ABSTRACT
The conclusion briefly addresses the re-evacuation and the challenges many evacuees confronted when they returned home. It also draws connections between the evacuation experience and specific developments and trends in the postwar period, such as increasing disillusionment and alienation of the Soviet population, particularly among the youth. The author argues that the evacuation experience helps us better understand the roots of the transformation of the relationship between citizens and the state that became much more marked in the postwar period. Thus, while the evacuation clearly saved millions of lives, it also led critical constituencies to begin to question and doubt the claims made by the state, laying the foundation for later dissent.
