Veterans about the Great Patriotic War: On the results of the sociological survey

The article is a new link in a series of publications devoted to the analysis of empirical data obtained in the inter-regional survey conducted by the Institute of Socio-Political Research of the Russian Academy of Sciences in cooperation with the Moscow Institute of Socio-Cultural Programs. Veterans of the Great Patriotic War were the main object of the study as having certain attitudes and beliefs, worldview and value orientations. The survey was conducted in different regions of Russia including Moscow, Saint Petersburg, regions and republics of the European Russia, the Caucasus, and Siberia. Among other questions, the authors reveal the veterans’ attitude to the events of the war itself (comparative evaluation of the combat capability of the Red Army and the army of Nazi Germany, the factors that influenced the course of the war, the relationships with the commanding staff, etc.). The authors undertake a detailed analysis of the socio-demographic characteristics of the veterans, their typical biographical trajectories during the war, religious beliefs and its changes in the life course. The article pays special attention to the questions asking veterans to assess their current social and financial situation, the availability of cultural facilities, the attitudes towards them from the state in different periods of post-war Russian history up to the present day.