Geography
Nations that had the most heroes. Which nations had the most heroes of the USSR during the Great Patriotic War? Percentage composition of heroes of the Soviet Union by nationality

Nations that had the most heroes. Which nations had the most heroes of the USSR during the Great Patriotic War? Percentage composition of heroes of the Soviet Union by nationality

The topic is not slippery, in my opinion the topic is controversial.... since nationality is not always clear...

ABOUT VALOR, ABOUT FEATURES, ABOUT GLORY
To mark the publication of Lev Yarutsky’s brochure “The Greeks are Heroes” Soviet Union»
The peoples of the former Soviet Union, who participated in the defeat of Nazi Germany, still scrupulously
counting how many Gold Star holders they promoted from their ranks. These names are rightly
a source of pride for the nations inhabiting the post-Soviet space.
For a long time it was believed that among the Greeks only one person received the highest award for military valor -
Ilya Fedorovich Takhtarov. Ten years ago, when Lev Yarutsky’s brochure “Outstanding Greeks” was published
Mariupol", among its twenty characters there were already three Heroes: Takhtarov was joined by K.Ya. Talakh and
G.Ya.Bakhchivandzhi. And in the new book of the famous local historian there are already 16 of them (!), and among them one is a four-time Hero
Soviet Union, two were awarded Golden Stars twice, and one was not only a recipient of the Golden Star, but also
full holder of the Order of Glory. True, the author did not limit himself only to the Mariupol Greeks, but covered
all their fellow tribesmen who inhabited the former Soviet Union.
It will surprise many, and some may be shocked, that the brochure “Greeks - Heroes of the Soviet Union” is opened
an essay about the famous Marshal Georgy Konstantinovich Zhukov. How, was the great Russian commander
Greek?!
Yes, Georgy Konstantinovich’s father was called Kostya the Greek in the village of Strelkovka, the marshal himself spoke about this. AND
Although very scanty biographical information has reached us about Konstantin Zhukov, the author of the brochure convincingly
argues why he opens the list of Greek Heroes with an essay about the four-time Hero of the USSR.
IN Soviet time the word “Greek” in the notorious fifth column of the questionnaire threatened with all sorts of restrictions in
civil rights. It was an obstacle when entering a prestigious university, graduate school, and slowed down
professional growth and promotion. Under these conditions, the passports of people with pronounced
With Greek surnames, the word “Ukrainian” or “Russian” appeared in the “nationality” column. In a number of cases there were
however, there are legal grounds for this: persons born from mixed marriages avoided the nationality of the “second
varieties”, and chose one of the parents “advantageous” nationality.
This happened to Pavel Khristoforovich Dubinda, Hero of the Soviet Union and full holder of the order
Glory. In the encyclopedia "Heroes of the Soviet Union" he is identified as Ukrainian - through his mother. But his father was Greek, and
P.H. Dubinda is the son of two peoples - Ukrainian and Greek.
Lev Yarutsky, based on documents published in the last decade, restored the original
nationality of the Heroes. For example, the world-famous polar explorer I.D. Papanin, brothers V.K. and K.K.Kokkinaki,
purebred Greeks, but in the directory they are listed as Russians. Army General is also recorded as Russian
V.Ya. Kolpakchi, and Anatoly Ratfopullo, who repeatedly asserted both orally and in print that he was Greek, is also ranked among
"elder brother"
Like the previous eleven books by Lev Yarutsky, the brochure “Greeks - Heroes of the Soviet Union” was written
freely and uninhibitedly, in a lively and figurative literary language.

During the Great Patriotic War At the front, sons and daughters of all republics and all peoples of the USSR fought shoulder to shoulder. Each nation had its own heroes in this war.

During the Great Patriotic War, 7998 Russians, 2021 Ukrainians, 299 Belarusians became Heroes of the Soviet Union. The next largest number of heroes are Tatars - 161, Jews - 107, Kazakhs - 96, Georgians - 90, Armenians - 89.

Not much behind the Georgians and Armenians are the Uzbeks - 67 heroes, Mordvinians - 63, Chuvash - 45, Azerbaijanis - 43, Bashkirs - 38, Ossetians - 33. Next come the Mari, Turkmen, Lithuanians, Tajiks, Latvians, Kyrgyz, Komi, Udmurts, who gave the country has from 10 to 18 Heroes of the Soviet Union. 9 heroes each came from the German (we are, of course, talking about the Volga Germans) and Estonian peoples, 8 each from the Karelians, Buryats and Mongols, Kalmyks, Kabardians. The Adygs gave the country 6 heroes, the Abkhaz - 4, the Yakuts - 2, the Moldovans - also 2, the Tuvans -1. And finally, representatives of repressed peoples, such as the Chechens and Crimean Tatars, fought no less bravely than the rest. 5 Chechens and 6 Crimean Tatars were awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union. About “inconvenient” nationalities

At the everyday level, there were practically no ethnic conflicts in the USSR, everyone lived peacefully side by side, and treated each other, if not like brothers, then like good neighbors. However, at the state level there were periods when some peoples were considered “wrong”. These are, first of all, repressed peoples, and Jews. Anyone who is even slightly interested in the issue of the Crimean Tatars knows the name of Ametkhan Sultan, the legendary ace pilot, twice Hero of the Soviet Union. Representatives of the Chechen people also performed feats. As is known, in 1942 the conscription of residents of the Chechen-Ingush Republic to the front was stopped, but by the end of the summer of this year, when the Nazis invaded North Caucasus, it was decided to call up volunteers from among the Chechens and Ingush to the front. 18.5 thousand volunteers showed up at recruiting stations. They fought to the death on the outskirts of Stalingrad as part of a separate Chechen-Ingush regiment. There is often an opinion about Jews that representatives of this ancient people First of all, they are capable of intellectual work and commerce, but the warriors they make are so-so. And that's not true. 107 Jews became during the Great Patriotic Heroes Soviet Union. The merit of the Jews, for example, in organizing the partisan movement in Odessa is enormous. From “natural” numbers to percentages, 7998 Russians became Heroes of the Soviet Union during the war.

At first glance, this number is much larger than 6 - that’s exactly how many Heroes of the Soviet Union are from the Circassians. However, if you look at the percentage of heroes to population, you get a completely different picture. The 1939 census showed that 99,591,520 Russians lived in the country. Adygov - 88115. And it turns out that the percentage of heroes per “capita” of the small Adyghe people is even slightly higher than that of the Russians - 0.0068 versus 0.0080. The “percentage of heroism” for Ukrainians is 0.0072, for Belarusians – 0.0056, for Uzbeks – 0.0013, for Chechens – 0.0012, and so on. It is clear that the number of heroes in itself cannot be considered an exhaustive characteristic of the national spirit, but the ratio of the number of heroes and the total population says something about the people. If you look at these statistics using the example of the peoples of the USSR, it will become clear that during the war years, each of our peoples contributed their share to the overall victory, and singling out someone would be a blatant injustice.

During the Great Patriotic War, the sons and daughters of all republics and all peoples of the USSR fought shoulder to shoulder at the front. Each nation had its own heroes in this war.

Nations with the most heroes

Other peoples

Not much behind the Georgians and Armenians are the Uzbeks - 67 heroes, Mordvinians - 63, Chuvash - 45, Azerbaijanis - 43, Bashkirs - 38, Ossetians - 33. Next come the Mari, Turkmens, Lithuanians, Tajiks, Latvians, Kyrgyz, Komi, Udmurts, who gave the country has from 10 to 18 Heroes of the Soviet Union.

9 heroes each came from the German (we are, of course, talking about the Volga Germans) and Estonian peoples, 8 each from the Karelians, Buryats and Mongols, Kalmyks, Kabardians. The Adygs gave the country 6 heroes, the Abkhaz - 4, the Yakuts - 2, the Moldovans - also 2, the Tuvans -1. And finally, representatives of repressed peoples, such as the Chechens and Crimean Tatars, fought no less bravely than the rest. 5 Chechens and 6 Crimean Tatars were awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union.

About “inconvenient” nationalities

Anyone who is even slightly interested in the issue of the Crimean Tatars knows the name of Ametkhan Sultan, the legendary ace pilot, twice Hero of the Soviet Union. Representatives of the Chechen people also performed feats. As you know, in 1942 the conscription of residents of the Chechen-Ingush Republic to the front was stopped, but by the end of the summer of this year, when the Nazis invaded the North Caucasus, it was decided to call up volunteers from among the Chechens and Ingush to the front. 18.5 thousand volunteers showed up at recruiting stations. They fought to the death on the outskirts of Stalingrad as part of a separate Chechen-Ingush regiment.

There is often an opinion about Jews that representatives of this ancient people are capable, first of all, of intellectual work and commerce, but they are only so-so warriors. And that's not true. 107 Jews became Heroes of the Soviet Union during the Great Patriotic War. The merit of the Jews, for example, in organizing the partisan movement in Odessa is enormous.

From “natural” numbers - to percentages

7998 Russians became Heroes of the Soviet Union during the war. At first glance, this number is much larger than 6 - that is exactly how many Heroes of the Soviet Union are from the Circassians. However, if you look at the percentage of heroes to population, you get a completely different picture. The 1939 census showed that 99,591,520 Russians lived in the country. Adygov - 88115. And it turns out that the percentage of heroes per “capita” of the small Adyghe people is even slightly higher than that of the Russians - 0.0068 versus 0.0080. The “percentage of heroism” among Ukrainians is 0.0072, among Belarusians - 0.0056, among Uzbeks 0.0013, among Chechens - 0.0012, and so on. It is clear that the number of heroes in itself cannot be considered an exhaustive characteristic of the national spirit, but the ratio of the number of heroes and the total population says something about the people. If you look at these statistics using the example of the peoples of the USSR, it will become clear that during the war years, each of our peoples contributed their share to the overall victory, and singling out someone would be a blatant injustice.

Victory in the Great Patriotic War was achieved only thanks to heroism Soviet people(not only Russian, as is often presented in the modern press), many nations lost their sons at the fronts and in Nazi camps. Is there a way to recognize and appreciate every single person for their heroism and bravery. In the USSR, the highest award was the title of Hero of the Soviet Union.

During the Second World War, 11,302 people were awarded the Hero's Star. But here’s what’s strange: when official sources indicate which nations’ representatives were nominated for the title of Hero of the Soviet Union, as a rule, it is written: Russians - 7998 people, Ukrainians - 2021 people, Belarusians - 299 people and other nations - 984 people. But why did other nations forget?

The USSR was a single country of friendly and equal peoples, but then why in official statistics most of the peoples are indicated as others. After all, the Heroes of the Soviet Union were: 161 Tatars, 107 Jews, 96 Kazakhs, 90 Georgians, 89 Armenians, 67 Uzbeks, 63 Mordvins, 45 Chuvash, 43 Azerbaijanis, 38 Bashkirs, 31 Ossetians, 18 Mari, 16 Turkmen, 15 Lithuanians, 15 Tajiks , 12 Latvians, 12 Kyrgyz, 10 Komi, 10 Udmurts, 9 Estonians, 8 Karelians, 8 Kalmyks, 6 Kabardians, 6 Adygeans, 4 Abkhazians, 2 Yakuts, 2 Moldavians, 1 Tuvan. But even in this list one can see the absence of representatives of repressed peoples - Chechens and Crimean Tatars.

What really causes bewilderment is the question of attitude towards representatives of peoples who, for some reason, became undesirable, and with one stroke of the pen they were crossed out from. In fairness, it should be noted that 6 Chechens and 5 Crimean Tatars became Heroes of the Soviet Union (Ametkhan Sultan - twice). These people committed heroic deeds, for which they were awarded the highest government award of the USSR. In 1942, by order of Beria, the conscription of representatives of the Chechen-Ingush Republic to the front was stopped. This was at the beginning of the year, and by the end of summer, when the Nazis invaded the territory of the Soviet Caucasus, it was decided to allow volunteers from Checheno-Ingushetia to participate in the battles. 18.5 thousand volunteers and conscripts from Checheno-Ingushetia fought on the fronts of the Second World War; they fought to the death on the outskirts of Stalingrad as part of a separate Checheno-Ingush regiment.

Some of the most famous Chechen heroes were machine gunner Khanpasha Nuradilov and sniper Abukhazhi Idrisov. Nuradilov distinguished himself in a battle near the village of Zakharovka, when he destroyed 120 Nazis, in total the hero destroyed 920 enemy soldiers, for which he was awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union - posthumously. Idrisov killed 349 Wehrmacht soldiers and officers with his sniper rifle.

Representatives of the Jewish people played an equally important role in the Second World War. For many years everyone talked about Jews only as traders and intellectuals, but it has come scary time war, and they proved that the Motherland is not for them empty sound and they will protect her to the last drop of blood.

Included Soviet troops more than 200 thousand Jews were nominated for various state awards, and 107 were nominated for the highest award - Hero of the Soviet Union. Some sources indicate the number - 150, but for the most part this is due to the fact that during the difficult years of the war, nationality did not always play a decisive role and only after the war it was established that, for example, Mikhail Plotkin, the legendary pilot, was not Russian, but a Jew, and there are a lot of such examples, but nevertheless this does not diminish the merit of this or that people. The great merit of the representatives of the Jewish people was that the Nazis were never able to break the proud spirit of Odessa. It was the Jewish partisans who forced the enemy to live in constant fear. And if we talk about the exploits of the Jews, how can we not remember the legendary intelligence officer Yankel Chernyak, who organized a magnificent network consisting of agents included in the top management fascist Germany. It was Chernyak’s group that was able to gain access to the secret developments of the Tiger and transmit this information to Moscow. As a result, when, according to the fascists, their best tank was sent to the front soviet tanks were already ready for this.

Accepted Active participation in the war and representatives of the then young Soviet republics - Estonia, Lithuania and Latvia. Representatives of Western Ukraine did not stand aside either; many heroes were subsequently repressed for possible connections with the UPA, but the fact remains that there were heroes not only in Russia, Belarus and Ukraine, but also in other republics.

Unfortunately, those years when the USSR was united and powerful are in the past. Fewer and fewer of those who stood at the origins of the victory and who created it are left alive. After all, now even those who were born in 1930 and took part in the partisan movement as teenagers are already 81, and this is a very respectable age, considering what these people had to endure. And the fewer veterans remain alive, the fewer eyewitnesses there are who can tell the truth about the war. There is already an attempt to change or, more simply put, rewrite history. War heroes are called into question, many events are spoken of as not real, but only fictitious for the purpose of propaganda. Yes, there was propaganda, but it was propaganda calling for confrontation with the enemy who occupied our Motherland.

At the front, a Russian, a Chechen, an Uzbek, a Ukrainian stood side by side, and there was not a shadow of a doubt that a comrade would not leave him to die on the battlefield. No, these people had no nationality, they were Soviet, and perhaps this is where the strength lies, when teenagers don’t point their fingers at a representative of another nationality walking down the street or when a Chechen guy doesn’t raise

During the Great Patriotic War, the sons and daughters of all republics and all peoples of the USSR fought shoulder to shoulder at the front. Each nation had its own heroes in this war.

Nations with the most heroes
During the Great Patriotic War, 7998 Russians, 2021 Ukrainians, 299 Belarusians became Heroes of the Soviet Union. The next largest number of heroes are Tatars - 161, Jews - 107, Kazakhs - 96, Georgians - 90, Armenians - 89.

Other peoples
Not much behind the Georgians and Armenians are the Uzbeks - 67 heroes, Mordvinians - 63, Chuvash - 45, Azerbaijanis - 43, Bashkirs - 38, Ossetians - 33. Next come the Mari, Turkmens, Lithuanians, Tajiks, Latvians, Kyrgyz, Komi, Udmurts, who gave the country has from 10 to 18 Heroes of the Soviet Union. 9 heroes each came from the German (we are, of course, talking about the Volga Germans) and Estonian peoples, 8 each from the Karelians, Buryats and Mongols, Kalmyks, Kabardians. The Adygs gave the country 6 heroes, the Abkhaz - 4, the Yakuts - 2, the Moldovans - also 2, the Tuvans -1. And finally, representatives of repressed peoples, such as the Chechens and Crimean Tatars, fought no less bravely than the rest. 5 Chechens and 6 Crimean Tatars were awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union.

About “inconvenient” nationalities

From “natural” numbers - to percentages