During the war years, the Soviet Union evacuated over 10 million people and more than 2,500 large enterprises to the eastern parts of the country.
Following the full-scale German invasion in June 1941 and the rapid advance of the Wehrmacht, there was an urgent need to save vital industrial facilities and skilled workers from destruction or capture. An unprecedented relocation operation to the East – to the Volga region, the Urals, Siberia, Central Asia, and Kazakhstan – was organized.
Thousands of trains, barges, and other transport means were used to move dismantled equipment, machine tools, raw materials, and millions of people.
Factories were often dismantled under bombing, and reassembly at the new locations began in the open air or in makeshift facilities, while construction of workshops and housing went on simultaneously.
This massive move allowed the Soviet Union to preserve the core of its industrial strength. Despite losing vast territories with developed industries (Ukraine, Belarus, western regions of the RSFSR), the country managed not only to restore but also to increase the production of weapons and ammunition.
This became a key factor enabling the USSR to continue the war. The 10 million evacuated included workers and engineers, but also their families, which was a huge social and humanitarian undertaking.
