Directors of the Urals defense enterprises in 1941–1945

This short article offers readers an author’s sketch of a collective portrait of a social group (12 persons) – the director corps of the leading defense (tank and metallurgical) enterprises of the Urals during the 1941–1945 Great Patriotic War. At the beginning of the article, the author formulates a thesis related to a position in historiography, mainly outside Russia permeated with totalitarian ideology influences – centralization, dictatorship, commandeering style, lack of initiative etc. Contrary to this position, it is argued that by the end of the 1930s some, though subtle, forms emerged. Contrary to this position, it is argued that by the end of the 1930s, trends of a different kind were making their way in the political and economic leadership of the USSR, associated with risk, resourcefulness, and a search beyond the guidelines. This approach, according to the author, became the basis for the rise of the analyzed group of heads of defense enterprises in the Urals during the Great Patriotic War.