Conclusion

The research conducted on Russian sources has broadened our knowledge on a wide range of issues. In particular, it has shown what the Stalinist regime’s real intentions were with regard to its prisoners of war. While seemingly characterized by an ambiguity toward prisoners and a lack of organization in their management, the regime in fact arranged for the exploitation of their labor down to the smallest detail. Prisoners were to replace the men dispatched to the front, thus constituting an early form of compensation for war damages. I have reported on an interesting directive on this matter, signed by Stalin