The Second World War and Uzbekistan

During the war years Uzbekistan was part of the Soviet Union, so it too was drawn into the war. About one and a half million people from Uzbekistan went to the front; nearly 500,000 died and more than 60,000 were left disabled. More than 300 fighters received the title “Hero of the Soviet Union”. On the home front people worked selflessly: with the men at the front, women, old people and children worked in the fields, and over the war years more than four million tonnes of cotton and more than five million tonnes of grain were grown. More than a hundred enterprises were moved to Uzbekistan from areas near the front and set going quickly, hundreds of new ones were built, and thousands of aircraft, bombs, parachutes, tanks and other equipment were supplied to the front. More than a million people were evacuated to Uzbekistan, about 200,000 of them orphaned children. People took them into their homes and shared their food; over 5,000 children were adopted by Uzbek families. The Shomahmudov family of Tashkent, who raised more than ten children of different nationalities, is remembered in history. Today 9 May is the Day of Memory and Honour. In Tashkent the “Memory Square” and the “Grieving Mother” monument are dedicated to the fallen.