Population dynamics: consequences of regular and irregular changes. in
Demographic Trends and Patterns in the Soviet Union Before 1991. Routledge. 1993. ISBN 0415101948
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of Science is a brief summary of the work of the Soviet Extraordinary State Commission.
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(http://www.ecsocman.edu.ru/data/068/084/1217/001.SHEVIAKOV.pdf) This article by a researcher at the Russian
Academy of Science gives a detailed breakdown by locality of civilian losses in the occupied USSR based on the reports
of the Soviet Extraordinary State Commission.
L L Rybakovsky Casualties of the USSR in the Great Patriotic War (In Russian) Sotsiologicheskie issiedovaniya, 2000. № 6.
(http://www.ecsocman.edu.ru/data/419/925/1216/014.RYBAKOVSKIY.pdf)
L L Rybakovsky The Great Patriotic War Russian Human Losses (In Russian) Sotsiologicheskie issiedovaniya, 2001. № 6.
(http://www.ecsocman.edu.ru/data/267/764/1217/013Rybakovskij.pdf)
Л.Л. РЫБАКОВСКИЙЛЮДСКИЕ ПОТЕРИ СССР В ВЕЛИКОЙ ОТЕЧЕСТВЕННОЙ ВОЙНЕ LL Rybakovsky Casualties of the USSR
in the Great Patriotic War In Russian Sotsiologicheskie issiedovaniya, 2000. № 8.
(http://www.ecsocman.edu.ru/data/200/357/1216/012.RYBAKOVSKIY.pdf)
Б.В. Соколов ЦЕНА ВОЙНЫ:ЛЮДСКИЕ ПОТЕРИ СССР И ГЕРМАНИИ, 1939­1945 Boris Sokolov, Truth about the Great Patriotic
War 1998 ( In Russian) (http://www.infran.ru/vovenko/60years_ww2/demogr8_3.htm) Russian translation of the article that
appeared in the Journal of Slavic Military Studies # 3 1996.
S. A. Il’enkov Pamyat O Millionach Pavshik Zaschitnikov Otechestva Nelzya Predavat Zabveniu Voennno­Istoricheskii Arkhiv
No. 7(22), Central Military Archives of the Russian Federation 2001, pp. 73–80 ISBN 978­5­89710­005­7,The Memory of those
who Fell Defending the Fatherland Cannot be Condemned to Oblivion In Russian ­Available at the New York Public Library
See also
Nazi crimes against Soviet POWs
Soviet historiography
Soviet women in World War II
References
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Patterns in the Soviet Union Before 1991. Routledge. 1993. ISBN 0415101948
3. Michael Ellman and S. Maksudov, Soviet Deaths in the Great Patriotic War:a note­World War II­ Europe Asia Studies, July 1994 Page 677
(http://sovietinfo.tripod.com/ELM­War_Deaths.pdf)
4. Michael Haynes, Counting Soviet Deaths in the Great Patriotic War: a Note Europe Asia Studies Vol.55, No. 2, 2003, 300–309
5. G. I. Krivosheev. Soviet Casualties and Combat Losses. Greenhill 1997 ISBN 978­1­85367­280­4 Page 79
6. S. A. Il'enkov Pamyat o millionah pavshih zaschitnikov Otechestva nelzya predavat' zabveniyu, Voenno­Istoricheskii Arkhiv No. 7(22),
Central Military Archives of the Russian Federation, 2001, pp. 73–80. ISBN 978­5­89710­005­7. (Translation of the Russian title: The Memory
of Those Who Fell Defending the Fatherland Cannot Be Condemned to Oblivion.)
7. S. A. Il'Enkov Concerning the registration of Soviet armed forces' wartime irrevocable losses, 1941­1945 The Journal of Slavic Military
Studies Volume 9, Issue 2 June 1996
8. The Price of Victory: Myths and reality, V.E. Korol, Journal of Slavic Military Studies Vol. 9 No. 2 (June 1996) pp 417­423
9. Boris Sokolov The cost of war: Human losses for the USSR and Germany, 1939­1945 The Journal of Slavic Military Studies Volume 9, Issue 1
March 1996,
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01515­4 (http://lib.ru/MEMUARY/1939­1945/KRIWOSHEEW/poteri.txt#w02.htm­186)
12. G. I. Krivosheev Rossiia i SSSR v voinakh XX veka: Poteri vooruzhennykh sil ; statisticheskoe issledovanie OLMA­Press, 2001 ISBN 5­224­
01515­4 Table 111 (http://lib.ru/MEMUARY/1939­1945/KRIWOSHEEW/poteri.txt#w02.htm­186)
13. G. I. Krivosheev Rossiia i SSSR v voinakh XX veka: Poteri vooruzhennykh sil ; statisticheskoe issledovanie OLMA­Press, 2001 ISBN 5­224­
01515­4 Tables 111 (http://lib.ru/MEMUARY/1939­1945/KRIWOSHEEW/poteri.txt#w02.htm­186)
14. G. I. Krivosheev. Soviet Casualties and Combat Losses. Greenhill 1997 ISBN 978­1­85367­280­4 Pages 85­86 Includes 12,031 dead and
missing and 24,425 in the Invasion of Manchuria
15. G. I. Krivosheev Rossiia i SSSR v voinakh XX veka: Poteri vooruzhennykh sil ; statisticheskoe issledovanie OLMA­Press, 2001 ISBN 5­224­
01515­4 Tables 121 &123 (http://lib.ru/MEMUARY/1939­1945/KRIWOSHEEW/poteri.txt#w02.htm­186)
16. G. I. Krivosheev Rossiia i SSSR v voinakh XX veka: Poteri vooruzhennykh sil ; statisticheskoe issledovanie OLMA­Press, 2001 ISBN 5­224­
01515­4 Table 120 (http://lib.ru/MEMUARY/1939­1945/KRIWOSHEEW/poteri.txt#w02.htm­186)
17. G. I. Krivosheev. Soviet Casualties and Combat Losses. Greenhill 1997 ISBN 978­1­85367­280­4 Page 85
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19. G. I. Krivosheev. Soviet Casualties and Combat Losses. Greenhill 1997 Pages 233­234 ISBN 978­1­85367­280­4
20. G. I. Krivosheev Rossiia i SSSR v voinakh XX veka: Poteri vooruzhennykh sil ; statisticheskoe issledovanie OLMA­Press, 2001 ISBN 5­224­
01515­4 Table 176 (http://lib.ru/MEMUARY/1939­1945/KRIWOSHEEW/poteri.txt#w02.htm­186)
21. G. I. Krivosheev. Soviet Casualties and Combat Losses. Greenhill 1997 ISBN 978­1­85367­280­4 Pages 85­86
22. «Россия и СССР в войнах ХХ века: Потери Вооруженных Сил»,М., ОЛМА­ПРЕСС, 2001, стр. 511, ISBN 5­224­01515­4
23. Г.Ф.КРИВОШЕЕВ, НЕКОТОРЫЕ НОВЫЕ ДАННЫЕ АНАЛИЗА СИЛ И ПОТЕРЬ НА СОВЕТСКО­ГЕРМАНСКОМ ФРОНТЕ, Мир истории 1999 Nr
1­ так как в конце войны в лагерях для военнопленных было зарегистрировано 2 016 тыс. человек, из них вернулось 1 836 тыс. человек, а 180 тыс. не
вернулось (http://www.historia.ru/1999/02/krivosheyev02.htm) G. Krivosheev, Some new data analysis on forces and losses on the Soviet
German front in Mir Istorii 1999­1
24. Daniel Goldhagen, Hitler's Willing Executioners (p. 290) – "2.8 million young, healthy Soviet POWs" killed by the Germans, "mainly by
starvation ... in less than eight months" of 1941–42, before "the decimation of Soviet POWs ... was stopped" and the Germans "began to
use them as laborers".
25. G. I. Krivosheev. Soviet Casualties and Combat Losses. Greenhill 1997 ISBN 978­1­85367­280­4 Page 87
26. G. I. Krivosheev Rossiia i SSSR v voinakh XX veka: Poteri vooruzhennykh sil ; statisticheskoe issledovanie OLMA­Press, 2001 ISBN 5­224­
01515­4 Table 121 (http://lib.ru/MEMUARY/1939­1945/KRIWOSHEEW/poteri.txt#w02.htm­186)
27. R. J. Rummel. Democide Nazi Genocide and Mass Murder. Transaction 1992 ISBN 1­56000­004­X. Table A
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29. Erlikhman, Vadim. Потери народонаселения в XX веке: справочник (Population Losses in the 20th century: Reference). Moscow, 2004. ISBN
978­5­93165­107­1
30. G. I. Krivosheev. Soviet Casualties and Combat Losses. Greenhill 1997 ISBN 978­1­85367­280­4 Pages 230­238
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Studies. Volume 9, Issue 2, June 1996.
32. Лев Лопуховский, Борис Кавалерчик, "Когда мы узнаем реальную цену разгрома гитлеровской Германии? (Lev Lopukhovsky, Boris Kavalerchik,
When shall we Learn Real Price of VG?) http://podelise.ru/docs/89408/index­221.html?page=7
33. Christian Streit: Keine Kameraden: Die Wehrmacht und die Sowjetischen Kriegsgefangenen, 1941­1945, Bonn: Dietz (3. Aufl., 1. Aufl.
1978), ISBN 3­8012­5016­4 ­ "Between 22 June 1941 and the end of the war, roughly 5.7 million members of the Red Army fell into German
hands. In January 1945, 930,000 were still in German camps. A million at most had been released, most of whom were so­called
"volunteers" (Hilfswillige) for (often compulsory) auxiliary service in the Wehrmacht. Another 500,000, as estimated by the Army High
Command, had either fled or been liberated. The remaining 3,300,000 (57.5 percent of the total) had perished."
34. Игорь Ивлев, "А в ответ тишина ­ он вчера не вернулся из боя!". Часть 9. Определение численности военнослужащих ВС СССР, попавших в плен и
погибших в плену, http://www.soldat.ru/news/933.html(В итоге мы получаем следующие данные об общем количестве граждан призывных
возрастов СССР, попавших в распоряжение органов по делам военнопленных Германии и её союзников:а) погибло в плену ­ около 5363020 чел.; б)
вернулось из плена ­ 1836562 чел.;в) остались "невозвращенцами" на Западе после плена ­ около 250000 чел.; г) всего попало в плен ­ около 7449582
чел.)
35. Лев Лопуховский, Борис Кавалерчик, "Когда мы узнаем реальную цену разгрома гитлеровской Германии? (Lev Lopukhovsky, Boris Kavalerchik,
When shall we Learn Real Price of VG?) http://podelise.ru/docs/89408/index­221.html?page=7
36. Obituary of S N Mikhalev (http://www.andjusev.narod.ru/a/Michalev.htm)
37. Великая Отечественная: демографические и военно­оперативные потери // Людские потери СССР в Великой Отечественной войне: Сб.ст. ­ СПб., 1995.
­ 1,0 п. л. The Russian Academy of Science published the details of his analysis of total population losses here
38. G. I. Krivosheev. Soviet Casualties and Combat Losses. Greenhill 1997 ISBN 978­1­85367­280­4 Page 85­91
39. G. I. Krivosheev Rossiia i SSSR v voinakh XX veka: Poteri vooruzhennykh sil ; statisticheskoe issledovanie OLMA­Press, 2001 ISBN 5­224­
01515­4 Tables 120 and 132 (http://lib.ru/MEMUARY/1939­1945/KRIWOSHEEW/poteri.txt#w02.htm­186)
40. S. N Mikhalev Liudskie poteri v Velikoi Otechestvennoi voine 1941­ 1945 gg: Statisticheskoe issledovanie Krasnoiarskii gos. pedagog.
universitet • 2000 ISBN 978­5­85981­082­6. Pages 18­21. S. N Mikhalev Human Losses in the Great Patriotic War 1941­1945 A Statistical
Investigation Krasnoyarsk State Pedagogical University (In Russian)
41. S. A. Il’enkov Pamyat O Millionach Pavshik Zaschitnikov Otechestva Nelzya Predavat Zabveniu Voennno­Istoricheskii Arkhiv No. 7(22),
Central Military Archives of the Russian Federation 2001, pp. 73­80 ISBN 978­5­89710­005­7,( The Memory of those who Fell Defending the
Fatherland Cannot be Condemned to Oblivion In Russian ­Available at the New York Public Library
42. Лев Лопуховский. К вопросу о достоверности официальных данных о безвозвратных потерях в Великой Отечественной войне
(http://www.zhitipomnit.ru/publik/p13.html). // «Военно­исторический архив» № 11(142), ноябрь 2011 г.
43. «Вокруг Света» / Июнь 2011 / the Vokroug Sveta monthly magazine of June 2011 "Ушли под дерн" (Military Archaeology)
http://www.vokrugsveta.ru/vs/article/7441/
44. including 7.4 million killed; 2.54 million POWs; 400,000 non combat dead and 380,000 executed by Soviets
45. Mark Solonin Fire in the Storehouse (http://www.solonin.org/en/article_fire­in­the­storehouse)
46. Viktor Zemskov, The extent of human losses USSR in the Great Patriotic War (In Russian) Democcope.ru
(http://demoscope.ru/weekly/2013/0559/analit01.php)
47. Viktor Zemskov, The extent of human losses USSR in the Great Patriotic War in Military History Archive (In Russian) журнале "Военно­
исторический архив", 2012, №9, с. 59­71
48. Ivlev, Polyhovskii, Zmeskov and Pyhalov, "Washed in Blood"? Lies and Truth on Losses in Great Patriotic War" Yaouza—Aexmo Publishing
House 2012. Игорь Пыхалов, Лев Лопуховский, Виктор Земсков, Игорь Ивлев, Борис Кавалерчик, "Умылись кровью"? Ложь и правда о потерях в
Великой Отечественной войне" [1] (http://www.soldat.ru/news/937.html)
49. (Опубликовано в журнале "Военно­исторический архив", 2012, №9, с. 41­58) (http://demoscope.ru/weekly/2013/0559/analit02.php)
50. Лев Лопуховский, Борис Кавалерчик, "Когда мы узнаем реальную цену разгрома гитлеровской Германии?" http://podelise.ru/docs/89408/index­
221.html
51. Лев Лопуховский, Борис Кавалерчик, "Когда мы узнаем реальную цену разгрома гитлеровской Германии? (Lev Lopukhovsky, Boris Kavalerchik,
When shall we Learn Real Price of VG?) http://podelise.ru/docs/89408/index­221.html?page=3
52. Великая Отечественная война, 1941­1945; События. Люди. Документы: Краткий исторический справочник. – М.: Политиздат, 1990, ­ С. 76.
http://poteri­sssr.livejournal.com/16158.html
53. Лев Лопуховский, Борис Кавалерчик, "Когда мы узнаем реальную цену разгрома гитлеровской Германии? (Lev Lopukhovsky, Boris Kavalerchik,
When shall we Learn Real Price of VG?) http://podelise.ru/docs/89408/index­221.html?page=5
54. Великая Отечественная война, 1941­1945; События. Люди. Документы: Краткий исторический справочник. – М.: Политиздат, 1990, ­ с. 76,
http://poteri­sssr.livejournal.com/16158.html#cutid1
55. НЕКОТОРЫЕ НОВЫЕ ДАННЫЕ АНАЛИЗА СИЛ И ПОТЕРЬ НА СОВЕТСКО­ГЕРМАНСКОМ ФРОНТЕ (Доклад на заседании Ассоциации
историков Второй мировой войны 29.12.1998 г.) http://www.conservator.ru/forums/telegraf/posts/724.html.
56. Киселева Е. "Документы о гибели советских военнопленных в фонде "Чрезвычайной Государственной комиссии по установлению и расследованию
злодеяний немецко­фашистских захватчиков", статьи и доклады международной конференции в Дрездене, 06­07.07.2010, сайт http://www.dokst.de;
также газета "Правда" от 24.03.69 "Забвению не подлежит"
57. Соколов Б.В. Правда о Великой Отечественной войне. СПб., 1998. B. Sokolov, Truth about the Great Patriotic War In Russian
58. Соколов Б.В. Правда о Великой Отечественной войне. СПб., 1998. (B. Sokolov, Truth about the Great Patriotic War In Russian
59. Л.Л. РЫБАКОВСКИЙЛЮДСКИЕ ПОТЕРИ СССР В ВЕЛИКОЙ ОТЕЧЕСТВЕННОЙ ВОЙНЕ LL Rybakovsky Casualties of the USSR in the Great
Patriotic War In Russian Sotsiologicheskie issiedovaniya, 2000. № 8. P. 89
(http://www.ecsocman.edu.ru/data/200/357/1216/012.RYBAKOVSKIY.pdf)
60. The Price of Victory: Myths and reality, V.E. Korol, Journal of Slavic Military Studies Vol. 9 No. 2 (June 1996) pp 423
61. Letter to editor by A.N. Mertsalov Voprosy in Istorii(Questions of History) nr 2/3 1991 p. 250
62. L L Rybakovsky Casualties of the USSR in the Great Patriotic War (In Russian) Sotsiologicheskie issiedovaniya, 2000. № 6.
(http://www.ecsocman.edu.ru/data/419/925/1216/014.RYBAKOVSKIY.pdf) pp.110­111
63. Andreev, E.M., et al., Naselenie Sovetskogo Soiuza, 1922–1991. Moscow, Nauka, 1993. ISBN 978­5­02­013479­9 Page 78
64. Г.Ф. КРИВОШЕЕВ, «Историк должен ЛИКОВАТЬ и ГОРЕВАТЬ со своим народом ВОЕННО­ИСТОРИЧЕСКИЙ ЖУРНАЛ №11 2002 G. I.
Krivosheev “Historians Should Triumph and Grieve with their People, Military History Journal Nr. 11 2002
65. Rossiiskaia Akademiia nauk. Liudskie poteri SSSR v period vtoroi mirovoi voiny:sbornik statei. Sankt­Peterburg 1995 ISBN 978­5­86789­023­
0 M. V. Philimoshin of the War Ministry of the Russian Federation About the results of calculation of losses among civilian population of
the USSR and Russian Federation 1941­1945 Pages 124­131 In Russian (These losses are for the entire territory of the USSR in 1941, including
territories annexed in 1939–40).
66. Российская академия наук (Russian Academy of Sciences). Людские потери СССР в период второй мировой войны: сборник статей ­Human
Losses of the USSR in the Period of WWII: Collection of Articles. Saint­Petersburg, 1995. ISBN 978­5­86789­023­0 Page 126
67. G. I. Krivosheev Rossiia i SSSR v voinakh XX veka: Poteri vooruzhennykh sil ; statisticheskoe issledovanie OLMA­Press, 2001 ISBN 5­224­
01515­4 Tables 116­118 (http://lib.ru/MEMUARY/1939­1945/KRIWOSHEEW/poteri.txt#w02.htm­186)
68. Российская академия наук (Russian Academy of Sciences). Людские потери СССР в период второй мировой войны: рник стсбоатей (Human
Losses of the USSR in the Period of WWII: Collection of Articles). Saint­Petersburg, 1995. ISBN 978­5­86789­023­0
69. Perrie, Maureen (2006), The Cambridge History of Russia: The twentieth century, Cambridge University Press, p. 226, ISBN 0­521­81144­9
Total civilian deaths under the German occupation were 13.7 million including 2 million Jews
70. Российская академия наук (Russian Academy of Sciences). Людские потери СССР в период второй мировой войны: рник стсбоатей (Human
Losses of the USSR in the Period of WWII: Collection of Articles). Saint­Petersburg, 1995. ISBN 978­5­86789­023­0 Pages 124­131 The Russian
Academy of Science article by M.V. Philimoshin based this figure on sources published in the Soviet era.
71. Российская академия наук (Russian Academy of Sciences). Людские потери СССР в период второй мировой войны: рник стсбоатей (Human
Losses of the USSR in the Period of WWII: Collection of Articles). Saint­Petersburg, 1995. ISBN 978­5­86789­023­0 Pages 124­131 The Russian
Academy of Science article by M.V. Philimoshin estimated 6% of the population in the occupied regions died due to war related
famine and disease.
72. Rossiiskaia Akademiia nauk. Liudskie poteri SSSR v period vtoroi mirovoi voiny:sbornik statei. Sankt­Peterburg 1995 ISBN 978­5­86789­023­
0 M. V. Philimoshin of the War Ministry of the Russian Federation About the results of calculation of losses among civilian population of
the USSR and Russian Federation 1941­1945 Page 127
73. Gilbert, Martin. Atlas of the Holocaust. 1988. ISBN 978­0­688­12364­2
74. David M. Glantz, Siege of Leningrad 1941 1944 Cassell 2001 ISBN 978­1­4072­2132­8
75. Л.Л. РЫБАКОВСКИЙ ВЕЛИКАЯ ОТЕЧЕСТВЕННАЯ ЛЮДСКИЕ ПОТЕРИ РОССИИ L. L. Ryebakovsky Russia’s Human Losses in the Great
Patriotic War In Russian Sotsiologicheskie issiedovaniya 2001. № 6. Page 86
(http://www.ecsocman.edu.ru/data/267/764/1217/013Rybakovskij.pdf)
76. Łuczak, Czesław. Szanse i trudnosci bilansu demograficznego Polski w latach 1939­1945. Dzieje Najnowsze Rocznik XXI. 1994. The losses in
the former Polish eastern regions are also included in Poland's total war dead of 5.6 to 5.8 million
77. Российская академия наук (Russian Academy of Sciences). Людские потери СССР в период второй мировой войны: сборник статей (Human
Losses of the USSR in the Period of WWII: Collection of Articles). Saint­Petersburg, 1995. ISBN 978­5­86789­023­0 Page158 deaths resulting
from harsh conditions, like lack of food and medicine, on Soviet territory not occupied by the Germans were due to wartime shortages
78. Российская академия наук (Russian Academy of Sciences). Людские потери СССР в период второй мировой войны: сборник статей (Human
Losses of the USSR in the Period of WWII: Collection of Articles). Saint­Petersburg, 1995. ISBN 978­5­86789­023­0 Page174­177 deaths
resulting from harsh conditions, like lack of food and medicine, on Soviet territory not occupied by the Germans were due to wartime
shortages
79. Andreev, EM, et al., Naselenie Sovetskogo Soiuza, 1922–1991. Moscow, Nauka, 1993. ISBN 978­5­02­013479­9 The 1952 Foreign Ministry
figures gave a total of 451,100 who return to the USSR after 1946, this figure did not include an additional 170.000 persons who
emigrated to Germany and Rumania
80. Mark Solonin, Мозгоимение. Фальшивая история Великой войны, Chapter 13
81. Michael Ellman and S. Maksudov, Soviet Deaths in the Great Patriotic War:a note­World War II­ Europe Asia Studies, July 1994
(http://sovietinfo.tripod.com/ELM­War_Deaths.pdf)
82. (1998) E.M. Andreev, L.E. Darski and T. L. Kharkova (ADK) Demographic History of Russia 1927–1959 Chapter 7(in Russian [2]
(http://demoscope.ru/weekly/knigi/andr_dars_khar/adk.html)
83. Российская академия наук (Russian Academy of Sciences). Людские потери СССР в период второй мировой войны: рник стсбоатей (Human
Losses of the USSR in the Period of WWII: Collection of Articles). Saint­Petersburg, 1995. ISBN 978­5­86789­023­0 pp.36­40
84. L L Rybakovsky Casualties of the USSR in the Great Patriotic War (In Russian) Sotsiologicheskie issiedovaniya, 2000. № 6.
(http://www.ecsocman.edu.ru/data/419/925/1216/014.RYBAKOVSKIY.pdf)
85. http://fablewar.ru/2011/11/vklad/
86. Sovershenno Secretno (The Top Secret) Monthly has put together the highlights of republican and regional Memory Books in its article
"Жгучая память" (Burning Memory) of May 2, 2011. http://www.sovsekretno.ru/articles/id/2788/
87. УКРАИНЦЫ В КРАСНОЙ АРМИИ http://www.rusamny.com/352/t03(352).htm
88. В.Янукович: “Потери Украины в ВОВ превысили 10 млн. человек” http://top.rbc.ru/society/08/05/2011/588498.shtml
89. Site of the Allied State (Информационно­аналитический портал Союзного государства), soyuz.by›ru/print.aspx?guid=135175
90. http://rus.ruvr.ru/2013_05_07/V­Moskve­predstavili­Knigu­pamjati­respubliki­Tatarstan/
91. “Soviet Jews in the War against Nazi Germany,” in Yad Vashem Studies (Hebrew), vol. 23 (1993), pp. 51–89.
http://www.yadvashem.org/yv/ru/pdf/yad_vashem_studies/arad_2.pdf
92. http://www.sovsekretno.ru/articles/id/2788/
93. http://www.golosarmenii.am/ru/20402/home/26665/
94. http://viperson.ru/wind.php?ID=634504
95. http://sovzem.mgimo.ru/news/council/186575.phtml
96. http://bashmemorial.narod.ru/VOV.html
97. A statement by President of Sakha Republic (Yakutia) E.Borisov of May 9, 2012 http://sakhapress.ru/archives/73083
98. http://i.aldanlib.ru/portal/page0029.htm
99. http://ilin­yakutsk.narod.ru/2010­12/34.htm
100. http://news.rambler.ru/14038068/
101. OBD Memorial database (http://www.obd­memorial.ru)
102. G. I. Krivosheev. Soviet Casualties and Combat Losses. Greenhill 1997 ISBN 978­1­85367­280­4
103. Richard Overy, Russia's War 1997
104. Earl F. Ziemke, Stalingrad to Berlin, the German Defeat in the East;Office of the Chief of Military History U.S. Army 1968 pp 500
105. Российская академия наук (Russian Academy of Sciences). Людские потери СССР в период второй мировой войны: сборник статей (Human Losses
of the USSR in the Period of World War II: Collection of Articles). Saint­Petersburg, 1995. ISBN 978­5­86789­023­0
106. Great patriotic war of the Soviet Union, 1941­1945 : a general outline ­ Moscow : Progress Publishers, [1974] pp. 456­60
107. Albert Seaton, The Russo­German War 1941­45 Prager 1971 pp 221­222
108. Rossiiskaia Akademiia nauk. Liudskie poteri SSSR v period vtoroi mirovoi voiny:sbornik statei. Sankt­Peterburg 1995 ISBN 978­5­86789­023­0.
109. Crimes of the German Wehrmacht, Hamburg Institute for Social Research 2004 (http://www.verbrechen­der­
wehrmacht.de/pdf/vdw_en.pdf)
110. LL Rybakovsky Casualties of the USSR in the Great Patriotic War In Russian Sotsiologicheskie issiedovaniya, 2000. № 6. P. 108­118
(http://www.ecsocman.edu.ru/data/419/925/1216/014.RYBAKOVSKIY.pdf)
111. Л.Л. РЫБАКОВСКИЙЛЮДСКИЕ ПОТЕРИ СССР В ВЕЛИКОЙ ОТЕЧЕСТВЕННОЙ ВОЙНЕ LL Rybakovsky Casualties of the USSR in the Great
Patriotic War In Russian Sotsiologicheskie issiedovaniya, 2000. № 8. P.90­91
(http://www.ecsocman.edu.ru/data/200/357/1216/012.RYBAKOVSKIY.pdf) The Russian researcher L L Rybakovsky assumes that the
source of Nikita Khrushchev’s figure of 20 million war dead was the 1957 Soviet translation,(Itogi vtoroj mirovoj vojny. Sbornik statej) of the
West German book Bilanz des Zweiten Weltkrieges Hamburg 1953
112. L L Rybakovsky Casualties of the USSR in the Great Patriotic War (In Russian) Sotsiologicheskie issiedovaniya, 2000. № 6.
(http://www.ecsocman.edu.ru/data/419/925/1216/014.RYBAKOVSKIY.pdf)
113. Boris Urlanis, Populations and Wars Progress Moscow 1971 Page 132
114. Boris Urlanis, Populations and Wars Progress Moscow 1971 Page 284
115. Dmitri Volkogonov, Stalin: Triumph and tragedy 1991
116. Tsena Pobeda Voenno­istoricheskii zhurnal # 3 The Price of Victory –Military History Journal # 3 1990 Interview with M.A. Moiseev Chief of
the General Staff of the Soviet Armed Forces.
117. 6.390 million exterminated; 2.8 million forced labor ; 8.5 million famine and disease голода и эпидемий in occupied regions
118. 11.3 million exterminated ; 3.0 forced labor; 6.5 million famine and disease голода и эпидемий in occupied regions
119. A. A. Shevyakov “Gitlerovski genotsid na territoriyakh SSR.” Sotsiologicheskie issiedovaniya, 12, 1991
(http://www.ecsocman.edu.ru/data/719/825/1219/01Shevyakov.pdf) This article by a researcher at the Russian Academy of Science is
a brief summary of the work of the Soviet Extraordinary State Commission.
120. A. A. Shevyakov “Zherty sredi mirnogo nasseleniya v gody otechestvennoi voiny” Sotsiologicheskie issiedovaniya, 11, 1992
(http://www.ecsocman.edu.ru/data/068/084/1217/001.SHEVIAKOV.pdf) This article by a researcher at the Russian Academy of Science
gives a detailed breakdown by locality of civilian losses in the occupied USSR based on the reports of the Soviet Extraordinary State
Commission.
121. Rossiiskaia Akademiia nauk. Liudskie poteri SSSR v period vtoroi mirovoi voiny:sbornik statei. Sankt­Peterburg 1995 ISBN 978­5­86789­023­
0 M. V. Philimoshin of the War Ministry of the Russian Federation About the results of calculation of losses among civilian population of
the USSR and Russian Federation 1941­1945Pages 124­131 In Russian (These losses are for the entire territory of the USSR in 1941, including
territories annexed in 1939–40).
122. Kalinov, Cyrille­ Les maréchaux soviétiques vous parlent. Paris 1950
123. Gregory, Frumkin. Population Changes in Europe Since 1939, Geneva 1951.
124. S. N Mikhalev Liudskie poteri v Velikoi Otechestvennoi voine 1941­ 1945 gg: Statisticheskoe issledovanie Krasnoiarskii gos. pedagog.
universitet • 2000 ISBN 978­5­85981­082­6. Page 36
125. S. Maksudov, Pertes subies par la population de l'URSS, 1918­1958, Cahiers du Monde russe et soviétique, XVIII, 3, July–September 1977
126. S. Maksudov Losses Suffered by the Population of the USSR 1918­1958 The Samizdat register II / edited by Roy Medvedev New York :
Norton, 1981.(English translation of Maksudov's 1977 article)
127. Iosif G. Dyadkin, Unnatural Deaths in the Ussr, 1928­1954 Transaction 1983 ISBN 978­0­87855­919­0
128. Frank Lorimer, The population of the Soviet Union: history and prospects, Geneva, League of Nations, 1946. Pages 181­183.
129. Lormimer's hypothetical figures, not an estimate, put the total demographic loss at 20.0 million. 9.0 million civilians over age 5 and 6.0
million children under age 5 not born during the war or deaths due to an increase in infant mortality. The figure of 5.0 million military
dead was based on information available in early 1946 which was published in the USSR during the war. Lormier's figures are for the USSR
in 1939 borders and does not include territories annexed in 1939­1940
130. Esquisse d'une étude démographique de l'Union soviétique Population(Paris) No.3 July–September 1946
131. N. S. Timasheff: “The Post­war Population of the Soviet Union”The American Journal of Sociology, September 1948
132. Bilanz des Zweiten Weltkrieges, Oldenburg­Hamburg, 1953. – Professor Dr. Helmut Arntz. Die Menschenverluste im Zweiten Weltkrieg
133. Л.Л. РЫБАКОВСКИЙЛЮДСКИЕ ПОТЕРИ СССР В ВЕЛИКОЙ ОТЕЧЕСТВЕННОЙ ВОЙНЕ LL Rybakovsky Casualties of the USSR in the Great
Patriotic War (In Russian) Sotsiologicheskie issiedovaniya, 2000. № 8. P.90­91
(http://www.ecsocman.edu.ru/data/200/357/1216/012.RYBAKOVSKIY.pdf) The Russian researcher L L Rybakovsky assumes that the
source of Nikita Khrushchev’s figure of 20 million war dead was the 1957 Soviet translation,(Itogi vtoroj mirovoj vojny. Sbornik statej) of the
West German book Bilanz des Zweiten Weltkrieges Hamburg 1953
134. Jean­Noël Biraben, Essai sur l'évolution démographique de l'U.R.S.S. Population (French Edition) Jun., 1958, vol. 13, no. 2, p. 29­62
135. Eason, Warren W. , “The Soviet Population Today” Foreign Affairs 37 (July 1959): 598­606Eason made his calculations based on the
preliminary results of the 1959 Soviet census. His estimate was 25 million deaths of those persons alive at the beginning of the war and an
additional wartime loss of 20,000,000 children under age 5 due to a decline in births and an increase infant mortality, thus bringing the
total to 45,000,000
136. Obituary of Warren Eason (http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/dispatch/obituary.aspx?n=warren­wortman­eason&pid=141103167)
137. Albert Seaton, The Russo­German War 1941­45 Prager 1971 pp 586
138. Gil Elliot, Twentieth Century Book of the Dead C. Scribner, 1972 ISBN 978­0­684­13115­3
139. Messenger, Charles, The Chronological Atlas of World War Two (Macmillan, 1989)
140. Keegan, John, The Second World War (1989)
141. R. J. Rummel Lethal Politics: Soviet Genocide and Mass Murder Since 1917 Table 7.A
(https://www.hawaii.edu/powerkills/USSR.TAB7A.GIF) pp. 167 Transaction 1990 ISBN 978­1­56000­887­3
142. Ellis John, World War II : a statistical survey 1993
143. Davies, Norman, Europe A History (1998)
144. Richard Overy, Russia's War 1997
145. Mazower, Mark, Dark Continent: Europe's Twentieth Century (1998)
146. Wallechinsky, David, Twentieth Century / History With the Boring Parts Left Out (1995)
147. Michael Clodfelter. Warfare and Armed Conflicts­ A Statistical Reference to Casualty and Other Figures, 1500–2000. 2nd Ed. 2002 ISBN
978­0­7864­1204­4. Pages 515­516
148. Michael Haynes, Counting Soviet Deaths in the Great Patriotic War: a Note Europe Asia Studies Vol.55, No. 2, 2003, 300–309
149. Martin Gilbert The Second World War: A Complete History 2004
150. H. P. Willmott , Robin Cross, Charles Messenger, and Neil Grant , World War II, ISBN 978­0­7566­0521­6
151. Tony Judt Postwar: A History of Europe Since 1945 (2005)
152. Davies, Norman, Europe at War 1939–1945: No Simple Victory (2006)pp.367 however on p. 24 Davies put Soviet military dead at
11,000,000
153. Perrie, Maureen (2006), The Cambridge History of Russia: The twentieth century, Cambridge University Press, pp. 225­227
(https://books.google.com/books?
id=KAPxOl_mh4YC&printsec=frontcover&dq=cambridge+history+russia&hl=en&ei=bZyVTpiAGWKsALusYnvAQ&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=
result&resnum=2&ved=0CDQQ6AEwAQ#v=onepage&q&f=false)
154. Steven Rosefielde Red Holocaust Routledge, 2009 ISBN 0­415­77757­7 Pages 72 and 179
155. David M. Glantz & Jonathan House, When Titans Clashed...How the Red Army Stopped Hitler Univ Pr of Kansas, 1998 ISBN 978­0­7006­
0899­7 pp285
156. Richard Overy, Russia's War 1997 pp.XV
157. Richard Overy, Russia's War 1997 pp.287
158. Norman Davies ,NOT TWENTY MILLION, NOT RUSSIANS, NOT WAR DEAD, The Independent on December 29, 1987
(http://www.libertarian.co.uk/lapubs/histn/histn004.pdf)
159. Perrie, Maureen (2006), The Cambridge History of Russia: The twentieth century, Cambridge University Press, pp. 225­227, ISBN 0­521­
81144­9 (https://books.google.com/books?
id=KAPxOl_mh4YC&printsec=frontcover&dq=cambridge+history+russia&hl=en&ei=bZyVTpiAGWKsALusYnvAQ&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=
result&resnum=2&ved=0CDQQ6AEwAQ#v=onepage&q&f=false)
160. Steven Rosefielde. Red Holocaust Routledge, 2009 ISBN 0­415­77757­7 Page 72
161. Steven Rosefielde Red Holocaust Routledge, 2009 ISBN 0­415­77757­7 Page 179
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