After the end of World War II, hundreds of German engineers and thousands of specialists from the abolished Third Reich worked in the Soviet Union. However, for some mysterious reason, no other person causes as much excitement and controversy as the stay in the USSR of Hugo Schmeisser, the famous German weapons designer. What did the German industrialist do in the country of the victors?
Since Germany during the Second World War was recognized as the main aggressor and, as a result, lost to the anti-Hitler coalition, it was supposed to at least partially compensate for the damage caused to other countries: France, Great Britain, Poland and, of course, the Soviet Union. The damage inflicted on the USSR was such that if it were forced to compensate in full, it would be easier to transport the rest of Germany, along with the Rhine black soil, somewhere beyond Moscow. Some Soviet and American politicians even proposed to carry out a complete de-industrialization of the European country. However, in their right mind, no state leader was going to plunder Germany to the state of an agrarian country. It must be admitted that in many respects both the United States and the Soviet Union were kept from this by the outbreak of the cold war between the blocs.
However, Germany had to pay as much as they could. Especially Poland and the Soviet Union. As part of the reparations program, it was decided to confiscate not only material assets: machine tools, cars, cars, industrial raw materials, technologies. Specialists began to be exported to the winning countries. Germany until 1945 was one of the most powerful economies in Europe with a developed metallurgy, mechanical engineering and chemical industry. The secrets of the Germans were of interest to absolutely everyone, especially in the face of the threat of the Third World War between the capitalist and socialist blocs. Thus, industrialists and scientists were exported not only by the USSR, but also by the USA.
The export of personnel had not only scientific and economic meaning. It was also carried out as part of the German denazification program. Many "ordinary Germans" among engineers, designers, scientists were by no means innocent sheep, but convinced Nazis. It was necessary to tear them out of their familiar environment for some time, so that they would not be engaged in political work in the new Germany and allowed them to finally win the Nazi underground that remained for some time after the war in state institutions, law enforcement agencies and scientific institutions of a non-Nazi Germany.
The irony is that the Schmeisser couple initially fell into the hands not of the Soviets, but of the Americans. Hugo Schmeisser's production was in the city of Suhl, which was occupied by the Allied forces on April 3, 1945. Immediately after this, the enterprises were stopped, all prominent Schmeissers were arrested and interrogated. However, already after May 9, Thuringia became part of the Soviet zone of occupation, and at the same time, Hugo also fell into the hands of the Soviet authorities. Immediately after that, the commissars did what the Americans did not have time to do - they seized all the production documentation from German enterprises. By October 1945, Hugo Schmeisser had turned from a prominent industrialist into an ordinary German, as all his enterprises were nationalized for the benefit of the people of the new Germany. Having lost the usual source of income, the German designer had no choice but to cooperate with the USSR.
Initially, Schmeisser was assigned to work on a technical commission to assess the latest achievements of the German arms industry in matters of adapting them to the needs of the Soviet Union. In this commission, Hugo was engaged in collecting valuable documentation, and also selected personnel who could be taken to work in the Soviet Union. The removal of specialists was considered a “voluntary-compulsory” business trip. In the USSR, the Germans were kept in a special position. Of course, they were paid a salary. The shipment took place in October 1946. In addition to Hugo Schmeisser, other famous German gunsmiths also left for Izhevsk: Werner Gruner, Karl Barnitzk, Oskar Schink. In addition to wages, all seconded specialists in the USSR were provided with free food rations, which was a very serious indulgence in the difficult post-war years. In addition, they were allowed to take with them part of their personal property, up to apartment furniture, for the duration of the business trip. It got ridiculous: the wife of a German engineer did not want to part with her beloved cow (apparently she was afraid that she would be stolen in a post-war country) and she was also transported by train to the USSR.
The contribution of German engineers to the development of Soviet industry and, in particular, weapons business has been and remains one of the most pressing topics. In any case, among the people. This, of course, is about the famous dispute over the authorship of the Kalashnikov assault rifle. The fact that the AK-47 and StG-44 are not the same thing, and the Kalashnikov has much more in common with the American M1 Garand carbine than with the German Sturmgever, there is no longer any strength to prove. However, in this whole situation, I would like to ask about the main thing: the Americans took out and applied dozens and hundreds of German technologies at home. Even if we assume that the AK-47 is equal to the "Sturmgever", what's so bad about that?
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And yet, the contribution of German specialists should not be exaggerated. Certainly he was. Far from the last brains of Germany were taken on a business trip to the USSR. However, was it decisive? There were no less of their outstanding designers in the Soviet Union. However, against the general background, the number of brought Germans is simply drowning in the ocean of Soviet specialists. A simple example: 16 German specialists worked at Izhmash, 10 of whom generally worked in the motorcycle industry. In total, there were 340 German specialists in Izhevsk, and not all of them were just designers. Some of these people were brought along with the brought German machine tools, they were supposed to establish their work at Soviet factories and train Soviet personnel to work on new equipment. Thus, the vast majority did not engage in any design.
As for Hugo Schmeisser himself, according to the surviving Soviet documents from Izhmash, his work received one of the lowest ratings from the plant administration. Schmeisser was extremely reluctant to technical cooperation, often referring to the fact that he allegedly lacked any technical education to participate in serious design activities. At the same time, Hugo returned to his homeland about six months later than most of his colleagues in 1952. Staying in the harsh Ural climate did not benefit the German, and the famous designer died already in 1953 due to aggravated problems with the lungs.
In continuation of the topic, read about 9 best examples of manual small arms of World War II.
A source: https://novate.ru/blogs/201121/61328/