Greatest Generation
Members of this generation became adults during Stalin's rise to power. They lived through the Holodomor famine, which killed millions. The World War II generation of the Soviet Union was further decimated by the war. Stalin's scorched earth policy left its western regions to be destroyed by the advancing German army. The USSR lost 14% of its pre-war population during WWII. This decrease in population had huge long-term consequences. Huge numbers of people were used as forced labor. Between 10 and 11 million Soviet men returned to help rebuild, along with 2 million Soviet dissidents held prisoner in Stalin's Gulags. Then came the Cold War and the Space race. Even in the mid-1980s, around 70% of Soviet industrial output was directed towards the military. This was one of the factors in its eventual economic collapse. Members of this generation are known as "Great Patriotic War" veterans. Today, former Soviet countries celebrate an annual Victory Day in honor of these veterans.