Recruitment sources and techniques of the soviet atomic project

Abstract

The article is devoted to the specificities of the Soviet atomic project‟s manpower formation: how new employees were acquired and appointed in this crucial sector of the Cold War economy, and who they were. The chronology is from 1945 to the second half of the 1950s. This was the time between the beginning of the project active stage after a protracted start and its completion, when the main results in the creation of nuclear weapons were achieved. The study is based on declassified archival materials, published documents and memoirs. The author analyzes the sources, mechanisms and techniques of the «atomic» recruiting, and their changes over time. It was considered dynamics of the manpower structure: scientists (including foreign and GULAG prisoners), engineers, as well as young professionals, workers (including «special contingents» of NKVD / MVD USSR), middle technical personnel. It is shown how the goal of the project, the position of the «main element» in the Soviet system, its secrecy and regime determined the intensity of the mobilization methods in the project‟s personnel policy.