Economic and Statistical Research of the Ukrainian Industrial Regions by the German Researchers during the Occupation (1942–1943)

The article analyzes the facts of the collecting the data on the development of the Soviet industry in Ukrainian industrial areas by the German researchers in Ukraine during the World War II and its further processing. The primary focus of this economical and statistical researching was on evolution of the Soviet industry since the early 1920 s and its functioning in Ukraine during the Nazi occupation. The main purpose was the investigation of the Soviet experience of industrialization, the role and the significance of the industrial areas created around the Ukrainian cities of Kharkiv and Dnipropetrovsk. The forms of the collecting of the information about economics and industry of Ukraine and its main results are characterized: review of the special literature and bibliographies in local libraries in occupied Ukraine, and questionnaire studies for the purpose of gathering information from directors of enterprises and workers. It has been established that the significant contribution to these studies of the Ukrainian industrial areas during the World War II has been made by German economist Walter Thoms, the dean of the Faculty for public policy and economics at the Heidelberg University in Germany (1939–1945). Problems of the Soviet enterprises functioning, social welfare of the Soviet industry workers and their professional education were a major focus of his academic interest. W. Thoms prepared two questionnaires for the survey in Kharkiv and Dnipropetrovsk. The survey findings were to be processed at the University of Heidelberg after the war. Directions for future research have been set, first of all the activities of W. Thoms during World War II in the occupied territories, as well as the search for materials on economic statistics that have been brought out of Ukraine during World War II.