The full text of the monograph by research fellow, Doctor of Philosophy Iryna Bezliudna "Orphans of the Postwar Ukrainian SSR: Everyday Life, Challenges, and Adaptation (Second Half of the 1940s – First Half of the 1950s)" (Kyiv, 2025) has been published on the portal of the Institute of History of Ukraine of the NAS of Ukraine.
The publication is dedicated to the study of social transformations in postwar Soviet Ukraine, particularly the situation of orphans in the second half of the 1940s – early 1950s. The monograph analyzes their everyday life, conditions of upbringing in orphanages, as well as the scale of homelessness, which remained outside the scope of official Soviet propaganda.
The research is based on archival materials, memoirs, and scholarly publications and challenges the widespread myth of comprehensive state care for children in the postwar period. Special attention is given to the relevance of historical experience in the context of contemporary challenges, including the problems of children who lost their parents due to war, and the possibilities of applying these findings in modern humanitarian initiatives.
Read the full text of the monograph.