"Social" diseases of the Red Army's servicemen during the Great Patriotic War

This paper is devoted to the problem of the venereal morbidity amongst the Red Army’s servicemen throughout the Great Patriotic War. The research objective was to analyze the policy directed to the struggle against the venereal diseases which was adopted by the soviet power in 1941-1945. The following aims were formulated by the researcher: 1) bearing on the examined historical sources to attempt to reveal the main patterns in this policy; 2) to explore the specific medical aspects, such as the opportunities of the prevention of the infection per utilization of the specific protective means, and the accessibility of the medical treatment in war conditions; 3) to analyze the available statistic data concerning with the sickness rates through the various subjects of the Soviet Union.In this paper the general research means such as analysis, generalization, classification and specific methods such as historical comparison and the elements of the historical analysis were used. During the study it was found out that since the 1920s the soviet power we have found out that since 1920s the soviet government, actively calling to fight against the mass distribution of sexually transmitted diseases, regarded them as a danger of a work ability and the regime's health. Point of view on this problem was corrected in the mid-1930's, when they began to be perceived as one of the main threats fertility and reproductive capacity of the population. The main purpose of demographic policy of the pre-war years was the increase of the birth rate by any forces, and therefore was followed by a ban 1936 on abortions. To eliminate the sources of infection and minimize the threat of proliferation was required under this policy only so far as it could help to raise the level of natural population growth of the country. Thus, it was concluded that the immediate elimination of venereal disease was not considered as a separate goal, and during the war it was manifested in the form of absence of possibility to use the means of prevention and protection, or even denial of treatment on moral grounds.The findings regarding the awareness of the red army on the problem of sexually transmitted disease, it is difficult to name simple. On the one hand, an ordinary soldier, came to the front, in theory appears to us to be well versed in the issues of sex education, personal hygiene and individual protection. Moreover, he had to have not only theoretical knowledge, but also the real possibility of their application in practice. On the other hand, due to the fact that the task of the health education during the war, added to the load on the shoulders of the military doctors, lectures, and other activities designed to educate the population, gradually vanished, losing their informative and useful.