Soviet evacuation efforts did not emphasize Jewish evacuation, even though the Nazis were deliberately targeting Jews. The evacuation efforts were conducted haphazardly, varying greatly by region. Although an evacuation plan had been drafted before the war, Stalin rejected it, believing a Nazi invasion of Soviet territory was unlikely. The first actual plan was created on June 24, 1941, two days after the Soviet Union was attacked. The evacuation plans instructed officials “to evacuate and relocate quotas of persons and assets of value.” Afterwards, children and elderly were prioritized, regardless of nationality. Military commanders were tasked with creating evacuation measures by region, without comprehensive, nationwide instructions. Evacuations varied from town to town, depending on proximity to the front and general attitudes from military commanders. Although the evacuations were not explicitly intended to save Jewish civilians from the Holocaust, they inadvertently had that effect. Many Jews were aware of what Nazis did to Jews in occupied territories and fled deeper into the Soviet Union. Others either did not believe the extent of the Nazis’ brutality toward Jews or felt such deep distrust towards Soviet leadership due to years of mistreatment, that they convinced themselves German rule might improve their conditions. Of evacuee demographics, “Jews were second only to Russians,” but more than half of the Jewish population in Soviet territories chose to remain. While the Soviet government did not intend for these evacuations to save Jews from the Holocaust, they ultimately allowed for a significant number of Jews to escape the Holocaust. Approximately 300,000 to 500,000 Soviet Jews served in the
Red Army during the conflict. The
Jewish Anti-Fascist Committee, established in 1941, was active in propagandising for the Soviet war effort but was treated with suspicion. The Soviet press, tightly censored, often deliberately obscured the particular anti-Jewish motivation of the Holocaust. ==See also==