Great Patriotic War: Russia's human losses

Great Patriotic War: Russia's human losses continues author's study of social implications for Russia of its losses during the Great Patriotic War of 1941-1945. The article is centered on the issue of human losses suffered by the population of the Russian Soviet Socialist Federative Republic of the RSFSR as a part of the USSR. Pre-conditions for evaluating human losses of separate parts of a country are scrutinized to show how various methods (proportional distribution of losses, direct count of losses, demographic balance, ethnic demographic method) of counting losses would find reflection in concrete results. Arriving at the figure of approximate 13 million persons lost by RSFSR (or 48,5% of total losses), the author states that it would be naive to pretend to obtain a more precise figure given available initial data. Explanations are suggested for this disproportionately high share of human losses suffered by this republic of the USSR and by Russian ethnic group.