About the book: 2016 / The theme of the “radical change” that occurred in the destinies of millions of people in the tragic June 1941 is very popular in modern films. The plots of all the films are strictly divided into “before” and “after” June 22, when the whole life of the characters turned upside down in an instant. The fact that reports of the outbreak of certain wars by that time had already become familiar and everyday is never mentioned. Meanwhile, it is precisely this “habituality” that largely explains the capricious mood of the beginning of the war. The tortuous “party line” and changeable Stalinist propaganda, which overnight turned yesterday’s enemies into friends and vice versa, distorted reality so much that sometimes a complete mess arose in people’s minds. And even now, 70 years later, it is difficult to separate propaganda cliches from reality. This book, based on numerous archival documents, newspaper publications and eyewitness memories, is the first to analyze the work of the Soviet propaganda machine, its influence on people’s consciousness and changes in the perception of events by the population of the USSR since 1939 to 1945. In addition, for the first time, it is told truthfully, without embellishment, about how ordinary people in different parts of the country survived during the war years, about their working conditions in military factories, in agriculture and institutions, about the difficulties of everyday life, about how trade and the sphere of services, medicine, housing and communal services and transport. The book also debunks the common myth that “under Stalin there was no corruption” and “they were afraid to steal,” and crime raised its head only in the post-war years.