Labor Use of Polish Prisoners of War in the Camps of Central Russia, 1920–1921

Based on the materials of the federal and regional archives of Central Russia, the article analyzes the practice of labor use of prisoners of war of the Polish-Soviet War in the camps of Central Russia in 1920–1921. The author examined the regulatory framework for the labor use of prisoners of war of the Polish army. The study showed the professional composition of Polish prisoners of war, as well as their level of education. In fact, Polish prisoners of war were a large group of educated special- ists whose work was used in various fields. The regions also requested the necessary number of Polish prisoners of war for certain labor tasks, partially covering the shortage of labor. An attempt to organize labor squads from captured Poles is considered. But, labor squads were formed in Moscow and in those provinces where there was a high concentration of prisoners of war of the Polish army. In the rest, for the most part, labor unions were never formed. With the beginning of the repatriation of Polish prisoners of war, they began to gradually remove from work and look for a replacement for them. Before repatriation, prisoners of war submitted applications to the sub-departments of forced labor to issue them salaries, funds earned from forced labor, which they were supposed to receive on the day of departure to their homeland. The labor of Polish prisoners of war was paid at local rates, and they were equated with Red Army soldiers in terms of supply.